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Malaysia calls on SE Asia to back palm oil against ‘unfair’ claims
3/5/2019: The Malaysian government has called on its neighbours to help defend the palm oil industry against what it deems a discriminative campaign by the European Union to stop recognizing the commodity as a biofuel ingredient.
Source: Mongabay
The world lost a Belgium-sized area of primary rainforest in 2018
25/4/2019: The tropics lost 12 million hectares of tree cover in 2018, including 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforests - which store more carbon than other forests and are irreplaceable when it comes to sustaining biodiversity.
Source: World Resources Institute
How trade fells trees in Brazil and Indonesia
17/4/2019: Research has found that 29-39% of the carbon dioxide released through deforestation is driven by international trade — with farmers felling forests to clear space for croplands, pastures and plantations that grow goods often consumed abroad.
Source: DW
Questions remain as Vietnam reaches major REDD+ milestone
1/4/2019: In late 2018, Vietnam became the first Asia-Pacific country to reach eligibility for results-based carbon reduction payments under the UN-REDD Program, fulfilling its safeguard requirements.
Source: Mongabay
Companies to miss 2020 zero-deforestation deadline
21/3/2019: A report released for International Day of Forests calls on major companies to do more to ensure their actions match their rhetoric on ending tropical deforestation in their supply chains by 2020.
Source: Mongabay
Brazil’s key deforestation drivers: pasture, cropland, speculation
19/3/2019: Studies show that the main driver of Brazilian deforestation is land speculation, whereby land speculators deforest an area, possibly for timber, then converting the land to pasture, and then again quickly selling the land to a soy farmer. Source: Mongabay
New study finds young forests have a huge climate impact
26/2/2019: A recent study finds young forests sequester more carbon per year than old-growth forests, upending conventional wisdom that old-growth tropical rainforests are the planet’s biggest carbon sinks.
Source: Mongabay
Indonesia reduces deforestation, triggering results-based Norwegian aid
21/2/2019: Norway has announced that it will provide the first results-based payment to Indonesia as part of its REDD+ agreement. Indonesia was one of the few tropical nations to reduce its deforestation rates in 2017. Source: World Resources Institute
To fight deforestation first tackle inequality, study says
8/2/2019: Agriculture is the leading cause of tropical forest loss in Latin America. A recent study now shows that the best way to tackle deforestation in the region is to reduce inequality.
Source: Mongabay
Asian banks give billions to firms linked to deforestation
5/2/2019: Industries that cause the loss of rainforest and peatlands in Southeast Asia were bankrolled to the tune of $62 billion between 2013 and 2018, according to new data released by the Forests and Finance campaign of the Rainforest Action Network. Source: Mongabay