Summary
• The January Chatham House conference covered anti-illegal logging initiatives worldwide.
• The UK’s CPET initiative is respected abroad.
• Generic chain of custody has potential.
• The finance sector can help combat illegal logging.

The latest Chatham House conference on illegal logging underlined that this is now among the key environmental issues of the moment worldwide.

UK minister for the environment Phil Woolas headed the two-day event which updated delegates on the full spectrum of topics, from the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance & Trade (FLEGT) scheme for steering tropical countries towards sustainable forest management, to America’s Lacey Act on trade in illegal goods which was updated last year to cover hardwood.

The US legislation, originally framed to stop illegal trade in animal and plant products, from reptile skins and feathers, is also regarded as setting a template for action by other countries. It provides an instrument for actually prosecuting companies that knowingly ‘steal’ timber from endangered and otherwise unauthorised sources. As governments elsewhere come under increasing NGO and consumer pressure to find ways of controlling this trade, the likelihood of Lacey Act-style enforcement will grow, especially across Europe.

CPET update

CPET, together with Danish, German and Japanese government representatives, also used the Chatham House event to present the latest in their various initiatives to ensure legal/sustainable timber procurement.

Controversy was sparked by comments from Greenpeace International which were critical of the Dutch government’s approach to timber sourcing, in this case from Malaysia, where the NGO feels the Malaysian Timber Certification Council systems for ensuring sustainable sourcing are inadequate.

The Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) itself responded robustly to the criticism. It also voiced its frustration at the use by the green group of examples of poor forest management and sourcing controls going back many years and its lack of acknowledgment of the progress it says has been made in this area.

Malaysia’s efforts towards legality and sustainability in the Sabah region were particularly well described by its director of forestry who made made no attempt to hide some of the problems that persisted in the area, but insisted that a concerted campaign is ongoing to protect the forests, while also ensuring the population gain a sustainable commercial benefit from their timber resource.

Generic chain of custody

The latest proposal for a generic environmental chain of custody programme in the UK were also discussed. This would allow traders to market all their certified material, regardless of the actual certification scheme, as compliant with UK government procurement criteria, as defined by CPET. The latter confirmed that it sees the proposal from BM TRADA as a positive step. A key potential benefit of the initiative to the trade is that it would allow material from the two main certification schemes operating in the UK, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), to be mixed.

Meanwhile, the PEFC itself announced that it is launching a “social elements” study of its certification programme in April. Some NGOs have criticised the scheme for not giving sufficient weight in its certification criteria to social issues and the well-being of local populations, workers and other forest stakeholders.

UK Timber Trade Federation (TTF) chief executive John White explained how the finance sector could influence the war on illegal logging and overall environmental performance of the international timber trade. The TTF and PricewaterhouseCoopers, he said, had held discussions with a number of banks to gauge their response to a proposal on funding companies that sign up to responsible timber purchasing. Another meeting will be held this month.

The performance of the forestry industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo was also discussed in depth, with green group Global Witness and the country’s wood industry federation locking horns on a variety of claims and counter claims.

Chinese presence

China also comes in for heavy NGO criticism on its timber import policy and forestry practices and a defining moment for the meeting was a rare appearance by a speaker from the country’s State Forestry Authority. He maintained that China had made progress on the key issues, but also recognised the need for further action to drive illegal timber off the international market.

The conference also heard more about the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) initiative, which was showcased at the UN’s climate change summit in Bali in December.

There were presentations too on carbon credits and offset schemes, which speakers maintained are starting to impact on green house gas emissions.