Tuesday 22 July 2008

The UK imported 3.5 million cubic metres of illegal wood, which included the biggest quantities of furniture, finished wood products, sawnwood and plywood of all EU states. Only Finland brought in more illegal timber.

In 2006, the EU imported between 26.5 and 31 million cubic metres of illegal wood and related products, equal to the total amount of wood harvested in Poland in the same year. Most of Europe's illegal timber comes from Russia, Indonesia and China.

Protect forests

"Illegal logging reduces the protective function of forests which frequently increases the risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides and leads to deforestation, one of the main causes for climate change. Illegal logging also pushes down wood prices leading to major economic losses for the producer states, industries and local communities," said Julia Young, manager of the Forest and Trade Network* at WWF-UK.

"As the UK clearly plays a major role in fuelling this illegal trade, the government needs to ensure the EU urgently introduces legislation to prevent illegal timber entering the EU and thereby help protect the world's last remaining forests," she continued.

The report showed that some 23% of wood-based products imported from Eastern Europe, 40% from South-East Asia, 30% from Latin America and 36% to 56% from Africa originated from illegal or suspect sources. Major importers were Finland, UK, Germany and Italy.

Ineffective scheme

WWF believes this highlights the ineffectiveness of the existing voluntary scheme to tackle illegal logging, the EU Forest and Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Licensing Scheme.

Voluntary agreements have been drawn up between exporting and importing countries to tackle the trade. However, even if all voluntary agreements currently negotiated by the EU with partner countries under FLEGT were concluded, only 10% of illegal wood would be excluded by EU markets. No such negotiations are planned with countries like Russia and China.

Trading routes

The report traces 10 main trading routes for illegal wood. The main trader is Russia with 10 million cubic metres of illegal wood transferred to EU countries in 2006. Half of this wood arrived in the European market through Finland, where it was processed into pulp and paper and then exported to other EU countries.

While the second main trader is Indonesia, China has recently become a major player having tripled its exports of wood and paper products to the EU between 2003 and 2006. Experts say that 32% of these exports are from illegal sources.

WWF now urges the introduction of an EU law to guarantee that only legal wood is sold in the European market. Traders should have to prove the origin and legality of wood and a penalty should be introduced for any violation. The European Commission is expected to make a proposal on this issue in the next few months

*The FTN works to encourage the more responsible use of forest products, eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests.