Ecologic Institute

Illegal fishing and logging, and the international trade in illegally sourced fish and wood products cause enormous environmental and economic damage. Consumer countries contribute to the problem by importing fish and timber without ensuring legality – a problem the EU tries to address with two new regulations. In this briefing paper, Duncan Brack, Heike Baumüller and Katharina Umpfenbach compare the recently adopted EU regulations on illegal fish and timber products. The authors contrast the very different approaches and highlight areas that might need further strengthening. Read more ...

Deforestation is responsible for roughly one fifth of global carbon emissions, most of it in the tropical forests of the developing world. At the Copenhagen climate talks, negotiators discussed a potential new mechanism to compensate nations for keeping their forests intact. The article by Duncan Brack and Katharina Umpfenbach looks at these REDD proposals (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), arguing that carbon finance alone might not be enough to stop deforestation – unless part of it is spent upfront on improving forest governance. Read more ...

Legal and Institutional Dimensions of the Copenhagen Regime – this is the title of the most recent issue of the Carbon & Climate Law Review (CCLR). Camilla Bausch, Ralph Czarnecki and Michael Mehling edited this issue, which opens the stage for a timely discussion on the most recent international climate negotiations. It features a preface by Congressman Edward J. Markey, who co-authored the successful climate and energy bill for the U.S. House of Representatives. Read more ...

Illegal logging not only destroys primeval forests and biodiversity but has also a negative impact on the German economy. On 14 October 2008, Greenpeace published a study carried out by Ecologic, which shows that losses of turnover for the wood industry add up to an estimated one billion Euro annually (total revenue 2007: 10.3 billion Euro), caused by declining image and credibility at the consumer. Illegal timber also beats down prices for timber products and leads to shortages in specific types of wood. Mostly, the timber comes from Brazil, Indonesia, China, Congo, and Russia and was often harvested through overexploitation and the destruction of primeval forests. Read more ...