Responsibility lies with the major markets, such as the UK. The UK is the largest EU importer of Indonesian plywood.
UK companies peddle illegal goods Travis Perkins and Jewson both purchase large quantities of Indonesian plywood. They are trading in products they know come from illegal and destructive logging of rainforests.
Update:Since our exposé, both Jewson and Travis Perkins have stopped purchasing timber from Indonesia.
UK Government buys illegal timber The UK Government's procurement policy states that government departments and agencies "[must] actively seek to buy timber and timber products from sustainable and legal sources".
Yet uncertified Indonesian rainforest products from notorious timber barons are still being used on a major Government construction site as hoardings to surround the building site and for formwork to hold wet concrete in place.
International aiding and abetting EU investors are the source of 60% of Indonesia's forestry sector foreign debt. A consortium of EU countries (plus the USA, China, Japan and Singapore) is currently planning to fund another mammoth Indonesian pulp mill.
Aid donors (including the UK) put certain conditions on loans to Indonesia - such as cracking down on illegal logging and closing indebted sawmills - but at the same time, they buy illegal timber.
No European or UK legislation currently exists to stop the import of illegal timber products.
Read Partners in Crime:
A Greenpeace investigation into illegally logged timber in Indonesia
PDF 2.15Mb
