The landmark Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licensing agreement between the European Union and Indonesia officially came into effect today to keep illegal logged timber out of EU supply chains
This week, the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) continues in Johannesburg with the fate of many species in the balance dependent partly on the decisions made over the next two weeks by the 183 parties
Estimates suggest that at least one million pangolins have been traded in the past decade. Although there is no population data for any pangolin species, the levels of observed trade and the patterns of exploitation strongly suggest that all pangolin species are in decline and that trade is the primary reason
The new Government of Myanmar has agreed a temporary national logging ban and a 10-year logging ban in the Pegu Yoma region to give its beleaguered forests breathing space from years of unchecked exploitation
Expectations are high that an HFC amendment could be finalised and adopted during the Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol in October in Kigali, Rwanda, after countries successfully reached solutions on difficult aspects, such as finance, in the first two days of the Vienna meetings
Parties to the Montreal Protocol have made significant progress on agreeing to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in a series of back-to-back meetings in Vienna, raising expectations that a global agreement to address the super greenhouse gases can be adopted this year