Our campaign to stop National Lottery funded projects using endangered rainforest timber took another step forward on 21st March when the Heritage Lottery fund agreed to source all timber from legal and well-managed sources for projects they fund.
Each year the National Lottery contributes around £300m to some of the most prestigious heritage, sports and cultural building projects in Britain. Last year we exposed a number of high profile Lottery-funded projects that were using timber from endangered rainforests.
A major refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow was revealed to be using rainforest timber from South East Asia, while the Playfair Project in Edinburgh had used Sapele, a red-listed species sourced from the destruction of the rainforests of Central Africa.
Following these revelations the Heritage Lottery have committed to following Government guidelines, which require only timber from legal and well-managed forests to be used in central government projects. Greenpeace believes that only timber certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is certain to come from environmentally and socially responsible sources.
In December 2004, we identified similar problems at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff: uncertified timber decking sourced from Africa's Forest of the Great Apes, where illegal and destructive logging is endemic. We then turned our attention towards the new Wembley Stadium project. Soon afterwards Sport England amended its guidance to funding recipients, clearly stating that they should exclude all timber that has come from illegal and destructive logging practices.
Greenpeace is continuing to monitor other Lottery funded projects currently in progress. Projects currently under scrutiny include:
- Arnolfini, Bristol
- Town Hall, Birmingham
- City and County Museum, Lincoln
- National Centre for Children's Books, Newcastle
- National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
- The Public, West Bromwich
- Shoreditch Town Hall, London
- St Georges Hall, Liverpool
Nathan Argent, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner, said: "The Heritage Lottery Fund has an important role to play in protecting the world's remaining ancient forests. This commitment marks a positive step forward to ensuring that whilst at home Lottery money is helping good causes, it is not contributing to the degradation and destruction of ancient forests around the world."
"We would like to see further commitments from all National Lottery and Non-Governmental Public Bodies to use only FSC timber - the only way to guarantee that timber has come from legal and well-managed forests."
