Commentary from Scott Poynton, Founder & Executive Director of The Forest Trust, highlighting the conflicts of interest faced by voluntary certification schemes who are "protecting income streams rather than the world's forests". To solve the problem, Scott recommends certification schemes adopt a new funding model that does not rely on issuing certificates.

The Brazilian government released data that confirmed an increase in Amazon forest loss, with the majority of clearing taking place in Mato Grosso for agriculture. Reasons for the increase are thought to derive from weakening of the country's Forest Code, which limits clearing on private forest land, and agricultural exports have also become more commercially attractive for farmers.

Short opinion piece on the major themes that were discussed at a recent Forest Legality Alliance meeting in Washington DC between members and experts involved in the harvest, manufacturing and trade of forest products. Illegal logging rates worldwide have declined by about 20 per cent since 2008. The main drivers indicating a shift were deemed to be that legality requirements are now in the mainstream (already in the US, EU and Australia and they are being explored in China and Japan), proactive companies are taking control of their supply chains, and the introduction of public procurement policies in some of the world’s major cities, in particular in Latin America, that require the sourcing of legal timber products.

Following an investigation into allegations by Indonesian NGO Eyes on the Forest that a forest concession was cleared in breach of APP’s ‘No Deforestation’ policy, the company has announced that it was accidentally in breach of its policy. Eyes on the Forest published evidence in May that 70 hectares belonging to APP subsidiary PT. Riau Indo Agropalma (RIA) had been cleared. APP and The Forest Trust (TFT) – the NGO working with APP to implement its policy – then investigated the matter and have acknowledged that it did constitute a breach of the policy. However, the clearance was following an agreement mandated under Indonesian law to implement a community development programme. APP stated that an alternative arrangement should have been agreed through consultation with the community and that they are now reviewing internal sign-off procedures.

A Brazilian company which designs technology to track and trace expensive goods has created a device which can be placed inside felled trees found in protected areas. When the felled trees are then transported to sawmills by illegal loggers, location updates are sent to a central server. Law enforcement agencies closed one sawmill and made several arrests during a pilot last year of 20 of the devices and the company hopes this will convince the government to roll out the technology.

Greenpeace is cautious in response to the announcement by the President of Indonesia that the ban on deforestation in the country will be extended by two years. It claims that almost half of Indonesia’s primary forests and peatlands will have no protection from illegal logging even with the ban in place. The ban is only on the granting of new concessions and does not affect the rights of those who already have concessions to clear trees on that land. Greenpeace is also concerned about the low levels of enforcement by the Indonesian authorities against companies involved in illegal logging.

The European Space Agency has given the go ahead to develop a satellite which use a radar system to “weigh” forests. The primary mission is to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests. It will also monitor any changes in forest cover over the course of its five-year mission which is expected to launch in 2020. It is hoped that the data gathered will provide a basis for agreements under REDD+.

A new WWF report warns that the Greater Mekong subregion in Southeast Asia risks losing more than a third of its natural forest cover in the next two decades at current rates of deforestation. The region, which is host to vital freshwater systems and forests depended upon by iconic species and a huge human population, is threatened by dam development, poaching and timber theft. The local governments have also given away large concessions to mining companies and plantation owners in designated protected areas.

The UK government is backing the Tropical Forests Alliance (TFA) 2020. TFA 2020 is a business-led initiative launched by the US government and the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) which is a group of over 400 retailers and manufacturers. Although there are no regulatory implications, TFA 2020 aims to provide a forum ‘in which to share best practice with major private companies’ committed to adopting ‘sustainable supply chains’ and to ‘encourage other governments and companies to take similar steps’.

The debate led to a disagreement between The Forest Trust (TFT) and WWF. Jason Clay from WWF US referred to FSC as a success story in halting deforestation. However, Scott Poynton from TFT, while acknowledging FSC as the strongest forest management standard, accused it of allowing illegal timber through thousands of Chinese Chain-of-Custody certified factories with the help of WWF’s GFTN programme, FSC accredited certification bodies and the FSC itself. Clay did not respond to the allegations.

A partnership between Google, the University of Maryland and the UN Environment Programme will launch Global Forest Watch 2.0, an interactive, real-time forest monitoring system, later this year. The tool will combine satellite and remote sensing technology with human on-the-ground networks. Google Earth will provide forest cover information and people in the field will be able to download information to mobile devices and also upload coordinates and photographs from the ground. The intention is that this will address some of the previous challenges of out-of-date information, high costs and technical challenges faced by those monitoring forests.

The Malaysian Government has launched MYTLAS to verify the legality of Malaysian wood products. The country is currently negotiating a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU under the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Programme (FLEGT). It appears likely that Peninsular Malaysia and the state of Sabah will conclude a VPA with the EU separately from the state of Sarawak which will make arrangements to participate in the VPA later. Sarawak has been at the centre of allegations of primary rainforest clearance and the Chief Minister has been accused by the NGO Bruno Manser Fund of money-laundering profits from forest clearance in Switzerland. There are concerns that a partial VPA would undermine FLEGT by setting a precedent whereby countries can sell legal timber into the EU while continuing deforestation in certain regions.

TFT published the following statement on their website with the full report: ‘TFT has carried out a thorough technical study into alleged allegations of APP suppliers clearing forest in West Kalimantan Province and has produced the below report which shows no evidence of any violation of APP's forest clearance moratorium.’

WWF has alleged that APP’s deforestation policy will not provide "any real conservation benefits". According to an analysis by Eyes on the Forest the policy protects "at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest" while it accuses APP’s operations of deforesting more than 2 million hectares since the 1980s. APP denies that there have been any breaches of the policy (see story below) and says that it intends to release the results of its analysis on the amount of forest saved by the new policy.

A documentary to be broadcast in Sweden tonight will allege that for the past two years agents working for forestry companies SCA and Holmen have been recruiting migrant workers from Cameroon to plant trees. According to the investigation workers are paid wages far below those promised by the agents and have to pay hefty sign-on fees. After the planting season many of the workers remain in Sweden as undocumented immigrants.

The Indonesian government plans to introduce “wood terminals” dealing only in certified lumber as part of its efforts to reduce illegal logging. Wood accepted by the terminals would include the lumber’s origin, the time of logging, the type of wood and the date it was registered. This development follows the implementation of a Timber Legality and Verification System (SVLK) as part of Indonesia’s voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) with the EU.

MPs and policymakers from 33 of the world’s major economies gathered at the first GLOBE Climate Legislation Summit in London. The Summit concluded with a pledge which recognises that forest loss contributes approximately 17 per cent of GHG emissions each year and commits the legislators to promote and advance the REDD+ mechanism in their own countries. REDD+ offers forest nations access to new finance in return for the development of effective and independently assessed forest protection schemes.

An overview of rainforest-related news stories in 2012 including coverage of the main research publications on the impacts of rainforest logging, global trade and deforestation, deforestation-free sourcing policies and country-by-country summaries.

A new Eyes on the Forest report accuses Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) of continuing to destroy large areas of rainforests and peatlands despite a commitment to end natural forest logging by 2009. The report draws links between APRIL’s wood suppliers and their obtaining of cutting licences from officials who have been convicted of corruption offences and are now serving custodial sentences. In response APRIL has acknowledged that it continues to clear natural forest but claims that all licences were issued prior to the moratorium in 2011, hence making the company compliant with Indonesian law.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has published a report accusing China, the world’s biggest importer and consumer of timber, of fuelling the trade in illegal timber with at least a tenth of imports coming from illegal sources. Over 75 per cent of China’s timber imports are processed for domestic consumer markets and are not affected by legislation in the US and EU. The EIA urges China to bring in similar legislation to ensure real progress in curbing the trade in illegal logging.