As a major market for tropical hardwood, the European Union plays a key role in the international trade in illegal and destructively sourced timber. Yet, currently no laws in Europe allow authorities to seize shipments of illegally logged timber, nor hold importers and traders of illegal timber accountable. These traders remain free to profit from forest destruction.
Timber trailRead the SIM Crime File: Illegal logging in Cameroon's rainforests
Read the Crime File: Rainforest destruction at the Queen Sofia Museum
Read more about the loopholes in the Voluntary Partnership Agreements.
Italy
On 11th October in the Italian port of Livorno 30 activists blocked the unloading of the ship Guan He Kou, which was carrying illegal timber from the Congo Basin. Eight activists dressed as gorillas climbed the ship's cranes and prevented the cargo being unloaded.
The cargo was logged by a Cameroonian timber company, Société Industrielle de Mbang (SIM), who are partly financed by Italian money. Shortly before the activity, we discovered that SIM is illegally logging outside the boundaries of its permit and is also buying timber from other companies heavily involved in illegal logging.
On the 24th October, Italian activists also delivered a message to the Italian timber industry. Gorillas were let loose on stacks of SIM timber in the sawmill of the Chair of the Timber Federation in Rome. They also delivered a golden chainsaw and a "certificate of illegality" to him, much to his embarrassment!
Spain
On the 20th October 41 Greenpeace activists sealed the entrance to Madrid's prestigious Queen Sofia Museum and declared it an ancient forest crime scene. Activists hung a banner in front of the museum, one of Spain's most famous attractions, reading 'Forest Crime in the Reina Sofia.' The activity followed the discovery that the museum's newly opened extension has been built using jatoba timber bought from companies involved in the illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest, especially in Pará State.
The museum is now examining our evidence and is contacting their suppliers to assess where their timber originated from.
Luxembourg
On the 24th October EU Agriculture Ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), measures that the Commission believes are the solution to illegal logging.
Activists released a banner at the entrance to the meeting reading 'Ban illegal timber' to communicate that we do not believe that voluntary agreements are sufficient to stop illegal logging and that legislation is crucial to ensure the prohibition of illegal timber into the EU.
