75,000 of us have told Jewson to stop selling suspect decking from the Amazon rainforest. But Jewson doesn't get it - so maybe this video explaining how the loggers loot the Amazon will help.
Last week we exposed some of the scams that loggers use to get official receipts for their illegal timber. This corruption is so common that you can't trust official paperwork from Brazil.
It's like trying to leave the country on someone else's passport. The passport may be legit, but you have no right to use it.
This animation - staring the award winning French actor Marion Cottilard - explains how criminal logging gangs are looting the Amazon and abusing the system to cover their tracks.
The DIY chain Jewson and its partner company International Timber is selling garden decking from the Amazon. We explained the situation - most of the logging is illegal, fake papers, etc. - and asked them to take the decking off the shelves until they'd checked and were certain it was legal.
But Jewson doesn't get it. It keeps saying, "Our timber isn't illegal, because we've got all the paperwork!"
This is spectacularly missing the point.
We're not saying that Jewson's timber is illegal - for the very simple reason that we have no way of telling. But - and this is the important bit - neither do they.
I'm sure they have plenty of documents, stamped with official stamps, signed with official signatures. But these receipts can't be trusted. Criminals buy and sell logging permits like these on the black market every day.
Jewson can't buy timber from the Amazon, where most of the logging is illegal, and trust the loggers that everything is above board. It has to do its own checks - and if it isn't absolutely satisfied, it must walk away.
Right now, Jewson and its partner International Timber have suspect timber from the Amazon stacked up ready for sale. They have no idea where it really came from, and no idea whether its legal.
That's simply not on. Until Jewson has done its homework properly, it must withdraw this decking from sale.
Join me in demanding Jewson stops selling this suspect timber.
