Logging has depleted timber resources across a considerable portion of the world’s tropical forests, leaving them vulnerable to conversion to other land‐use types. This raises the question of whether management for restoration represents an economically viable alternative.

• In the tropics, selectively logged forests (that is, forests from which timber trees of harvestable size/value have been removed but the residual forest remains) represent an important restoration opportunity but are vulnerable to deforestation, raising the question of whether restoration through private enterprise is economically viable
• We examined the business environment for restoration concessions in Indonesia
• Business models remain largely aspirational because of high costs and the difficulties in realizing sufficient income from carbon markets, non‐timber forest products, and ecosystem services
• To achieve restoration goals, restoration managers must consider diverse means to generate income within a multiuse forest management plan
• Restoration concessions are a scalable policy instrument to stimulate private investment in restoration, but a favorable regulatory environment – one that minimizes costs and enhances business opportunities – is essential

Read more here.

There is a growing list of examples. Things that we “know” to be true that – just maybe – aren’t true at all. These include (but are not restricted to) such articles of faith as:

• polar bears are in imminent danger of extinction because of climate change;
• we are in the middle of a sixth mass extinction;
• eating meat is one of the biggest problems because of methane emissions; and
• intensive agriculture is the problem and variations on organic farming the solution (supported by the “fact” that there are only 100 harvests before soil erosion wipes out our ability to grow food).

Read more here.

Making up about half of the rubber industry by volume, they include tyre manufacturers and automotive firms as well as growers. Under a new framework, they will establish or strengthen sustainability policies for their rubber supply chains.

Read more here.

The AP interviewed more than 130 current and former workers from two dozen palm oil companies who came from eight countries and labored on plantations across wide swaths of Malaysia and Indonesia. Almost all had complaints about their treatment, with some saying they were cheated, threatened, held against their will or forced to work off unsurmountable debts. Others said they were regularly harassed by authorities, swept up in raids and detained in government facilities.

Read more here.

The problem with studies like that of Mr Roberto Gatti, is that his pseudoscience has intentionally singled out the oil palm without putting things in perspective, and informing the reader that commodities such as beef, soy, maize, poultry, timber production and more account for over 90% of the world’s deforestation today, and are still in the infancy when it comes to providing consumers with a supply chain that does not come from recently deforested land.

Read more here.

Challenge a liar often enough, and he’ll get tangled in his own lies. This is what just happened to @robertocgatti on Twitter:

The time series posted by @BartWvanAssen show nothing else than the replacement of forest by palm oil plantations! Sorry, I will no longer discuss complex scientific issues to disprove ridiculous allegations with 280 Twitter’s characters! This an habit of people from the industry

The time series posted by @BartWvanAssen show nothing else than the replacement of forest by palm oil plantations! Sorry, I will no longer discuss complex scientific issues to disprove ridiculous allegations with 280 Twitter's characters! This an habit of people from the industry

— Roberto C. Gatti (@robertocgatti) August 12, 2020

The thing is, Google Earth’s ‘pretty earth’ and its ‘historical images’ aren’t ‘complex scientific issues! Talk to anyone with basic training in remote sensing and Google Earth (Pro) and (s)he’ll explain to you in 5 minutes why they have no scientific confidence in these ‘historical images’ and why they may show much, much older information.

As for the particular time series shown, it’s 1984 image shows that the area clearly is not “almost intact tropical forests”. Gatti allowed us a glance inside his mind, and showed the prejudice within.

In Southeast Asia — the region that drives the world’s deforestation problem, alongside Central Africa and the Amazon —  only 9 percent of banks have adopted No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policies in varying forms, according to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Even then, the implementation of these policies has been slow and patchy.

Read more here.