From July 30 to August 1, a business meeting will take place between business leaders in the region and Chilean companies from the forestry, agriculture, manufacturing and seafood sectors.
From a press release by ProChile:
The event will be held in Guatemala City, between July 30 and August 1, and will bring together about 120 buyers from all over the region.In total, there will be 60 places for Chilean entrepreneurs in the forestry and agricultural sector, industry-manufactures and seafood.
In 2016, Central American countries exported $223 million worth of wood and its manufactures, and the value exported to India grew by 20% compared to 2015.
Figures from the information system on the Central American Market for Wood and its Manufactures, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the chart"]
In April it will be not long until an agreement is reached between Honduras and the EU for marketing timber in the old continent, which is sourced from sustainably harvested forests.
An article on Laprensa.hn reports that "...The delegations from Honduras and the European Union (EU) expect that in April the sixth and final round of negotiations for the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT Ava) will be held."
According to the IDB early warning systems will be implemented to improve pest controls and native species which are less susceptible to the insect will be planted.
From a statement issued by the IDB:
Honduras will improve the management of its forests using a $25 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Entrepreneurs from Chile and Central America will be gathering together in San Jose from November 5th to 7th to explore business opportunities in the wood sector.
The event entitled 'Business Meeting on Forestry and Timber in Central American and the Caribbean' is being organized by the Trade Commission of Chile in Costa Rica (ProChile) and is expected to draw more than 20 entrepreneurs and exporters with the aim of striking deals with Central American countries.
It has been estimated that China will require 800 million cubic meters of timber in 2020.
From a statement issued by Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Office:
A study by the State Forestry Administration (SFA) in China shows that the country's timber demand will rise to 800 million cubic meters in 2020. The Chinese government plans to build a billion square meters of green buildings between 2011 and 2015 and expects that by 2015 20% of new urban buildings will be ecological.
The event will be held in San Pedro Sula from 25th to 28th of September, focusing on "Native Forest Management and Forest Plantations: A Sustainable Option Against Climate Change".
From September 25th to 28th the event to be attended by 600 participants and experts from the Central Dominican Republic and Mexico will be held in San Pedro Sula.
From a press release issued by the National Forest Conservation Institute (ICF):
The European Union has put into effect a regulation to combat trade in products manufactured with illegal timber with an emphasis on traceability.
From an article by the Costa Rican Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
In March the European Union (EU) put into effect Regulation (EU) 995/2010 of the European Parliament which seeks to regulate the market for wood products in order to minimize the risk of selling illegal timber in the EU, this regulation requires the operator or company responsible for introducing a product of this nature to the region to be able to apply the principle of "due diligence", so as to ensure that timber traded is legal.
A voluntary agreement is already underway with the European Union to reduce trade in timber goods made from illegal logging.
The first round of negotiations have been conducted on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU, and the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) in order to reduce trade in manufactured goods made from illegal timber logging.
From October, the Agricultural Research and Education Center CATIE will begin the second phase of its project FINNFOR, on Forests and Forest Management in Central America.
A statement of the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) reads:
FINNFOR officially begins its second phase
CATIE and the Government of Finland will seek to improve the livelihoods of small and medium forestry enterprises through the second phase of FINNFOR.
From 29 June to July 1 the VII Central American Forestry Congress will take place in Managua. The event is titled: "Forests without borders, for everyone and for the common good."
The forum, in which 400 specialists from the region are expected to participate in, will analyze the state of forestry and agricultural policies in Central America, said Huerta Pedro Altamirano, member of the Organizing Committee.
The funds donated by the E.U. will be used for the implementation of the Forestry Sector Modernization Project of Honduras (MOSEF).
An article in the Latribuna.hn explains: "The resources provided by the E.U. will fund social programs for production and conservation of forest areas using organizational management processes and natural resource management."
GTZ, a German technical cooperation agency, will invest this amount over the next 6 years to rescue the region’s forests.
This program is dubbed “Redd” (Reduction of Emissions and Forest Degradation) and will be implemented in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Newspaper Siglo XXI informed that the first phase of the project began on March 2010 and will last until September 2013.
The use of wood as a renewable fuel grew by 25% in the last 20 years.
In Europe and the United States, the demand for timber to be used as fuel is growing. Companies such as Vattenfall AB of Sweden, RWE AG of Germany and American Electric Power of Ohio Inc., which is the biggest consumer of coal in the U.S., are increasingly adapting their central power generation to wood consumption.