Blog: Forests

Rainforest protection plans are rewarding industries that destroy forests

Posted by tracy.frauzel - 6 April 2011 at 4:57pm - Comments
Destruction in the Indonesian Rainforests
All rights reserved. Credit: © Greenpeace
Destruction in the Indonesian Rainforests

You’d be forgiven for remembering the UN Copenhagen climate talks (in December 2009) only for their epic failure to deliver a global agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But there was at least one important issue agreed which has the potential to have a significant impact on the climate - as well as protecting biodiversity.

Article tagged as: cancun, climate, climate change, congo, Consulting, copenhagen, deforestation, degradation, Democratic Republic of Congo., destruction, forest protection fund, forests, Guyana, indonesia, malaysia, McKinsey, papua new guinea, rainforest, rainforests, REDD, report, reports

Great Bear Rainforest model provides 'greenprint' for forest protection

Posted by tracy.frauzel - 5 April 2011 at 12:28pm - Comments
A Grizzly Bear on a river ledge in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Co
All rights reserved. Credit: Andrew Wright / www.cold-coast.com

Canadian forest campaigner Eduardo Sousa marks the 10th anniversary of a historic achievement to protect rainfoersts:

The United Nations declared 2011 the International Year of Forests. This is a time to celebrate the planet's forests, but it's also an opportunity to shed a much needed spotlight on the significant deforestation that continues around the world.

Article tagged as: agreement, canada, deforestation, first nations, forests, great bear rainforest, rainforests, solution, videos

Draft moratorium on Indonesian deforestation falls short

Posted by Jess Miller - 28 February 2011 at 5:02pm - Comments
All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace
The red areas are those forests and peatlands left unprotected by the proposed moratorium

Days before the president of Indonesia is set to announce a moratorium on forest destruction, we’ve got a copy of the draft moratorium, crunched the numbers and the news is not good. The data shows this proposed moratorium does little to protect areas that are not already off limits under Indonesia's existing laws.

Article tagged as: deforestation, GAR, indonesia, maps, moratorium, palm oil, pulp and paper, rainforest, sinar mas

Another break for rainforests as palm oil company reveals plan to halt destruction

Posted by Laura K - 9 February 2011 at 11:20am - Comments
Orang-utan in Indonesia
All rights reserved. Credit: Will Rose/Greenpeace
Orang-utan in Indonesia

Last year Golden Agri Resources' (GAR) biggest claim to fame was being the palm oil arm of notorious forest destroyer Sinar Mas group, Indonesia's largest palm oil and pulp and paper supplier. This is the same company who lost their palm oil contract with Nestlé after the huge online outcry following the launch of our Kit Kat campaign.

Article tagged as: climate change, GAR, indonesia, palm oil, rainforests, sinar mas

APP's latest PR volley reveals more about its deforestation plans than intended

Posted by andy.t - 4 February 2011 at 3:24pm - Comments
Destroying Sumartran rainforest to make way for APP pulpwood plantations
All rights reserved. Credit: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Greenpeace
Destroying Sumartran rainforest to make way for APP pulpwood plantations

For a while now I’ve been watching closely as Sinar Mas’s pulp and paper arm, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has cranked up its PR machine to start spouting out more and more nonsense, trying to bamboozle their customers (and others) about the reality of their operations in Indonesia.

Article tagged as: aida greenbury, APP, cohn and wolfe, forests, indonesia, pulp and paper, puplwood, rainforests, sinar mas

Rumble in the jungle

Posted by jamesturn - 14 December 2010 at 3:05pm - Comments
James Nesbitt performing in front of the Banksy piece in 2002
All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace
James Nesbitt performing in front of the Banksy piece in 2002

Interesting to see that a fancy auction house in London is selling an original Banksy image that the great man designed for us, which featured in our forest campaign back in 2002.

The Times are reporting (pay wall warning), as well as the Daily Mail,  that we ran a mile when Disney roared its disapproval and claimed breach of copyright. Not true. As the picture above proves, we used the image in all sorts of places (the image above shows James Nesbitt performing comedy in front of it) and only withdrew after the campaign had run its natural course.

Article tagged as: banksy, disney, forests, jungle book

Are forests in the UK for sale?

Posted by jamie - 6 December 2010 at 6:11pm - Comments

Image by Lee Jordan

The government recently announced it is considering selling off large areas of woodlands. Forested areas in the UK are important for local biodiversity, and while Greenpeace campaigns are focused on tropical rainforests, the Woodland Trust is all about our own trees. Guest blogger Kaye Brennan from the Trust explains what's going on in our own backyard.

For the latest news on the proposed forest sell-off, visit the Woodland Trust's website.

First of all, let me say that yes, we are worried, and no, we're not campaigning... yet!

Shocking news burst our peaceful Sunday bubble recently, as the Guardian and several other newspapers announced that Defra were considering the mass sale of at least half of the public forest estate.

Several petitions were swiftly started, between them gathering signatures from hundreds of thousands of concerned people and they are still growing in numbers. Online, views were made clear in the hundreds of comments left on articles, blog posts, Facebook pages and tweets.

Article tagged as: forests, politics, UK, woodland trust

Amazon deforestation drops, but doesn’t stop

Posted by jamie - 3 December 2010 at 12:12pm - Comments
All rights reserved. Credit: Funari/Lineair/Greenpeace

You'll no doubt be pleased to hear that deforestation rates in the Amazon have fallen, according to figures from the government of Brazil. The National Institute for Space Research reported yesterday that just 6,451km2 of rainforest were felled between August 2009 and July 2010, a drop of 14 per cent on the previous year.

Article tagged as: amazon, brazil, deforestation, forest code, forests, rainforests, REDD

Forest trasher APP goes for another spin in the greenwash cycle

Posted by jamie - 2 December 2010 at 6:45pm - Comments
Exposing the real story of APP and deforestation in Indonesia
All rights reserved. Credit: Sarwano/Greenpeace
Exposing the real story of APP and deforestation in Indonesia

Forest campaigner Daniela Montalto assesses APP's latest attempts to convince everyone that it really does like trees. Honestly.

It didn't take too long for the notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to make another desperate attempt to distract from the facts.

Article tagged as: APP, deforestation, forests, george monbiot, indonesia, rainforests, sinar mas

Historic Indonesian forest protection deal at risk from industry

Posted by jamie - 23 November 2010 at 11:36am - Comments

Plantations, like this eucalyptus one in Sumatra, are gradually replacing Indonesia's rainforests (c) Beltra/Greenpeace

Laura Kenyon from our Making Waves blog explains how money intended to protect forests could actually encourage deforestation.

Norway and Indonesia are about to make history. A US$1bn forest protection deal between these two countries could help set Indonesia on a low-carbon development pathway and become a positive model for the rest of the world. It could clearly demonstrate that lowering carbon emissions to address climate change does not mean sacrificing economic growth and prosperity. What's more, this prosperous low-carbon development does not need to come at the expense of Indonesia's natural forests and peatlands.

But this deal is at risk. Today we released a report - Protection Money - which outlines how the deal is in danger of being undermined, unless action is taken to protect it from notorious industrial forest destroyers in the palm oil, paper and pulp sectors.  There is a potential that international money intended for the protection of Indonesia's forests and peatlands could end up being used to support their destruction.

Article tagged as: climate change, indonesia, moratorium, norway, palm oil, paper, pulp and paper, rainforests, REDD
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