Amid the plunder of tropical forests, satellites and cellphones offer a ray of hope. A Globe and Mail exposé shows how satellites are capturing the disappearance of Brazil’s forests in real time and have reduced deforestation by 82 per cent. Meanwhile, a New York Times feature speaks to how cellphones can can help with illegal logging, offering traceability from the forest to the big box store.
Closer to home: the PPWC (formerly Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, now the Public and Private Workers of Canada) says status quo in forestry in BC is a non-starter; Bob William’s report on the case for regional forest management continues to get press; the emerald ash borer has killed tens of thousands of trees in Ottawa; pressure mounts on Congress to restore Alaska’s roadless rule exemption; and a Q&A with USFS Chief Tony Took addresses funding for fire-fighting.
Finally, Canada and Mexico are applying pressure on the US on a day that may or be key for NAFTA.
— Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
With a number of Canadian industries highly sensitive to exchange rate movements, and changes in the CAD/USD exchange rate, investors attempting to value said companies in the face of NAFTA concerns certainly have a significant amount of homework to do. …Companies such as Canfor Corporation, with a similar revenue profile and heavy ties to the U.S. market for its softwood lumber products, will also benefit from a strengthening Canadian dollar. As the U.S. economy is expected to continue to improve, a stronger U.S. economy benefiting from the recent tax changes put in place by the Trump Administration would further the case that housing starts would continue to pick up steam, and Canadian softwood lumber producers would benefit in the near to medium term.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Earth’s natural resources, particularly forests, are widely acknowledged to be under threat of destruction by deforestation. For example, new data for the Amazon show a surprising jump in deforestation of 27% trending higher relative to previous years. Novaterra (NT) and Planet Alpha Corp (PAC) will jointly develop projects in the Amazon to urgently address deforestation by linking directly measured carbon sequestration and reversal of deforestation to revenue. The approach is open to individuals, communities, large and small private companies, non-governmental agencies and governments. The goal of reversing deforestation should be achievable with tangible incentives for stakeholders. Novaterra specializes in remote sensing while PAC specializes in patented greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement-to-monetization field platforms.
