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Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) released a new set of standards that will guide the organization's certification practices through 2019. SFI claims that its standards include policies and guidelines that will help protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife, endangered species and old-growth forests in the United States and Canada.

3M has announced that it will stop relying on Sustainable Forestry Initiative certifications and will conduct its own screening and audits of paper suppliers across its whole supply chain. The move is seen as a victory for environmental activists, who have long argued that SFI is a greenwashing operation with ties to major logging companies. MinnPost.com (3/6)

Protection of the natural world has been an integral part of Indian culture and heritage. The Constitution of India places responsibilities on the State as well as citizens for protection of nature and the living beings therein. The following two Articles of the Indian Constitution are noteworthy: Article 48A: The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country; and Article 51A (g): Fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. In the face of rapid industrial development, the environmental effects were not given much importance. However, with environmental impacts becoming detrimental for wildlife, biodiversity and people, the Indian Parliament has passed legislation to keep pace with changing demands. The British had passed the Indian Forest Act, 1927, mainly to regulate timber extraction for construction purposes. From production forestry, protection forestry principles were also considered. Later, wildlife (both flora and fauna) were considered essential for sustainable forest management. The Wildlife Act was passed in 1972. The Environment Protection Act was passed in 1986 as an umbrella act to consider environment in its totality. Since then, biological wealth started to be considered as an asset of the country just as other productive assets.

As FSC's highest decision making body, the General Assembly sets the direction for the organization for the coming years, with several important areas of responsible forest management, conservation and sustainability on the agenda. These include, among others, the protection of High Conservation Value areas such as Intact Forest Landscapes, ensuring the rights and participation of Indigenous Peoples in forest development, and the future directions for forest restoration and conservation, all while permitting forests to continue to supply the vital products the world depends on for many purposes.

Apple announced that the Forest Stewardship Council has certified 320,000 acres of working forest that it supports in China. The 320,000 acres of certified working forest reportedly covers 100% of Apple's product packaging needs.

The environmental and social benefits of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification are proven, as the organisation works to ensure sustainable use of forest products. But a recent WWF study has found that there is also a concrete economic benefit. The bottom line? On average, forestry companies can earn an extra US$1.80 for every cubic metre of FSC-certified timber.

Domtar's VP of sustainability explains how the forestry industry has worked to overcome some of the sins of its past.

  (LUIS ACOSTA/Getty Images) Efforts to prevent illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon can reduce the impact of certain diseases, a study has found. Logging creates mosquito-friendly areas and subsequently increases malaria infections, while strict forestry regulations can reduce infection rates for several diseases by limiting the number of people passing through forested areas

APRIL Group said today it has joined the effort to set industry standards for conserving carbon-rich forests. The pulp and paper manufacturer added that it will adopt those standards in future forestry planning.

UK specialty paper and advanced materials manufacturer James Cropper PLC has unveiled a sustainable alternative to plastic that the company says can carry the weight of an adult and be composted within 100 days. Developed in partnership with Södra, a Swedish forestry cooperative, DuraPulp is a bio-composite material that can be suitable for a variety of applications.

Rainforest Alliance today released its first independent evaluation of Asia Pulp and Paper's progress on implementing its Forest Conservation Policy, launched in 2013. RA's SVP of Forestry, Richard Donovan, and APP's managing director of sustainability, Aida Greenbury, discussed the company's progress - which RA described as 'moderate' - in a webinar on Wednesday.

Adding relatively small amounts of compost to ranchland can have a dramatic and lasting impact on the soil's ability to absorb carbon, according to research from bio-geochemist Whendee Silver. Spreading compost over just 5% of California's pastures would effectively cancel out a year's worth of statewide emissions from the farm and forestry industries, Silver found. "It's inexpensive, it's low technology, it's good land use, it solves multiple problems," she says.

China has sent 60,000 soldiers to plant trees. China plans to grow 6.66 million hectares of new forest this year, having already created 33.8 million hectares (338,000 square kilometres) of forest in the past five years, says Zhang Jianlong, head of the State Forestry Administration, in a report from Reuters. The country wants to increase the area of land covered by woodlands from 21.7% in 2016 to 23% by 2020, according to China Daily.

Last year, Michelin announced it no longer would procure rubber from deforested lands. It set about working with suppliers and regional governments to encourage sustainable forestry. Michelin's zero deforestation policy led other tire makers Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental to also begin working towards zero deforestation in rubber procurement. Now, GM is also adopting a zero deforestation stance in its tire procurement policy. The largest U.S. automaker (in market capitalization) in June declared that it would buy only tires with rubber sourced from sustainably grown forests. In addition, the company announced plans to work with other automakers and tire manufacturers to come up with an industry response

Fazenda da Toca, a private enterprise in São Paulo, is demonstrating the viability of large scale organic farming and agroforestry, including on land with highly degraded soils. Toca could effectively end the myth that agroforestry is not viable at a large scale, that it's too expensive and too labor intensive to be attractive to the private sector.

Vietnam's Asia Green will undertake an agroforestry and reforestation program following a merger with Touchlink Communications and a deal to acquire a majority stake in Hoan Vu, which was granted the land for the program's initial phase. Asia Green said it will plant Paulownia trees, along with bananas, as a preservation and economic move.

A total of 34 companies signed the New York Declaration on Forests this week at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York.

Up to 14 percent of the world's cocoa and tea supply is grown sustainably. We are no longer "niche" but we are nowhere near there yet, says Tensie Whelan.

A new Google-powered tool called Google Earth Engine is helping environmental groups and researchers to keep tabs on problems including Amazonian deforestation, overfishing, sea-ice melt and the spread of diseases. The tool's real-time data trove and mapping features make it easier to stay on top of the wealth of data now available, researchers say. "When you visualize it, you can get it at the gut level. ... You can see it happening," says Randy Sargent of Carnegie Mellon University.