Greenpeace activists search for illegal indonesian plywood at EU social and general HQ, Brussels
Do you support the introduction of legislation prohibiting the import into the EU of illegal forest products?
Conservative Party
No response received.
Green Party of England and Wales
Yes, unequivocally. In fact we would go further, and implement major reforestation plans in the UK, and encourage the same where appropriate in other EU countries, with the aim (amongst other things) of establishing a long-term supply of native timber which would render such imports obsolete - thus tackling the problem through positive economic development as well as through regulation.
We would also add that we want much logging that is currently legal to stop. Clear-cutting of temperate rainforests, for example, is devastating some countries' natural environment. We would wish to implement a comprehensive strategy for replacing or avoiding such imports, eg through an expanded and sustainable domestic timber industry, and through recycling policies that would reduce demand for timber products where possible.
Green Party of Scotland
Yes - we would actively support the introduction of such legislation. We would also press for major reforestation in the UK, and encourage the same in other EU countries, with the aim (amongst other things) of establishing a long-term supply of native timber which would render such imports obsolete - thus tackling the problem through positive economic development as well as through regulation.
We would also add that we want much logging that is currently legal to stop. Clear-cutting of temperate rainforests, for example, is devastating some countries' natural environment. We would wish to implement a comprehensive strategy for replacing or avoiding such imports, eg through an expanded and sustainable domestic timber industry, and through recycling policies that would reduce demand for timber products.
Labour Party
The Labour government is committed to halting the import and sale of illegally logged timber and timber products. Indeed, the UK government has been at the forefront in pushing the Action Plan in Europe to tackle this problem. We strongly back the proposal for Voluntary Partnership Agreements with timber producing countries which would provide development assistance to the forestry sector. It would be underpinned by the EU Import Regulation that would prevent the import of illegally logged timber from those countries to the EU and would be implemented by requiring a license to testify the legality of the timber. We are sympathetic to other options for wider legislation such as a total ban on imports to the EU of illegally logged timber. However, there are practical enforcement difficulties. We await Commission proposals so we can assess how this might work in practice.
Liberal Democrats
Yes. We would support new legislation to implement the proposed voluntary licensing scheme for imports as quickly as possible, and to move beyond that to ban the import of all illegally harvested timber and conflict timber.
We also want the government to implement a commitment made over three years ago to use government procurement policy to source only legal and sustainable timber, and to move as quickly as possible to 100% sourcing of timber certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), or equivalent, standards. We would encourage other EU member states to adapt their government procurement policies to incorporate legality and sustainability criteria, and to seek amendments to EU procurement directives if necessary.
