WWF published its WWF Paper Scorecard at the end of last year. The PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of  Forest Certification schemes) Council has welcomed WWF’s acknowledgement that “several schemes have made contributions to improving forest management”. However, the PEFC says, ”this is not reflected in the scorecard, and an opportunity to make the scorecard a really […]

An increasing number of construction firms around the world are committing to using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber in their building projects. Royal BAM Group in the Netherlands and Even Construtora e Incorporadora in Brazil are two of the latest examples.

This paper gives an overview of the concerns, perceptions and reactions surrounding ‘Conversions’. Given the universal appreciation of the importance of forests, especially tropical forests, and concern at their potential demise the solution appears to be to simple - either leave them alone or replace the trees that we use. So why has the debate […]

Wayne Keith has converted his pickup to run on scraps of wood from his Alabama (US) sawmill. The heart of the wood-powered vehicle is a gasifier, which basically converts solid fuels into gaseous ones. Though the fuel in their tanks is liquid, gasoline and diesel engines actually run on vapour. Thus, the wood gas produced in a gasifier (also […]

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Working Group in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is now accredited. This makes Papua New Guinea the first FSC accredited Working Group established in Oceania. The Working Group is developing national forest management standards for the country in line with FSC’s Principles and Criteria. Forests known for their rich biodiversity cover 65% […]

The world’s second- largest papermaker,  Stora Enso, posted a bigger-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter on rising wood prices and costs to close mills, according to a Bloomberg report.