Denmark has expanded its timber procurement guidance to cover wood from all origins.
The ministry of environment’s nine-point plan for the public purchase of legal and sustainable timber is an update on existing procurement guidelines which cover only tropical timber.
Connie Hedegaard, Danish environment minister, said the new guidelines will be more target-orientated and clearer in order to ease compliance.
Ms Hedegaard: “We cannot save the world’s forests in a quick pull, but we can and shall make a difference here in Denmark, both in the public and private sector. We must clean up markets to eliminate illegal timber.”
She said an evaluation exercise, involving timber traders, public purchasers and ENGOs, had found existing guidelines were not sufficiently concrete and that good examples of legal and sustainable contracts were lacking.
The nine-point plan includes calling upon trade federations and other stakeholders to focus on legality and sustainability when purchasing timber, as well as asking ministers and other leaders/major organisations to develop green procurement policies.
Other features include promoting the certification of forests, further developing a timber tracking project in Russia and ensuring users and producers of timber are able to understand the procurement guidelines.
She said trade organisation Danish Ports was looking to develop a best practice guide for purchasing tropical timber for harbour construction works.
