Following the success of the soya moratorium extension, illegal and destructive logging of timber is in the spotlight in the Amazon. A new agreement signed in the State of Pará is set to ban trade in timber that isn't from legal and sustainable sources. What makes this ban significant is that almost half the timber logged in the Amazon comes from the state of Pará.

Primary rainforest, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. © Davison/Greenpeace

Regular visitors to our website might have noticed that a few days ago, we launched a cyber action against the Italian company Ferrero, a major user of palm oil and maker of Nutella and Ferrero Rocher.

Well, we’re delighted to report that, before we even had the chance to email our supporters about it, we’ve had another success in the protection of Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands - and of the threatened species that live there and, of course, the climate.

Not so long ago biofuels were billed as a silver bullet that could cut greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. But, as recent studies have confirmed, many are worse for the climate than the fuels they replace and they are also contributing to price rises for food. This week the government-commissioned Gallagher review on the indirect impacts of biofuels has been released and confirms that chasing current EU and UK biofuels targets is unsustainable. You may think that the government would have been more prudent before setting mandatory targets for the use of biofuels, but in fact currently there is no sustainability criteria attached to them, leading to the use of highly questionable fuels.

I've been playing around with Google Earth's KML spreadsheet as we're thinking of ideas we can contribute from the UK office to the Greenpeace layer in the Global Awareness section (recently added: highlights of our marine work), and I was checking out some of the showcased examples of good visual mapping done by other organisations. Amongst them, I came across this little beauty which visually represents the differing rates of deforestation around the world and it's quite, quite brilliant.

We're still working to build a coalition of companies which are determined to reform the palm oil industry so no more forest is lost due to the expansion of their plantations in South East Asia and with Unilever's help we're in contact with other major players in the palm oil trade. However, some are less keen than others to co-operate and need some persuading.

Art is a great way of campaigning and that's exactly what our EU unit did at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels today. A 12 metre illegally logged Amazon tree trunk was unveiled, studded with nine video monitors by celebrated Brazilian artist Siron Franco. The monitors drew attention to the trade in illegal timber from the Amazon by displaying images of the rainforest's destruction and also its beauty.

Just one of the many actions we've taken to expose the government's shoddy approach to illegal timber

Over the past few years, we've done plenty of work to highlight the problem of illegally logged timber being imported and sold in the UK - remember the government's repeated foul-ups in this area? It's insane, but we still don't have any laws preventing illegal timber from places like the Amazon and south-east Asia reaching our shores, nor does any other country in Europe.

Palm oil has a huge carbon footprint © Solness/Greenpeace

Since the rapid turn-around of Unilever in the wake of our Dove campaign, our campaigners have met several times with their executives. They've been discussing how to build a coalition of allies throughout the palm oil industry which will support a moratorium on further deforestation in Indonesia to grow new plantations. As Tracy mentioned last week, even though things might go a bit quiet on this campaign for while, that doesn't mean we're not working away behind the scenes.

If you simply can't wait for the new Indiana Jones film released tomorrow (I certainly can), this short film might help ease the tension in which the man with the bullwhip, Harrison Ford, lends a very personal part of himself to the fight against deforestation and climate change. It's either brilliant or grotesque, I can't quite make up my mind, but the old pun 'hair today, gone tomorrow' is definitely appropriate in this instance. But judge for yourself.

After losing respected environment minister Marina Silva from his cabinet last week, President Lula of Brazil has filled the gaping hole left by her departure. But whether the new minister Carlos Minc has the same commitment to protecting the Amazon as his predecessor, we'll just have to wait and see.