Helveta, a firm based in Oxford, has announced that it will now accelerate the development of software technology to track illegal timber shipments, following a £1 million funding deal with Carbon Trust Investments, Oxford Capital Partners, Albion Venture and Success Europe. [more]

Following a two year closure, there is speculation that Western Forest Products (WFP) will reopen its Ladysmith sawmill in Canada. [more]

The Forestry Commission has announced that the South Downs National Park, which covers an area in excess of 5,800 hectares in the south of the country, has now become designated. [more]

The Forestry Commission today launched the Woodland Carbon Task Force, aimed at kickstarting an increase in woodland planting to help tackle climate change in the UK. [more]

It has been announced that a delegation of officials from the Chinese State Forestry Administration will be visiting the UK this week. [more]

A recent report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that global deforestation over the past decade has been slowing, with China planting trees on a large scale and Brazil making efforts to preserve its forests. [more]

The Forestry Commission has announced that it is allocating £100,000 of funding to woodland owners in Wales to tackle the problem of Phytophthora there. [more]

A government report in North Queensland, Australia, has described a recent harvest of African mahogany as “pleasing”, with the forestry plots producing above-average yields of high-grade, marketable timber. [more]

Under a new action plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Cerrado, industries using charcoal will need to find alternatives to buying charcoal from the region by 2013. [more]

It has been announced that the Carbon Trust, together with the University of York, are researching the feasibility of converting wood and garden waste into biofuel using microwave technology. [more]