The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) is calling on Swedish companies importing timber from Latvia to contribute towards “responsible trade”.
A report by WWF shows that although Swedish companies are able to trace Latvian wood back to its origin, they have a low level of knowledge of forest management’s impact on the Baltic country’s forests. The environmental group says 50% of Latvia’s timber exports go to Sweden and illegal logging remains a problem.
The study’s recommendations to Swedish companies include improving systems tracing timber; transparency towards authorities with paying fees and taxes; and obtaining FSC chain of custody certification of subsidiaries and of imported FSC certified timber.
