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Jewson to stop selling illegally logged decking |
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13 Jun 2014, 11:56 AM
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Builder's merchant and DIY giant Jewson and International Timber have announced that they will stop selling garden decking from the Brazilian Amazon, and are to launch an independent review of their supply chain in Brazil.
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This announcement followed a Greenpeace investigation which revealed massive amounts of illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon, and the widespread use of fraudulent documents to disguise illegal timber. Jewson, the well-known high-street builders’ merchants, had been selling garden decking made from ipe, an Amazonian hardwood originating in areas where illegal logging and timber laundering are rife, and Greenpeace used this as an example of the legal risk in importing Amazonian timber.
Jewson revealed their Brazilian suppliers, Solimad Madeiras and Condor Florestas, as they had legal paperwork covering all of their ipe. Greenpeace then discovered that the suppliers had been fined over £2 million for forest crimes in the past five years, including the illegal destruction of over 1,000 hectares of a national park and multiple fines for timber laundering offences, including using fraudulent legal paperwork.
The UK’s timber regulator, the National Measurements Office, has confirmed that as a result of Greenpeace’s investigation it will be investigating timber coming into the UK from Brazil. Under European law, companies are forbidden from importing illegal timber into Europe. Similar investigations are occurring in other European countries, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, as the widespread corruption in the Brazilian timber industry comes to light.
Richard George, Greenpeace forests campaigner, said, “It’s great to see Jewson responding positively and taking this suspect timber off the shelves. But this wasn’t an isolated incident. Illegal logging is the norm in the Amazon, and with so much timber laundering going on, companies need to tread very carefully to stay on the right side of the law. If you’re not checking the provenance of your timber, someone else will.”
Illegal logging has reached endemic levels. In January, the former head of the Brazilian National Forest Service said that over half of logging in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal. In the state of Pará, which provides half of the Amazon timber that comes to Europe, 78% of logging is estimated to be illegal. The Federal Prosecutor in the state of Pará has brought three separate lawsuits so far this year in an effort to stop timber laundering and illegal logging.
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| Positive review of this story |
Janet Parkinson Lawson  |
19 Jun 2014, 6:30 AM |
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Best news this year. Watched programme about the Amazon and the damage that is caused threw humans greed.
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