INDIA
16 men were arrested
after a female forest
official was brutally
beaten with sticks
by a mob in the southern state
of Telangana, during a protest
against a tree plantation drive.
Led by a member of the state’s
ruling party, the mob was said
to be protesting against forest
officials destroying tribal farmers’
crops. The incident occurred in
the town of Kagaznagar, where
the state’s forest department has
been authorised to carry out a
plantation drive as part of the
Kaleshwaram project – a large
irrigation scheme.
Opposition parties in the state,
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
and the Congress Party, have
strongly condemned the attack.BRAZIL
Deforestation in the
Brazilian Amazon
is increasing very
rapidly, according to
reports, with 73,900 ha of forest
felled in the single month of May
this year. While May is always a
month when deforestation rises,
as it marks the end of the rainy
season for much of Amazonia,
this year’s figure is a 34%
increase over May 2018, when
55,000 ha were felled. According
to DETER (System of Detection
of Deforestation in Real Time),
which compiled the data, it is the
highest single-month figure in
over a decade.GLOBAL LOG
A TOUR OF THE FORESTRY WORLD
32 AUGUST 2019 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UK
AUSTRALIA
DEAD mangrove forests along a 1,000 km stretch of
coastline in northern Australia have been emitting
methane at rates eight times higher than live trees,
according to new research from Southern Cross
University.
Scientists have used the site of the mass dieback along the Gulf
of Carpentaria to measure methane emissions from mangrove tree
stems for the first time.
Forests of mangroves along the coastline died as a result of
extreme heat, rainfall shortages and low sea levels in the summer
of 2015–16. The mass mortality is one of the worst cases of forest
dieback ever recorded and happened in the same year as the mass
coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.
Researchers travelled to the Gulf of Carpentaria in August last
year to measure methane emissions from an area of live mangroves,
then compared them to those from an area of dead mangroves
about two kilometres away. They found the emissions from the dead
trees were eight times higher than those from the healthy trees.
VIETNAM
VIETNAM has
been moving
towards building
a sustainable
wood processing industry
that uses legal materials in
accordance with international
and Vietnamese law, as well
as regulations of major export
markets like the US, EU and
Japan.
The statement was
released by deputy minister
of agriculture and rural
development, Ha Cong Tuan,
at a conference held by the
American Hardwood Export
Council and the Vietnam
Timber and Forest Product
Association in Hanoi recently.
Tuan said Vietnam’s wood
products had been exported to
120 countries and territories,
with the US being its most
important market.
Last year, the country’s
exports of wood and forest
products reached $9.4 billion,
about 42% of which came from
the US. Tuan said Vietnam
also imported large quantities
of timber and wood products
from the US. Vietnam is
currently the top destination
for US hardwood in Southeast
Asia.
In the first five months of
this year, the country imported
$138 million of timber and
forest products from the
US, an increase of 24.9%
compared to the same period
last year.
CANADA
THE province of British Columbia is to fund $3.3 million
towards training and work experience in the forestry sector.
Stillwater Consulting will deliver the training on the
government’s behalf in Cranbrook, Kamloops and Nanaimo,
BC, with students able to earn 11 different certifications including basic
chainsaw operator; silviculture surveyor; and occupational first aid,
level 3. The programme also includes a three-week job placement with
local forestry employers.
Stillwater Consulting project manager Aaron Byng-Hall said: “Our
programme gives participants knowledge, skills and certifications in
different areas of forestry in just 19 weeks. Our graduates become
environmental technicians, recreational trail builders, silviculture
surveyors and wildland firefighters. For someone looking for
opportunities after a mill closure, the programme provides a great way
to expand on what they know and turn that into a new career.”
The funding is being provided by the BC Ministry of Social
Development and Poverty Reduction through the Project-Based Labour
Market Training stream of the Community and Employer Partnerships
programme.