Publication archives

More than 12 percent of the mahogany exported by Peru is logged illegally and most of the companies working in the sector are guilty, environmentalists said Wednesday in a report rejected by the government.

As a way of helping companies turn their sustainability goals into action, the Rainforest Alliance has created a Sustainable Business Forum, which brings business leaders together with sustainability experts to create supply chains for these products.

A blaze that killed five federal firefighters last year has emboldened those who question the cost of saving the ever expanding number of homes on the fringe of wilderness. The five perished last fall while protecting an empty mountain vacation home from the Southern California fire, which authorities say was started by a 36-year-old auto mechanic now charged with murder.

As a species, the Formosa Red Cypress came to Taiwan in the last ice age. The majestic trees grow at altitudes between 1,800 and 2,500 meters in Taiwan's cool, moist, often cloud-shrouded central mountains. These trees are certainly the oldest living things on Taiwan. The lifespan of a cypress can easily surpass 1,000 years; the oldest one found so far in Taiwan being over 4,000 years old.

Surprisingly, birds didn't suffer much in the recent fires that burned near the end of the Gunflint Trail. In fact, the overall impact on birds will be positive. The fire hopscotched through about 120 square miles in Minnesota and Canada, but the changes brought by the flames are nothing new for the estimated half-million birds in the area.

New Zealand's plantation forest estate has shrunk for a second year in a row according to a report that also reveals that a third of forests being clear felled are not being replanted.

The recent discovery of a toxic chemical in animal feed imported from China into the U.S. has produced a slew of criticism of U.S. food safety agencies and Chinese regulators. But IATP President Jim Harkness points out that widespread contamination of imported food is an inherent weakness in a global food system.

In May, House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel announced at a rushed news conference a secret trade deal with the Bush Administration that purportedly would include international labor and environmental standards in pending trade agreements. One big problem, the final language of the deal hadn't been written - and still hasn't been made public.