At the 12th BRICS Summit, held via video conference on the 17th November 2020, the Brazilian government “threatened to disclose” that “Europeans have purchased illegal timber from Brazil during 2017”. Indeed, this is true. Recent analysis by BVRio concluded that a high percentage of Brazilian hardwoods, exported to EU member states and the USA in 2016-2017, had a very high risk of illegality. The study was based on BVRio’s Timber Due Diligence systems, that uses big data analysis and satellite imagery and is able to able to identify the risk of irregularities in 99% of cases.[...]

While Ghana has nearly 90 species that are regularly exploited and traded as timber, its diverse forests contain many other species that can be commercialised. Many of these under-utilised species have similar and sometimes even better performance capabilities than well-known species. Others have a distinctive and unique appearance that makes them ideal for creating attractive timber products. Using a more diverse selection of species is not only a good business decision but also has the potential to improve livelihoods, protect biodiversity and promote sustainable forest management.[...]

With over 65% of the Republic of Congo covered by forest – an area almost the size of the United Kingdom - it is vitally important that sustainable forest management practices take place in the country, both to improve livelihoods and protect the forest. The main legislation to do this is the country’s Forest Code; in July 2020, a new version of the code received presidential approval after eight years of revision. This is an important milestone towards a more sustainable and inclusive forestry and timber sector.[...]

Thanks to this partnership, the circular economy communities of CAH and the Forum will have enhanced access to a wider pool of knowledge and new connections, that will allow them to provide clear value proposition to our communities.[...]

BVRio and FSC Peru are working together to promote certified and legal timber from Peru to the international market. On 19 August, both organizations hosted a webinar for Peruvian timber companies. This was an informative session that included presentations from two Chinese timber companies, who shared their experience in the sector during the COVID19 pandemic.[...]

Researchers from 13 institutions studied an area of tropical forest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, that was heavily logged in the 1980s and subsequently protected from further logging or conversion to plantation agriculture. They found that areas left to regenerate naturally recovered by as much as 2.9 tonnes of aboveground carbon per hectare of forest each year. This is important because it highlights that if degraded tropical forests are protected, they can recover well naturally.[...]

Waste leakage and particularly plastic pollution is an alarming global problem, but the solutions must be delivered locally. Circular Action Hub connects global sources of finance with ambitious and scalable local projects to support and accelerate circular waste management action via performance-based payments for an inclusive circular economy.[...]

The 15 civil society members of the PREVENT Waste Alliance elected Pedro Moura Costa to his new position in July 2020. From 15 August 2020 he will represent their interests together with Simone Walter (Help e.V.).[...]

Circular Action Hub is an online platform that connects circular economy projects and initiatives with organisations (corporates, donors, impact investors) interested in supporting local circular economy.[...]

Cameroon has vast forest resources that provide millions of people with jobs and subsistence products. The forest sector accounts for 8% of the country’s gross domestic product (FAO FRA 2015). Unfortunately, Illegal logging has long been recognised as a significant problem in the country, due to misuse of certain logging permits and lack of effective regulation and law enforcement (Hoare 2015).[...]