Timber traders who supply uncertified products should be “ashamed of themselves”, former secretary of state for the environment John Gummer MP told an audience at Westminster last night.
Mr Gummer, one of the longest-serving cabinet ministers in British political history, told the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) dinner in the House of Lords that traders who don’t source certified timber should also receive a hard time time from their peer group.
The MP, who delivered a lecture on “Valuing the world’s forest resources”, also called on major forest certificaton schemes, such as PEFC and the Forest Stewardship Council, to pull together rather than argue about differences in their respective schemes.
“It’s like differences between the baptists and strict baptists, but to anyone else it’s not important,” he said.
