Archive for July, 2016

IUFRO Spotlight #39 – Governments Reclaiming Role in Forest Certification

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Many governments are reclaiming a role that had been pretty well ceded to ENGOs and other private organizations over the past few decades – state governance of forest certification.

spotlight39-forest-certification-with-logosAccording to the authors of From governance to government: The strengthened role of state bureaucracies in forest and agricultural certification, this has become more noticeable following the recent rise of state-driven schemes for certifying timber legality as well as palm oil production in places such as Indonesia.

Their report sums up findings from a variety of recent studies and suggests, they say, that public administrations are beginning to reclaim certification authority through state-led mandatory schemes as part of a trend away from “transnational private governance to international state-driven governance.” Read more…

IUFRO Spotlight #38 – Climate Change and Invasive Alien Species Worsen Outlook for Forest Health

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spotlight38-climate-change-invasive-species-front-cover

As global trade has expanded, there has also been an accompanying increase in invasions of insects and pathogens into areas where they never before existed.

In many cases these invasions have caused significant forest damage, negative economic impacts and loss of forest ecosystem services.

Meanwhile, climate change is affecting the geographic distribution of host trees and their associated insects and pathogens. Increased pest impacts – both native and alien – can be expected.

Read more…

IUFRO - The International Union of Forest Research Organizations