Tag Archives: sustainable
The Importance Of Oud
Sustainable Asset Management and Greenstone Equity Partners have teamed up with speciality plantation operator Asia Plantation Capital to bring agro-forestry and Oud bearing Aquilaria plantations as serious project opportunities to institutional investors in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, whilst simultaneously working to help preserve the increasingly rare Aquilaria tree in the wild. The traditional use of Oud as an incense in the Gulf region is well known. This valuable oil is renowned for its pleasant and distinctive odour. Over generations Oud has been embodied into local culture as a sign of hospitality and generosity to family, guests and dignitaries. As a result of this demand, Oud and agarwood have become rare in the wild. Future supplies have only been safeguarded by both international legislation, with CITES protecting the rare Aquilaria species in the wild, and by the actions of specialist forestry companies such as Asia Plantation Capital (APC) who have created sustainable tree plantations and invested in modern distilling techniques to ensure future farmed Oud and Agarwood supplies. Aquilaria trees require very specific growing conditions and when infected by particular fungi yield the precious agarwood, from which Oud is derived. In nature this occurs in fewer than five trees per hundred, but with modern forestry practices and following extensive scientific research, several methods have now been discovered to inoculate these trees and induce agarwood in virtually the whole crop. This has allowed innovative companies such as APC, who use an organic inoculation method, to develop a good number of small-scale forestry plantations across Thailand, Sri Lanka and other South East Asian countries where Aquilaria trees have been grown for a number of years and continue to be planted. Mark Wills, Managing Director at Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), explains that “these plantations help balance the supply & demand, reducing pressure for illegal logging and the environmentally damaging cutting of wild Aquilaria in search for wild agarwood.” The size and nature of each Aquilaria plantation is of key importance for the crop and for the local community. APC plantations are classed as agro-forestry as the land has dual uses in the early years of the Aquilaria trees’ life. By grouping plantations in regions, and growing secondary crops such as teak, bamboo, banana and other foods, these plantations create many jobs for local communities and become a centre for the processing of agarwood and Oud oil; which are labour intensive and rewarding activities for local community groups. APC has used agarwood as a social instrument to help revitalise communities in rural areas in this region. APC is a vertically integrated business; social forestry is their passion and they recognised early on that value retention comes from selling the end product through to the market and developing new products and brands for their produce. Today APC is using agarwood and Oud as traditional products for the Gulf communities, as well as in a variety of products that appeal to Western and Eastern consumers’ alike; from fragrances used at Fragrance du Bois, through luxurious cosmetic products, to nutritional supplements, improved rice and even in traditional medicinal applications. Of course, there remains Oud oil. APC and Sustainable Asset Management place great emotional value on the traditional uses of Oud and have been honoured by the recognition of their dedication from both Gulf based investors and now by Greenstone Equity Partners, looking to participate in what has become a partnership for social action and culture preservation. Omar Al-Gharabally, Managing Director at Greenstone Equity Partners comments “when we recognised the quality of Sustainable Asset Management’s Oud, and heard of the dedication and forestry expertise within APC, we knew that we would welcome a commercial relationship. The careful due diligence we have conducted highlights not only the environmental and cultural positives of this project but also the financial rewards.” Continue reading
Industry Backs New £25m Sustainable Biofuels Fund
Government launches competition to identify the most viable proposals for a new plant capable of turning waste into fuel By Will Nichols 02 Aug 2013 Industry has welcomed government plans to provide £25m towards a UK plant capable of turning waste into biofuel, but cautioned that the role of first-generation fuels should not be dismissed. Companies are being asked to compete for the money by proposing new ideas for viable demonstration-scale plants that can advance the UK biofuels industry. The Department for Transport said the £25m will be provided over three years, subject to EU State Aid approval, and used “to underpin significant private sector investment in one or more demonstration-scale advanced biofuel plants It added that further details, including eligibility criteria and funding options can be expected in the autumn alongside a range of other potential measures to support sustainable fuels. Advanced biofuels are made from materials such as municipal waste, agricultural residues, or algae that do not require the use of agricultural land, in theory negating the argument that the industrial-scale production of biofuels can hinder food production and drive deforestation. Green groups have said fuels made from crops such as wheat displace agriculture, causing food price volatility and potentially increasing emissions through deforestation, draining of peatlands, and other clearance , effects that could be multiplied by increasing demand for biofuels from the road transport and aviation sectors. As such projects such as BP, AB Sugar, and DuPont’s new biorefinery in Hull, which is set to become the UK’s largest buyer of wheat, have faced criticism from some green campaigners. In contrast, advanced biofuels production is still at a low level, but the EU has introduced sustainability criteria and limited the role crop-based biofuels can play in meeting its green transport targets in a bid to encourage the nascent sector. Transport Minister Norman Baker said the UK has an opportunity to leap to the front of what could be a huge global market. “There are real opportunities for the UK to take a technological lead, driving growth, creating highly skilled jobs and seeing energy, security and environmental benefits,” he said in a statement. “It is clear that in the long term advanced biofuels will be important in areas that we cannot otherwise decarbonise, such as aviation. This announcement will help put the UK in a good position to meet this demand.” The Renewable Energy Association (REA) said the prize could help spur growth and jobs in the new industry. However, Clare Wenner, REA’s head of renewable transport, also urged the government not to write off the existing biofuels industry and ensure a sufficient regulatory framework is in place to support it beyond 2020. In a statement, she said: “Current biofuels, which meet strict sustainability criteria, can make a major contribution to renewable energy and emissions reduction targets in the short term, and enable the investments for R&D into advanced biofuels, with even better environmental performance, over the medium term. The key missing ingredient for both is a clear and supportive policy framework.” Continue reading
How To Get Sustainable Forestry Right
12 August 2013 How to get sustainable forestry right Mark Brown Professor of Forestry Operations at University of the Sunshine Coast DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Mark Brown is affiliated with Institute of Foresters Australia (IFA). We can develop a logging industry that works for everyone. Flickr/Ta Ann: Behind the veneer Australian forestry is shifting: in recent months some states have moved to log less, some more. More logging brings protests about environmental values; less, complaints about how it will affect the state’s economy. But there is a way to extract timber sustainably, and keep everyone happy. Different sides to the forestry story Tasmania is transitioning native forests to non-timber-producing reserves. Meanwhile in Queensland native forests that were to be removed from timber production may now be reopened to forestry. The harvest in Tasmania and Queensland is largely driven by a small portion of wood going to high-quality, high-value products like flooring and furniture, which can’t be made from plantation timber. The problem is that sustainable forest management, by its very nature, is a field that can be highly divisive. In 2004, Heiner Schanz from the University of Freiberg reviewed the literature on sustainable forest management and found more than 14 different definitions. He noted that controversy should almost be expected. Any one definition of sustainable forestry valued one of the five dimensions of forest management (ecological, economic, social, temporal and spatial) at the expense of others. Competing ideologies of how forests should be managed has led to conflict in Tasmania Flickr/Ta Ann: Behind the veneer In my experience, responsible forest managers and environmental groups often want the same thing. Both seek to have a healthy, productive, vibrant and diverse forest for future generations. The difference tends to emerge with economic expectations. Forest managers see the extraction of timber as a cornerstone of sustainable forest management. Environmentalists see it as the main destructive force for all the potential forest values. Learning from the past In industrialised nations like Canada and Australia, concerns about the forest damage and devastation caused by timber harvesting and extraction are largely linked to practices from decades ago. You will be hard-pressed to find a forest manager who won’t openly acknowledge these past mistakes. But management of these operations was based on the knowledge, technology and social interest of the time, all of which have since improved. We have better forestry today. I have even seen a number of examples in recent years where forest harvesting activities have been used to correct past mistakes. For example , management plans and harvest operations in Germany try to return forest biodiversity to the state it was in decades or even centuries ago. Over the past century, forest management favoured certain species in the mixed forests in Germany’s Bavaria. Over the last few decades, forest management has promoted the growth of those under-represented species. The economic value is still important but clearly being managed in balance with other forest values. Some environmental groups in Victoria have acknowledged the potential for sustainable forest management. The Wombat State Forest was over-exploited in the past, and was placed in reserve as a community forest in the early 2000s. It has become a focal point for regeneration of native forests. Community groups advocating for the protection and regeneration of that forest do not want to see it go back to traditional timber production use. But when plans to eliminate timber cutting entirely were raised, many of those groups indicated that active forestry interventions were critical to rebuilding the ecological, environmental and social values of that forest. Even with the problems caused by past forest management, many of the forested areas identified in Tasmania for protection as “high conservation value forests” have been harvested in the past. Some would argue they are in such good shape as a result of good sustainable forest management. Sweden has managed its forests for economic gain and environmental values. -bjornsphoto-/Flickr Can we get it right? I believe native forests can be sustainably managed with timber extraction. This balance can give a region a thriving forest industry while sustaining and enhancing the many other values we have for forests in our society. Examples around the world show that forests can be managed to deliver the economic values of timber for construction, fibre for pulp and paper, and increasingly as a feedstock for renewable chemicals and energy . Finland and Sweden not only have sustained and grown their traditional timber industries but are emerging as world leaders in renewable energy from biomass. And they are still considered to have some of the most pristine landscapes in the world. I have a small family property in Canada that has been owned by our family since the original settlement of the area. Over the years it has provided timber to the mill, but still been a favourite spot of the community for hunting, fishing and other recreation activities. It is well on track to provide the same for future generations. As the contrasting policies in Queensland and Tasmania play out it will present many research opportunities related to the five dimensions of sustainable forest management. I for one will watch with great interest how the regional development in the forested regions of Queensland stack up to those in Tasmania. Continue reading
