Southem Online 222

SOUTHEM ONLINE Southern Hemisphere Forest Industry Journal Online news briefs SOUTHEM Online - Issue 222 – 3 July 2009 Welcome to edition 222 of Southem Online, the free headline news service for the Southern Hemisphere forest industry. REGISTRATION FOR SOUTHEM ONLINE SOUTHEM Online is sent out to 6,600 recipients worldwide, including those involved in forestry and forest industries as well associated services and agencies. You can register for this free e-news headlines service. Go to our web site at http://www.southem.com/content/view/37/35/ Or you can utilise our SOUTHEM yahoo group at: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/southemonline/ Forward to a Friend: Want to send this edition to a friend? Just click Forward to a Friend. If you would prefer not to receive further issues of this service, please reply to me at email [email protected] with the word ‘Remove’ in the subject. If you have any queries or suggestions, please feel free to contact me. Kind regards Mike Smith Editor and Director Email: [email protected] URL: www.southem.com SPONSORS’ MESSAGES Help keep this publication free – please visit our sponsors today! Contact [email protected] for sponsorship details. REMSOFT – WORLD-LEADING SOFTWARE Remsoft creates the world's leading software for sustainable spatial forest management planning. For 15 years, our software suite has enabled our clients to meet objectives while ensuring the viability of the world's forests and related ecosystems. For more information please click to [email protected] or www.remsoft.com FOREST BUSINESS MASTERS DEGREE ASSISTANTSHIP The University of Georgia Center for Forest Business announces the availability of a Master of Forest Resources Graduate Assistantship in Forest Business beginning August 2009. For details please contact: Bob Izlar, + 1.706.542.6819, [email protected] For more information about MFR, MS or PhD degree programs in Forest Business see: http://www.forestry.uga.edu/h/centers/cfb For University of Georgia Graduate School admission requirements, please see: http://www.gradsch.uga.edu CONTINUING EDUCATION IN FOREST FINANCE AND ECONOMICS COURSE The Department of Forest and Wood Science, Stellenbosch University, will again present the “Continues Education in Forest Finance and Economics Course” in 2009. This two week block course will cover the theory of discounting and financial analysis procedures, financial

decision tools, land valuation and relevant contemporary South African forestry economic topics. For more information see www.sun.ac.za/forestry or contact Cori Ham at [email protected] HELI HARVEST LTD PROVIDING AERIAL HEAVY LIFTING SERVICES Heli Harvest is New Zealand’s leading heavy helicopter operator. The company has vast experience in heavy lifting tasks, including timber harvesting, firefighting, disaster relief, construction, vineyard frost protection and cellphone tower installation. Heli Harvest operates two Mi-8 heliopters. For more information, go to: http://www.heliharvest.co.nz/index.cfm/ FOREST INFORMATION UPDATE Looking for wider news and intelligence on global natural resources management and forest inventory and monitoring? Now in its tenth year of production, Forest Information Update (FIU) is a free monthly email newsletter sent to people interested in the inventorying and monitoring of natural resources and reaches about 7000 natural resource specialists worldwide. FIU is produced by Trade and Media Services Ltd (www.southem.com) and is supported by organizations, agencies and individuals working in the natural resources field. For more info, go to www.forestinformationupdate.com **************************************** COPYRIGHT NOTICE Items headlined in SOUTHEM Online are drawn from a number of sources. The source of the item is quoted, either by publication or organisations in line with the practice of fair reporting. Items originally published in Spanish are translated by TMS Ltd. Every effort is made to ensure use of paid wire service material is avoided at all times. Should users wish to utilise SOUTHEM Online on their own web sites, we request that this is done to accurately reflect the current layout to ensure attribution is appropriate. ************************************************ TRIBE TAKES CONTROL OF HUGE PLANTATION FOREST ASSETS IN TREATY DEAL An indigenous Maori tribal group in New Zealand is to gain official control of one the world’s largest plantation forests as part of a treaty settlement with the government. History was due to be made in Turangi this weekend with the handover of assets negotiated through the Treaty of Waitangi – with the central North Island tribes controlling forest land worth NZ$195 million and covering 176,000 hectares, as well as NZ$223 million in rentals accumulated since 1989 and annual income estimated at NZ$13 million. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=973&Itemid=1 ************************************************ JOINT WINNER OF NZ FORESTER OF THE YEAR Meanwhile, one of those responsible for negotiating the deal on behalf of the tribes has been jointly presented with the New Zealand Institute of Forestry Forester of the Year Award for 2009. The award was presented jointly to George Asher of Turangi and Dr David Bergin of Rotorua. Mr Asher has been responsible for guiding the Maori-owned Lake Taupo and Rotoaira Forest Trusts from passive landlord to active forest manager, the institute said in a statement. ************************************************

‘DIVERSIFICATION’ BUFFERS FEA AGAINST COLLAPSING MIS MARKET An Australian forest investment company that had aggressively positioned itself in the Tasmanian market is now struggling as agribusiness sales dry up. Forest Enterprises Ltd, which snapped up a long-term log supply contract previously held by Auspine Ltd, recently asked its bankers to waive relevant covenants. However, the company says its diversification has provided a buffer against the worst impacts of the collapse in management investment schemes (MIS). ************************************************ PULP PROVIDES POSITIVE NOTE FOR KEY CHILE FORESTRY REGION A positive note is being sound in the key forestry region of Bío Bío in Chile, where it’s reported where a constant rise in pulp product exports may provide a good omen for a more general upturn later in the year. EL Diario de Concepción reported that that while the region’s main results fell 24% in April 2009 compared to the same month in 2008, pulp exports lifted by nearly 25%. ************************************************ URUGUAY PULP VENTURE TO LEVER ARAUCO INTO WORLD LEADER STATUS Big Chilean forest products group, Arauco, says its plans to join with Stora Enso in developing a pulp plant in Uruguay will help lever it into a world leading producer. Arauco and Finland’s Arauco are jointly spending US$344 million to buy the forest assets of Spain’s Ence in Uruguay. ************************************************ CHEVRON MOVE TO STRIP ECUADOR TRADE BENEFITS ATTACKED Four U.S. Senators are urging the United States Trade Representative to reject efforts by Chevron to threaten the cancellation of trade benefits for Ecuador because the oil giant faces a $27.3 billion liability in the South American nation for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, a press release said. Chevron is charged in the classaction lawsuit with dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways when it operated a large oil concession in Ecuador’s Amazon from 1964 to 1990. ************************************************ AMAZONIAN INDIANS END PERU PROTEST Meanwhile, ENS News Service has reported that a 10-week protest by Peru's Amazonian indigenous groups against legislation that facilitates development in their region ended yesterday after the Peruvian Congress repealed two legislative decrees. It’s reported leaders of the Peruvian Rainforest Inter-Ethnic Development Association, AIDESEP, called upon thousands of indigenous protesters to lift blockades of two highways and return to their villages. ************************************************ SOUTH AFRICA URGED TO GET ON WITH EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME South Africa’s “commendable” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and positive international role in fighting the climate is being undermined by a lack of action, it’s reported. WWF South Africa climate change programme manager Richard Worthington was commenting at the launch of the Group of Eight climate scorecards report for 2009. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=972&Itemid=1 ************************************************

ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL AGREE ON FURNITURE TRADE DISPUTE The Argentine and Brazil furniture industries have reached an agreement on the trade between the two countries. Brazil has agreed to the level of product it sends to Argentina to be set automatically at a limit based on 2008 values. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=971&Itemid=1 ************************************************ A3P WELCOMES GOVERNMENT’S RECOGNITION OF PLANTATION PRODUCTS AND PAPER INDUSTRY A3P, the peak national body for the plantation products and paper industry, welcomes the statement by The Hon Tony Burke, MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry which reconfirms the Government’s commitment to ensuring the conservation and sustainable management of Australia’s forests and supporting the industry and jobs into the future. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=970&Itemid=1 ************************************************ GOVERNMENT FOREST STATEMENT POSITIVE BUT LACKING FARM FOCUS Australian Forest Growers (AFG), the peak organisation representing the private forest growing industry, has expressed disappointment with a lack of focus on farm forestry in a recently released the Ministerial Statement by Minister Burke on Preparing Forest Industries for the Future (PFIF). While welcoming references to the Plantations for Australia: the 2020 vision, the National Forestry Policy Statement and the Regional Forest Agreements, the AFG statement said it was disappointed that an opportunity to focus on the role that farm forestry in the forest industry was not pursued. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=969&Itemid=1 ************************************************ INDUSTRY WELCOMES REPORT BACKING FORESTS ROLE IN EMISSION REDUCTION The National Association of Forest Industries has welcomed a new report it says has endorsed the view that forests have a key role to play in Australia meeting its greenhouse emission reduction targets. ************************************************ PAPERLINX COMPLETES REVIEW OF TAS PAPER OPERATIONS Australia’s PaperlinX has completed the initial review of its Tasmanian paper manufacturing business, Tas Paper. A company statement said the review had included discussions with many different parties and had considered four main options including retention of the existing business model, partial closure, closure or sale. GOVERNMENT FIGHTING FOR TAS PAPER JOBS Meanwhile, the Tasmanian Treasurer has said the government is doing all it can to help local companies stay open in tough financial times, the ABC reported. Michael Aird told a Parliamentary Estimates Committee recently that of all the businesses that needed help, Tas Paper was his priority. There are 560 jobs on the line at the Burnie and Wesley Vale paper mills. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=968&Itemid=2 ************************************************

BOLIVIAN INDUSTRY WANTS RAIDS EXPANDED TO FOREST ‘PILLAGING’ The Bolivian Forest Chamber (CFB) has back the work of the government agency that recently seized 30-plus trucks carrying illegally logged timber and called for the expanding of this work to the control of forest land invasion and what it described as the “alarming pillaging” of natural forests. ************************************************ LOCKWOOD LOOKS TO FUTURE HOME BUIDLING At a time when many others are struggling with challenging times, the iconic New Zealand building manufacturers Lockwood will soon be building homes faster with a state-of-the-art timber processing machine. The machine has been designed by Aspen Design Limited to automate the creation of wooden components for Lockwood homes. It is part of a NZ$6.5 million upgrade to the company’s facilities in Rotorua which include new offices, improved show homes and show village and an overhaul of the yard and factory site layout which sees all production moved under one roof. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=967&Itemid=2 ************************************************ FUNDACION CHILE ESTABLISHES VENTURE TO SERVICE CARBON MARKETS An agreement between Fundacion Chile and carbon marketer EcoSecurities will see the creation of an industry to service carbon markets, including everything from native forest to emissions reduction certificates. It’s estimated the business could be worth as much as US$100 million annually. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=966&Itemid=2 ************************************************ CSIRO CLIMATE ADAPTATION RESEARCH A NATIONAL FIRST The Australian research agency, CSIRO, has announced a new A$14 million initiative aimed at identifying practical ways for South East Queensland (SEQ) to respond to the impacts of climate change. CSIRO’s Dr Ryan McAllister – who leads a team of researchers from the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, Griffith University, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and the University of Queensland – said in a release that the research will examine SEQ’s vulnerability to climate change, as well as potential opportunities, and identify practical, costeffective ways to help the region adapt. ************************************************ CSIRO DEVELOPS NEW FIRE-RESISTANT COATING FOR TIMBERS Timber weatherboards are among the products able to be protected by tough new fireresistant coating materials called HIPS being developed by Australia’s CSIRO researchers in Melbourne. HIPS (hybrid inorganic polymer system) coatings can withstand temperatures of over 1000 degrees C compared to current commercial coatings used on building materials and structures which break down at between 150-250 degrees C. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=965&Itemid=2 ************************************************ SWINE FLU WARNING FOR WORKERS AND BOSSES In New Zealand, where H1N1 Flu has moved from a containment to management stage, the Department of Labour is encouraging all employers and employees to talk to each other about what will happen if their workplace is shut or workers are forced to stay at home for reasons outside their control.

http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=964&Itemid=2 ************************************************ INFOR GIVES FARMERS 30,000 TREE SEEDLINGS Chilean Government forest research agency, Infor is giving farmers in San Javier y Los Álamos 30,000 trees as part of its World Forestry Day celebration. The program aims to introduce a diverse agroforestry model to help contribute to sustainable development of rural peasant families. http://www.southem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=962&Itemid=2 ************************************************ SOUTHEM EMPLOYMENT NOTICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS - ROUNDTABLE ON SUSTAINABLE BIOFUELS An initiative of the EPFL Energy Center - Ensuring that biofuels deliver on their promise of sustainability The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is pleased to announce that it is seeking to contract for work projects to guide its standards development process. There are eight projects under the following subject categories: Lifecycle GHG accounting, accounting for indirect impacts, impact assessment, land rights, water rights, local food security, living wage, and developing generic definitions and indicators for third-party certification of the RSB standard. ALL PROJECT BIDS ARE DUE BY MIDNIGHT GMT ON JULY 9, 2009. The RFPs for all of these work items may be downloaded at http://cgse.epfl.ch/page70060.html ASIA-PACIFIC PLANNING NETWORK SDplanNet-Asia&Pacific is a network of professionals involved in development planning in the Asia-Pacific region. http://www.sdplannet-ap.org/Pages/Home.aspx LOG INSPECTOR Independent Verification Services Limited (IVS) is an approved Independent Verification Agency (IVA) with New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF). IVS wishes to employ an inspector to conduct regulatory inspections on logs for export in the Bay of Plenty to support current services. Applications close on Friday 10th July 2009. A position description is available on request. Please forward your application including CV to Karen Huckstep, Business Services Manager, IVS Limited, PO Box 9272, Hamilton. Or email: [email protected] **************************************** MEETINGS PARTICIPANTS INVITED TO EUCALYPT WOOD STAND 7-11 July 2009 – Forest industry participants are invited to attend stand promoting Eucalypt Wood in Mesopotamia, Argentina will be held in conjunction with the a rural fair, FITECMA. INTA Concordia will host a number of government and non-government agencies on the stand. To participate in the stand, email Martín Sánchez Acosta [email protected] Ciro Mastrandrea [email protected] VII LATIN AMERICAN FOREST AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONGRESS 11-14 August 2009 - VII Latin American Forest and Environmental Law Congress. Curitiba, Brazil. IUFRO 6.13.01 http://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-6/60000/61300/61301/.

Contact: Paulo de Tarso de Lara Pires, ptlpires(at)ufpr.br http://www.congresso7.com.br/ TRAINING IN ENVIRONMENTAL NEGOTIATION 17-22 August 2009 - A training session will be held professional negotiation in conservation and the management of natural resources. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. For more info, go to: http://www.conservation-strategy.org/ WHO WILL OWN FORESTS 14-16 September 2009 - Early registration has open for "Who Will Own the Forest? 5" Summit to be held in Portland, Oregon. For more information, go to Register at: http://wfi.worldforestrycenter.org/wwotf5/reg.html IDENTIFYING SILVER LINING TO GLOBAL STORM CLOUDS 8-9 October 2009 – New Zealand Pine Manufacturers Association Conference 2009 – “Global Storm Clouds – Identifying the Silver Linings”. Holiday Inn, Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.pine.net.nz/content/blogsection/8/12/ XIII WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS 18-23 October 2009 - The XIII World Forestry Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://www.wfc2009.org/version2/presentacion_ingles.asp CARTOGRAPHY CONFERENCE November 2009 - Santiago will host Latin America’s first International Cartography Conference in 2009 Santiago is hosting the 24th International Cartography Conference (ICC) in November 2009. Organised by the International Cartography Association (ICA), the ICC is an important event for the cartography community. For more info, go to: www.icc2009.cl ************************************************* NEWS ONLINE Do you have news items you wish to make available to others on SOUTHEM Online? If so, please send them to [email protected] ************************************************ MISSING? Did we miss you off the list, or do you have an associate who may want to receive SOUTHEM Online. If so, please feel free to register by sending a message to [email protected] with subscribe in the subject box providing details about yourself. Or you can register at the web site at: http://www.southem.com/content/view/37/35/ ************************************************** REMOVE If you would prefer not to receive further issues of this newsletter, please reply to me at email [email protected] with the word ‘Remove’ in the subject.