south east asia

Undercover video throws light on illegal timber trade

Posted by jamie — 2 April 2008 at 10:19am - Comments

The undercover experts down the road at the Environmental Investigation Agency have released this short video exposing the trade in illegal timber from the forests of Laos. Shady deals and corruption allow large amounts of dodgy lumber to be processed in Vietnam and Thailand, where it's made into products like garden furniture for export to (among other places) the UK. Yet another reason why we need laws in Europe to ban the import of illegal timber.

Article tagged as: deforestation, destructive logging, forests, illegal timber, laos, south east asia, thailand, videos

Green bulbs switched on in the Philippines

Posted by jamie — 14 February 2008 at 6:25pm - Comments

Excellent news reaches us from the Philippines where a ban on old-fashioned incandescent bulbs has recently been announced.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced plans for phasing out inefficient bulbs by January 2010, adding the Asian archipelago to the growing list of countries, including Ireland and Japan, which are slashing their emissions by shifting to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). So pressure is building up on our own government - and indeed the entire EU - to bring in their own mandatory efficiency standards for light bulbs.

Article tagged as: CFLs, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, light bulbs, philippines, south east asia

Last edited 1 January 1970 at 1:00am
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FAQ: Palm oil, forests and climate change

Last edited 8 November 2007 at 10:44am

Forested peatlands cleared for oil palm plantations in Riau, Indonesia

Forested peatlands cleared for oil palm plantations in Riau, Indonesia © Greenpeace/Oka Budhi

Why is palm oil a problem?

The global palm oil industry is expanding rapidly: it's used in an increasing number of food and cosmetic products, while demands for its use in biofuels like biodiesel are set to soar in the near future. Tropical rainforests and peatlands, in South East Asia are being destroyed to make way for oil palm plantations. Not only is this a disaster for biodiversity and local communities, it will also release vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.

Article tagged as: agriculture, biodiesel, biofuels, climate change, forests, indonesia, palm oil, south east asia

B&Q commit to selling good wood in China

Posted by jamie — 14 June 2007 at 11:14am - Comments

B&Q are to sell only certified timber in their Chinese stores

Not only are homes in the UK gradually becoming greener, their Asian equivalents could also heading in the same direction now that B&Q is removing all products containing illegal timber from their shelves in China.

Article tagged as: B&Q, china, DIY, forests, FSC, garden furniture, illegal timber, notcutts, papua new guinea, solomon islands, south east asia, wyevale

Blackburn doctor settles into new home - the dense forests of Papua New Guinea

Last edited 11 May 2006 at 8:00am
11 May, 2006

Blackburn doctor Reza Hossain is spending this week settling into his new home - the dense forests of Papua New Guinea. Reza flew across the world last Tuesday to join a Greenpeace camp trying to save the world-renowned Paradise Forests, which stretch from South East Asia, across the islands of Indonesia, on to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.

Article tagged as: forests, illegal timber, papua new guinea, press releases, south east asia

Greenpeace sails into Papua to protect rainforest 'Eden'

Last edited 14 March 2006 at 9:00am
14 March, 2006

The Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, sailed into the Indonesian province of Papua for the first time today as part of a global campaign to help protect the world's last ancient forests.

Article tagged as: forests, illegal timber, indonesia, papua, papua new guinea, press releases, rainbow warrior, south east asia

MTCC rainforest certification scheme exposed as seriously flawed

Last edited 19 May 2005 at 8:00am
19 May, 2005

Greenpeace today (17th May 2005) released Missing Links, a report that identifies serious gaps in the certification standards of the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC), and highlighting its lack of credibility as a certifier of legal or environmentally responsible forest management.

Article tagged as: forests, MTCC, press releases, rainforests, south east asia

UK's leading garden centre exposed in rainforest scandal

Last edited 24 March 2005 at 9:00am
24 March, 2005

WYEVALE GARDEN CENTRES are responsible for trashing endangered rainforests and helping to fund one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world, Greenpeace has revealed today.

The timber for Wyevale's 2005 garden furniture range has come from the last rainforests of south-east Asia. The disgraced garden centre chain is also purchasing timber from Burma, providing a key source of revenue to the country's military dictatorship.

Article tagged as: burma, forests, garden furniture, press releases, south east asia, wyevale

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