The approval of the D.L. 39/2009, and the entry into force of the Ministerial Decree 14.01.2008 resulted in the Enterprise Sector of the Construction of the certification requirement of products.

The Construction Products Directive sets out key requisites. The conformity of a product with these requirements shall be attested by the CE marking.

Few tropical hardwoods have already been recognized using this brand, and many are imported into Europe without any structural analysis.

Vasto Legno therefore wanted to designate one of his main, distinctive species, the Sapele, in the aim to lead it into the UNI-EN 1912 (Structural timber – Strength classes – Assignment of visual categories and species).

The ITTO Tropical Timber Market (TTM) Report, an output of the ITTO Market Information Service (MIS), is published in English every two weeks with the aim of improving transparency in the international tropical timber market. The TTM provides market trends and trade news from around the world, as well as indicative prices for over 400 tropical timber and added-value products.

Politicians and businesses need to set goals for daring to stop the loss of forests to conserve biodiversity and combat climate change: this is the message contained in the new WWF report launched as the first chapter of the Report that celebrates the International Year of Forests, proclaimed by the UN. In the Report “Living Forests” analyzing the causes of deforestation and identify opportunities to move from the market present a new model of sustainability which can apply to governments, businesses and communities.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has sent out a request for public comments on the implementation of the Lacey Act amendment. The deadline to submit comments is April 14, 2011. APHIS is soliciting these comments in preparation for its official report to Congress. Their report must evaluate the Lacey Act declaration requirement; the potential to harmonize the declaration with other applicable import regulations; the cost of preparing and submitting the declaration; and analyze the act’s impact on illegal logging and trade.

Ape Action Africa works on the front-line of great ape protection. Their goals are to address the immediate threats faced by gorillas and chimps in Africa, and to work with communities to develop long-term solutions to ensure their survival in the wild. Vasto Legno supported Ape Action Africa in its hard work with the Cameroon government and other NGOs to help with the huge conservation effort that is needed to reverse the downward spiral in populations of Cameroon’s magnificent great apes.

I Saloni are laying claim to their age with a touch of irony, a play on words that echoes their nature and their spirit, youthful and lively.
They are wearing those 50 years well, given that visitor numbers have risen from 12,000 in 1961 to 297,460 in 2010 and that the initial 328 exhibitors over what was then 11,000 square metres of display space have become over 2,500 exhibitors in an area that now measures in excess of 200,000 square metres.
50 years looking exclusively to the future, through a joined-up project that, along with the usual exhibition – the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, the biennial Euroluce / International Lighting Exhibition and SaloneUfficio / International Biennial Workspace Exhibition and SaloneSatellite – involves the City of Milan, providing an opportunity for reflection on design, on the world of industry that has made it all possible, on creativity and on culture.

Carbon credits, frankly, confuse me. I’m instinctively against them. I don’t like the idea that companies who are doing something bad can continue to do something bad by buying “good” credits in another area. Planting some low-grade teak in Costa Rica doesn’t seem to be a fair trade off for polluting another country’s air. I also see it as another artificially created financial product that no one understands but will still trade enthusiastically—and we all know the risk in those. That said, when I was in South America last year, I saw what appeared to be a good use of the carbon credit concept.