Illegal logging of tropical forests in decline: study

A smuggled chimp hidden between two sacks of marijuana sounds like the first line of a joke.

Thousands of Macedonians took a day off work on Thursday to plant three million trees to revive the nation's forests after fires ravaged an estimated 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres) of greenery."There is no better feeling than when you plant a tree and after some time come and see it growing," Macedonian opera singer and UNESCO Artist for Peace Boris Trajanov told reporters.Trajanov launched the initiative three years ago, gaining wide support from the government, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, foreign representatives and businesses.

Ministers are planning a massive sell-off of Britain's state-owned forests as they seek to raise billions of pounds to help cut the deficit, the Sunday Telegraph reported.Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, is expected to announce plans within days to dispose of about half of the 748,000 hectares (1.85 million acres) of woodland overseen by the Forestry Commission by 2020, according to the newspaper.

From Terry Anderson's editorial in today's WSJ "Environmental Protection Up in Smoke": 

In the two minutes it takes to read this story, an ar

International accords on saving vulnerable forests are having little impact because they do not attack the core causes such as growing demand for biofuels and food crops, a new report said.With Africa and South American alone losing 7.4 million hectares (18.3 million acres) of forest a year, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) said a drastic change of policy is needed by the United Nations and governments.