Following a long-running international campaign, government troops in Brazil have begun to evict illegal settlers from an area belonging to one of the world's most endangered tribal groups called the Awá. Six months ago Brazil’s military had launched a ground operation against illegal logging around the land of the Awá. The forces closed down at least eight saw mills and confiscated and destroyed other machinery, but they did not remove the loggers and ranchers from inside the Awá’s land.

A report from the UK- and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has said that up to 80% of the hardwood harvested in the Russian far east is logged illegally. The EIA say the demand for this material comes from Chinese sawmills and subsequently their western customers. The material that is of most concern is illegally logged Russian oak. US wood flooring retailer, Lumber Liquidators, was named in the report as being heavily reliant on Chinese suppliers who allegedly mainly sell illegally logged material. The EIA say the US and EU regulations on illegal logging are important pressure points where they now have the ability to intervene – before now, and without this pressure, illegal logging in Siberia has seen rapid expansion. Despite industry incentives from the Russian government, incredible demand from China has led to Chinese sawmills establishing just over the China-Russia border. EIA’s investigations suggest that most of these mills rely on a supply of illegally logged timber.

Indonesia’s second largest pulp and paper company is preparing to start work on a project to restore a degraded peat forest in Sumatra, marking a new direction for the company that has left some skeptical. April has been widely criticized by environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who accuse the paper giant of cutting down natural forests in Sumatra to feed its paper mills. When the company announced its Kampar Peninsula project, local environmental groups such as the Forest Rescue Network Riau (Jikalahari) called the project “greenwashing” and said the company was continuing to destroy forests in other parts of the province.

A WRI analysis of the pulp and paper sector, which is the third-largest energy user in US manufacturing, found that it could cost-effectively reduce its energy use in the Midwest by 25 per cent through the use of existing technologies. Against the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® program, nearly two-thirds of Midwest mills fall short of the national average for energy performance. Total annual energy costs could be reduced by $120 million by reducing process energy requirements, capturing waste heat and increasing efficient on-site energy use. This could also have a knock-on effect of boosting production and increasing jobs. The report highlights the ISO 50001 standard which helps companies to introduce and systematically track facility energy performance against targets.

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.

APP has announced that three of its mills in Java have achieved SVLK certification. The SVLK system creates a chain of custody process which aims to ensure that mills only receive and process timber from legal sources and that all export products can be traced to verifiable points of origin.

UPM is in negotiations with the joint venture VPK Packaging Group NV and Klingele Papierwerke to sell most of its Stracel mill located in France. The intent to sell the Stracel mill was announced by UPM in August 2011 following a comprehensive review of the long term competitiveness of its publication paper mills. VPK and Klingele plan to convert the mill into a recycled fibre-based containerboard unit, producing fluting and test-liner; while UPM would retain part of the land for potential future production of advanced biofuels.

Verso Paper is in talks with the debt holders of NewPage to acquire the company. NewPage management have stated that they do not support the deal. Both companies have been struggling with falling demand and rising costs. Verso hope the deal would enable them to combine forces and reduce costs as both companies own mills located on the East Coast and in the Midwest of the United States.