The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is planning to ‘name and shame’ the government for not ‘living up to its promises’ on procurement of certified timber.
Director of programmes at the WWF Francis Sullivan appealed to members of the Plywood Club of London to give information about local authorities not procuring certified timber.
Talking at the club’s October meeting, he said: ‘We are talking to Radio 4 about doing research into this issue and anybody that has evidence about authorities not taking this seriously, we would like to know about it.’
Mr Sullivan said the government had made promises about its policies on procurement but nothing was happening.
He said the WWF would use examples to ’embarrass’ the government between now and the 10th anniversary of the WWF 95+ Group on November 23, which will be attended by minister of the environment Michael Meacher.
‘There are a number of investigative journalists looking into this at the moment. There is a lot of bad feeling from people in the trade and a lot of evidence of the fact that the government is not practising what it’s preaching.’
Mr Sullivan said he understood that government buildings were being constructed using non-certified timber.
One plywood trader said: ‘There is not enough being done at government level locally to push Forest Stewardship Council products on the ground. They’re not putting their money where their mouth is.’
The Office of Government Commerce said an internal survey shows most timber procured by central government departments is from sustainable resources. Data is not available for local authorities.
