Blog Posts
- Holzindustrie Schweighofer’s breaks promise in Romania
Holzindustrie Schweighofer’s breaks promise in Romania
“It’s the last forest which has a high conservation value and [has] the capacity to sustain life of hundreds of species of flora and fauna,” said Gabriel Paun, founder of Agent Green, an environmental protection non-profit in Romania. He is referring...
- #InOurHands: Stopping the Ivory Trade to Save Elephants
#InOurHands: Stopping the Ivory Trade to Save Elephants
Today is World Wildlife Day, a time to celebrate as well as critically evaluate how well we are addressing the most pressing threats to wildlife, in particular wildlife trafficking. EIA has been working to put an end to the illegal...
- United Cacao-linked Companies Ordered to Stop Operations by Peruvian Authorities
United Cacao-linked Companies Ordered to Stop Operations by Peruvian Authorities
Three massive agri-business projects in the Peruvian Amazon, all related to the same group of companies identified in EIA’s 2015 report Deforestation by Definition, have been ordered to halt operations by government authorities in the country. Together, the projects being developed collectively by Cacao del Perú Norte...
- TV program reveals Holzindustrie Schweighofer’s involvement in illegal timber trade
TV program reveals Holzindustrie Schweighofer’s involvement in illegal timber trade
A video released by the Romanian investigative program In Premiera in November 2015, titled Timber Makes theWorld Go Round, has been rereleased this week with English subtitles. The video paints a vivid picture of illegalities at three stages…
- Alex Gavan speaks about Romanian Forests
Alex Gavan speaks about Romanian Forests
Romania is home to Europe’s last remaining old growth forests and some of the largest populations of brown bear, wolves, and lynx. However, the country’s forests are being ravaged...
- Time to Set Smarter Industry Standards for HFC-free Technologies
Time to Set Smarter Industry Standards for HFC-free Technologies
This is the third installment of the EIA Climate Campaign’s blog series on ‘Navigating the Path to Climate-Friendly Cooling.’ The series will focus on the key policy and technology issues...
- EPA Takes Aim at Leaking Super Greenhouse Gases
EPA Takes Aim at Leaking Super Greenhouse Gases
This is the second installment of the EIA Climate Campaign’s blog series on ‘Navigating the Path to Climate-Friendly Cooling.’ The series will focus on the key policy and technology issues related to mitigating hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)...
- January Marks New Low for Sea Ice and a Dangerous Future for Belugas
January Marks New Low for Sea Ice and a Dangerous Future for Belugas
By Dan Hubbell, EIA Wildlife Assistant Policy Analyst In the new Arctic Ocean, shattering records for low sea ice have become an almost annual occurrence, and January 2016 suggests this year will be no exception...
- Great Expectations for California to Tackle Super Greenhouse Gases
Great Expectations for California to Tackle Super Greenhouse Gases
This is the first installment of the EIA Climate Campaign’s blog series on ‘Navigating the Path to Climate-Friendly Cooling.’ The series will focus on the key policy and technology issues related to mitigating hydrofluorocarbons...
- Wake Up Call: Musicians of Maroon 5 & Guster Discover the Good & Bad of Wood Sourcing Options
Wake Up Call: Musicians of Maroon 5 & Guster Discover the Good & Bad of Wood Sourcing Options
Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve played host to world-renowned rockstars last December. James Valentine and Jesse Carmichael of Maroon 5 and Adam Gardner of Guster found themselves in the lush rainforests of Northern Guatemala to learn about illegal logging and sustainable community forestry. With many instruments...
- EIA releases two new reports on precious woods for CITES SC66
EIA releases two new reports on precious woods for CITES SC66
Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are gathered this week in Geneva for the 66th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee. On the agenda are critical protections for precious timbers from Madagascar, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and West Africa. EIA has prepared two briefings...
- Montreal Success Can Enhance Paris Outcome
Montreal Success Can Enhance Paris Outcome
The Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened on Monday amidst passionate calls for a global deal to prevent global temperatures rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius. Despite 147 heads of state emphasizing the need for global action during the last two days, one thing is clear...
- New Report Highlights RSPO Auditing Practices, Builds on Peru-Malaysia Case Study
New Report Highlights RSPO Auditing Practices, Builds on Peru-Malaysia Case Study
In a new report called, Who Watches the Watchmen? Auditors and the breakdown of oversight in the RSPO, campaigners detail the effective lack of oversight within the international scheme to promote and certify “sustainable” palm oil suppliers, in the midst of annual meetings of the group in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
- Shoppers Can Use Amazon Smile to Support EIA this Holiday Season
Shoppers Can Use Amazon Smile to Support EIA this Holiday Season
With the holidays approaching and online shopping sales expected to hit record highs, it’s a perfect time to use Amazon Smile to support EIA’s campaigning efforts around the world...
- Singapore releases 30,000 logs of illegal Malagasy rosewood
Singapore releases 30,000 logs of illegal Malagasy rosewood
Judge neglects Singapore’s treaty obligations under CITES A judge in Singapore has dismissed the case against an importer, Mr. Wong Wee Keong and his company Kong Hoo, for bringing in nearly 30,000 logs of allegedly illegal Malagasy rosewood…
- EIA Partner Receives Human Rights Award at WOLA Gala, DC
EIA Partner Receives Human Rights Award at WOLA Gala, DC
The Mayflower Hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C. was filled to the brim with dignitaries, human rights advocates, and allies to celebrate the Washington Office on Latin America’s (WOLA) 10th Annual Human Rights Awards gala...
- Formal Discussions on HFC Phase Down Begin at Montreal Protocol: 5 Things to Know
Formal Discussions on HFC Phase Down Begin at Montreal Protocol: 5 Things to Know
This week the world has turned its focus to Dubai, as an extremely critical global agreement may emerge at the annual meeting of the Montreal Protocol, the treaty that saved the ozone layer. At this meeting, a formal contact...
- Does WWF Still Back the Ivory Trade?
Does WWF Still Back the Ivory Trade?
This blog post was originally posted on Dave Currey's personal blog. Dave is a founder of and former Executive Director of EIA UK who undertook extensive undercover investigations into illegal ivory trade and the criminal syndicates...
- Peru Promotes Oil Palm Expansion Despite Devastating Consequences for Indigenous Peoples & Amazon
Peru Promotes Oil Palm Expansion Despite Devastating Consequences for Indigenous Peoples & Amazon
Despite reports about the devastating impacts of oil palm expansion on forests and indigenous peoples, the Peruvian government continues to promote oil palm development, supposedly as a viable economic alternative...
- PEFC Dismisses Romanian Government Findings, Clears Austrian Company Despite Documented Illegalities
PEFC Dismisses Romanian Government Findings, Clears Austrian Company Despite Documented Illegalities
The certification body PEFC has closed its complaint against Holzindustrie Schweighofer (Schweighofer), despite an investigation by the Romanian Ministry of the Environment, Water and Forests that concluded the company has been involved in various...
- Calling on EPA to Continue U.S. Leadership on Eliminating Climate Damaging HFCs
Calling on EPA to Continue U.S. Leadership on Eliminating Climate Damaging HFCs
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) filed a petition yesterday calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to end the use of powerful greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in a number of applications, building on...
- China and U.S. Building Momentum to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
China and U.S. Building Momentum to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In September, China and the United States announced they had formulated a "common vision" to secure an ambitious global climate agreement at the highly anticipated United Nations’ climate meeting in Paris later this year; and that the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitting...
- EIA Preview of Sierra Club ‘Illegal Logging in the Congo Basin’ Lecture Series
EIA Preview of Sierra Club ‘Illegal Logging in the Congo Basin’ Lecture Series
Beginning September 14, EIA’s partner, the Sierra Club, will be hosting a series of presentations across the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. (see full list of locations here) to discuss illegal logging in the Congo Basin and how the United States...
- President Obama Visits a Changing Arctic
President Obama Visits a Changing Arctic
As the final stop on his summer tour on climate change, President Obama is in Alaska today. In addition to making history as the first sitting President to visit the American Arctic, this visit is not merely symbolic. More than four hundred dignitaries from all eight Arctic nations and other countries like China and the United...
- Lacey Act Protects Forests in the U.S. and Worldwide – But Only if Fully Enforced
Lacey Act Protects Forests in the U.S. and Worldwide – But Only if Fully Enforced
On August 6, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first Lacey Act prosecution involving illegal logging in the United States. This is good news and sends a powerful message to the timber industry at home...