Action must be taken, top Tory tells CFJ

UK - The Conservative Party front bench MP Peter Ainsworth is calling for action to stop stolen wood floors being imported into the UK. Mr Ainsworth is the shadow environment (DEFRA) minister.

In an exclusive statement to CFJ, Mr Ainsworth says: "I congratulate the EIA on the detailed work they have undertaken to expose the worrying extent to which illegally logged timber is entering the UK market.

'I am certain that British consumers would be horrified to learn that they were unwittingly contributing to the destruction of virgin rainforests.

'The trade in illegally logged timber is not only environmentally destructive, it is also unfair to responsible producers who find their products undercut in the market.

'It is extraordinary that the EU has yet to ban imports of illegal timber and the UK should be pressing for it to do so.

'We should also, as a matter of urgency, consider UK legislation to make it unlawful to possess or market illegal timber products.'

Mr Ainsworth's comments follow a CFJ report on a study by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner, Telapak, claiming that stolen rainforest wood flooring is being sold in the UK.

It alleges that merbau timber is being plundered from the forests of Indonesia's remote Papua Province by criminal gangs driven by powerful smuggling syndicates.
It is claimed that the illegal loggers collude with the Indonesian military and police to exploit and intimidate local communities into accepting less than 10 pounds sterling per cubic metre of merbau - timber worth nearly 2,000 pounds sterling when sold as flooring in the UK market.

* Last month the campaign by CFJ against the import of stolen wood floors was endorsed by the Green Party MEP, Caroline Lucas, who urges specifiers to buy only wood floors with the FSC logo.


We are acting, says Government

Responding to a request from CFJ, a spokesman for DEFRA (the Department for the Environment) issued an exclusive statement:

'Trade in illegal timber is unacceptable and legislation to prevent the import of illegal timber into the UK - the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation - was adopted in December 2005, under the UK's Presidency of the European Union. This legislation allows the EU to enter into agreements with developing countriesthat export timber.

'These agreements will provide assistance to tackle illegal logging and back this assistance with a licensing scheme where the EU commits to only import timber licensed as being legal from those countries.

'The UK is leading on negotiations with Ghana and we hope that the first Partnership Agreements will he in place by the end of 2006.

'The Government is aware that bilateral agreements will never be watertight and have been open about seeing the FLEGT process as a first step towards multilateral consensus.

'However, we are very conscious of not wanting to introduce measures that will clean up UK supply chains but displace illegal timber to less scrupulous markets. We are therefore still reviewing the fall impacts of further legislative options both at the national and EU level.

'The Government funded a series of studies by Chatham House on other options. These include trade measures and legislation to make it unlawful to possess or market illegal timber.(www.illegalHogging.info/ papers/Add_options_030406.doc)

'The results of these studies were presented at a stakeholder meeting funded by the UK and chaired by the European Commission and the Austrian Presidency in Brussels in January 2006.

'The European Commission is now expected to consider all options and issues raised at the meeting and deliver a report by summer 2006.

'At the international level the UK is working to engage other major timber consuming countries. This has included getting G8 countries to commit to a range of actions to tackle illegal logging at the G8 Environment and Development Ministerial on March 17-18, 2005, during the UK's G8 Presidency.

'The UK Government also recognises that its purchasing policies send a strong signal to the market and timber suppliers.

'Since 2000 the UK Government has committed its central departments to seek to procure products made from timber that has been legally harvested and grown in a sustainably managed forest or plantation.

'The UK timber trade tells us that this policy has been the singlemost important driver of change of behaviour in the UK private sector.

'Patterns of trade are changing to favour companies with responsible purchasing policies that can verify the legality of their sources.

'We recognise that the causes of illegal logging - linked to poverty, corruption and failures of governance and markets - are complex and that there is no single solution to the problem; we are therefore implementing a range of actions, at EU, international and national levels.'


edited:16/07/2007
uploaded:01/08/2006