The Norwegian government has removed 480m3 of tropical plywood from a new art gallery to uphold its promise not to use rainforest wood in public buildings.
Its action follows allegations by the Rainforest Foundation Norway and TV channel NRK that plywood made from Indonesian and Malaysian rainforest wood had been used in the construction of the gallery.
Greenpeace said the removal was probably the first case where rainforest timber has been torn down from a public building to honour procurement policies.
The Norwegian directorate of public construction and property guaranteed it would never again use rainforest products after 1,000m2 of “rainforest parquet” was installed in the University of Tromsø a year ago.
Lars Løvold, director of Rainforest Foundation Norway, said: “The minister’s decision to tear down the rainforest wood sends a strong and clear message to the industry and consumers to avoid timber from the rainforests.”
