timber trade

Illegally logged timber from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea is being used during renovation work at the Houses of Parliament.

Greenpeace investigators have found the timber, in the form of at least two tonnes of plywood, in the £5million restructuring of the Press Area. The rainforest wood is protecting floors, stairs and walls while work is being carried out.[1]

And this is the fourth time in as many years that Greenpeace has revealed that the Government is using illegal and unsustainable timber.[2]

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone was joined by Greenpeace Director, Stephen Tindale, at his weekly press conference, to announce that he is tightening up procurement procedures at the Greater London Authority, to ensure that timber used on Greater London Authority sites has come from responsibly managed forests.

Customary PNG landowner asks the timber trade to source 'good' wood

Today, Brian Baring, of the Gingilang clan on the north coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), delivered a giant letter to Alchemy Partners, asking them to stop daughter company Montague L Meyer from trashing PNG's rainforests for plywood. Logging in PNG is some of the worst on the planet, with virtually all industrial logging being illegal.

LUXEMBOURG: Greenpeace activists will today (24th October) send a clear message to EU agriculture and development ministers meeting in Luxembourg and Leeds (UK): that unless they prohibit illegal timber imports to the EU and support sustainable forest management globally, their efforts to stop illegal logging will not end rainforest destruction in the poorest regions of the world. Farm Ministers are due to reach a political agreement on voluntary measures to combat illegal logging and support forest governance reform in timber-producing countries [1].