REPEAT OFFENDER: HOW TONY BLAIR'S GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO TRASH THE WORLD'S RAINFORESTS
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ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION CRIME FILE
JULY 2006
REPEAT OFFENDER:
HOW TONY BLAIR’S
GOVERNMENT CONTINUES
TO TRASH THE WORLD’S
RAINFORESTS
In March 2001 Tony Blair pledged that the UK
Government would only purchase timber from legal and We have already promised that as
sustainable sources. This followed the introduction of a Government we will only purchase
a policy the previous year requiring all UK Government timber from legal and sustainable sources.
departments and agencies to “actively seek” to buy
such timber. We will be advocating further measures
in the G8 against illegal logging.
Yet, since that time the UK Government has repeatedly Prime Minister Tony Blair, March 2001
failed to live up to its own standards. In 2002
Greenpeace exposed the Government’s use of illegal
and destructively logged African rainforest timber in
the refurbishment of the Cabinet Office in Whitehall,
and in 2003, Greenpeace investigations uncovered the
Government’s use of Indonesian rainforest plywood in
the construction of the new Home Office.
These embarrassing failures led the Department of
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to establish
the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) to advise
central government and its agencies on sourcing timber
from legal and sustainable sources. Yet Government
projects continue fuel the destruction of the world’s
ancient forests and in doing so, jeopardise the trade in
legal, environmentally and socially responsible timber.
New Greenpeace research has revealed that the
refurbishment of Admiralty Arch, home to both the
Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit,
is using Chinese hardwood plywood made with timber
sourced from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea.
Ruthless ‘robber barons’ are plundering Papua New
Guinea’s rainforest with impunity – their crimes ranging
from illegal logging, to corruption, torture and rape.
Words are not enough. The UK Government must The majority of forestry operations [in
finally take effective action to ensure that all the Papua New Guinea] cannot credibly be
timber used in its building projects can be traced back
to environmentally and socially responsible sources.
characterised as complying with national
It must also introduce a ban on the import of illegal laws and regulations and are therefore
timber products into the UK – the only way to stop this ‘unlawful’.
destructive trade. Forest Trends, 20061Police remove a door made from
uncertified African rainforest timber
confiscated by Greenpeace activists
from the new cabinet office building.
A Government
minister apologised
yesterday for
misleading Parliament
about the origin of
the wood being used
in the refurbishment
of the Cabinet Office.
©Allen
The Times, 19 April 2002
THE UK GOVERNMENT IS AIDING
The UK Government recognises that
AND ABETTING GLOBAL FOREST CRIME
Government purchasing policies can also send a
Central government procurement accounts for approximately 20%
of timber used in the UK and the broader public sector may account strong signal to the market and suppliers. Since
for as much as 40%.2 The introduction of the Government’s timber 2000, the UK Government has committed
procurement policy in 2000, which applies to all wood used in its central departments to seek to procure
government contracts, including those used temporarily during
construction like plywood hoardings, should have meant the products made from timber that has been
Government was playing a positive role in supporting the use of legally harvested and grown in a sustainably
environmentally and socially responsible timber in the market place. managed forest or plantation.
Elliot Morley, Environment Minister, 1 May 2006
However, since the introduction of the Government’s policy,
Greenpeace has exposed the Government’s failure to live up to its
own standards on numerous occasions including:
• CABINET OFFICE: In April 2002 Greenpeace occupied the Shuttering at Home Office
Cabinet Office at 22 Whitehall and declared it an ‘Ancient Forest site using Indonesian plywood
Crime’ scene. This followed an undercover investigation, which manufactured by companies
revealed that the Government was installing new doors and notorious for their illegal logging,
corruption and human rights
windows made from sapele timber, sourced from companies
abuses
known to be logging illegally in the rainforests of Cameroon. At
Prime Minister’s Questions on the afternoon of the occupation,
Tony Blair accused Greenpeace of being ‘misconceived’.3 The
Cabinet Office was later forced to retract this statement. A
subsequent Government inquiry accepted Greenpeace’s case
and led to promises to properly implement its policy in future.
©Greenpeace/Cobbing
• HOME OFFICE: In June 2003 Greenpeace occupied the
construction site of the new Home Office headquarters at 2
Marsham Street in Westminster after finding plywood from
Indonesia’s last rainforests, supplied by companies notorious for
illegal logging, corruption and human rights abuses. The plywood
was being used for site hoardings and formwork. The contractor
Bouygues UK had failed to monitor what type of timber was
being brought onto site.
The government procurement policy on
timber applies to all wood and products made
Following these embarrassments, in 2004 DEFRA established the from wood used in performing government
CPET to advise Government departments and agencies on timber
issues. However, to date CPET has introduced only weak guidelines
contracts. That includes the wood used
for Government contractors and little effort has been put into their temporarily during construction works as well
monitoring and enforcement.4 Greenpeace’s investigation shows as wood fixed as part of a finished structure.
that in at least one case – Admiralty Arch – this has led to illegal Michael Meacher, Environment Minister, 8 May 2003
timber being used on site.ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION CRIME FILE
JULY 2006
THE CHAIN OF DESTRUCTION revealed how System Clad had installed bintangor faced Chinese
FROM ADMIRALTY ARCH TO THE plywood in the refurbishment of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar
RAINFORESTS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA Square. 7
Since 2000, Admiralty Arch has been home to the Cabinet Office The red canarium faced plywood used at Admiralty Arch, was sold
and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. It is currently undergoing to System Clad by timber merchant AW Champion. When asked by
refurbishment for stonework and redecoration. Part of Renew Greenpeace researchers about the origin of its red canarium faced
Holdings PLC, Allenbuild has been employed as the contractor for plywood, AW Champion was unable to provide any evidence that
the project. Allenbuild has a turnover exceeding £180 million a the plywood comes from well managed forests, only providing a
year and employs over 500 people nationwide.5 copy of its timber procurement policy which provides no indication
of the legality or sustainability of its supply. WI Chambers, supplier
Allenbuild subcontracted security company System Clad to install of bintangor faced plywood to System Clad, had previously been
the plywood hoardings used in the refurbishment of Admiralty Arch. unable to provide information to the Greater London Authority
Greenpeace has identified bintangor and red canarium tropical (GLA) on the origin of similar plywood that it supplied to the
hardwood faced plywood, manufactured in China, being used as company for the refurbishment of Nelson’s Column’s in Trafalgar
hoardings on the site. Square. Following this incident, the GLA stated that in future only
FSC certified timber would be procured. No certified plywood using
Bintangor logs are almost exclusively sourced from the rainforests these veneers is currently available in China.
of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The bintangor faced
plywood used on site was manufactured at the Xuzhou Tiande mill in AW Champion is a member of the UK Timber Trade Federation’s
Jiangsu province in China. In August 2005, Greenpeace researchers Code of Conduct, which claims that its individual members
visited the Tiande mill and one of the suppliers of its bintangor ‘unreservedly condemn illegal logging practices’.8 The Federation
veneers, the Jaing Hai mill. At the veneer mill they found tags on has now advised its members that ‘in the absence of credible
bintangor logs showing that they had come from concessions evidence of legality that members should refain from dealing in
owned by logging companies in Papua New Guinea – Kerawara and wood products made with timber from Papua New Guinea or the
Rimbunan Hijau. In July 2006, the Jaing Hai mill again confirmed Solomon Islands’.9
to Greenpeace researchers that they still sell bintangor veneers to
Tiande and that the logs are sourced from Papua New Guinea.
Red canarium logs are also almost exclusively sourced from the
rainforests of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The red
canarium faced plywood used on site was imported by Montague
Meyer and was manufactured in the Linyi Laiyi mill in Shandong
Province, China. Telephone conversations with the mill in June 2006
confirm that it sources veneers from small mills in Linyi. Documents
obtained by Greenpeace in 2005 revealed that one of Linyi Laiyi’s
suppliers of tropical veneers was purchasing logs from Rimbunan
Hijau in Papua New Guinea.
Whilst some Chinese mills claim that they are sourcing these
©Greenpeace
timbers from Malaysia, export figures do not support this.
Throughout 2005 and the first two months of 2006 no bintangor
logs were exported from Sarawak, the principle source of bintangor
in Malaysia.6 The little red canarium that is exported from Sarawak
is exported as Mixed Light Hardwood logs, making it unlikely that
the wood is being used as a source for red canarium plywood in Some 70% of all China’s timber imports
China. Further, importers at Zhanjiagang, the main port of entry for come from Asia Pacific countries and
logs into China, told Greenpeace in July 2006 that bintangor and
red canarium coming through the port is sourced from Papua New
China has become the leading market
Guinea and the Solomons. for most of them. In many cases,
increasing trade flows are associated with
In October 2005, Greenpeace highlighted the ready availability of
illegally logged Chinese hardwood plywood from the rainforests of
unsustainable harvesting, corruption,
Papua New Guinea in UK by dumping one tonne of such plywood illegal logging, and the abuse of indigenous
outside of DEFRA. The absence of credible proof of either legality or and other forest community rights.
sustainability of this plywood has led many European timber traders International Forestry Review 2004
to suspend trade in the product. In June 2006 Greenpeace alsoLandowners in Papua New Guinea walk through
Rimbunan Hijau’s Wawai Guavi logging concession
– they oppose this logging of their land and are
trying to prevent further road construction.
THE ROLE OF CHINA IN
ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION
In the last decade China has replaced the United States
© Scheltema/Greenpeace
as the biggest importer of timber on the planet, a
result of the country’s own logging ban in large areas
of natural forest, the liberalisation of trade barriers and
the massive growth of the Chinese timber processing
industry, largely for export.
In 2003 China imported more than 7.6 million m3 of
tropical logs – mainly from Malaysia, Gabon and the
Paradise Forests of Papua New Guinea.10 According
to figures from the International Tropical Timber
Organisation (ITTO), for every ten tropical logs shipped
from the word’s threatened rainforests, five are
destined for China, making it the largest importer of
rainforest destruction in the world.11
©Greenpeace
©Greenpeace
China is also now the world’s largest plywood producing
and exporting country.12 In the booming heartland of
eastern China, a few major factories and thousands of
small family veneer mills run machines throughout the
Loaded log truck, Linyi City, Child working in a plywood mill in
day, stripping veneers from logs for plywood for the
Shandong Province, China. China that supplies the UK.
global market.
In 2005 Greenpeace investigated a number of Chinese
mills producing plywood for the UK. All of those
©Greenpeace
investigated stated that the rainforest timber used in
their plywood production came through the port of
Zhanjiagang, which accounted for over 50% of all Chinese
tropical hardwood log imports in 2002.13 In 2004, nearly 3
million m3 of tropical timber came through this port, with a
reported declared value of 400 million.14
These mills consistently told Greenpeace that they source
their logs either through buyers sent direct from the mill
or traders acting on a mill’s behalf at the port. Decisions
are made based on documents that may list only the
ship name, the volume and the species available for sale.
This sign on a piece of plywood
found at Admiralty Arch tells us… Traders pick the logs they want from the list and then
transport them to veneer mills in Shandong or Jiangsu
province for processing. Despite repeated requests, none
of the traders of mills investigated by Greenpeace were
able to provide documents to indicate the legality or
sustainability of timber on sale.
that the plywood used on the Workers at the mills labour in 35°C heat, stripped down to
hoardings at Admiralty Arch is red the waist with little to no safety protection. The workers
canarium from China.
also often live at the mills. When asked what workers were
paid the mills refuse to disclose wages.
From the veneer mills, stacks of tropical veneers are sent
©Greenpeace
to plywood mills to be processed into the final product.
The plywood is then trucked to one of the two main export
ports at Quindao and Llanyungang, where it is stored in
warehouses before being exported.ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION CRIME FILE
JULY 2006
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME funded report which found widespread environmental damage,
IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA corruption and social upheaval in logging areas.
Papua New Guinea is a nation located on the world’s largest Specific allegations made in an Australian documentary include:
tropical island. Its magnificent forest forms part of the few
remaining significant ancient forests on earth. It is home to • People forced to sign agreements at gunpoint and threats
wildlife such as the tree kangaroo, the world’s largest pigeon, of imprisonment and even death.15
the largest butterfly on earth – the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing, • Use of armed police officers with guns drawn to emphasise
with a wing span of over 11 inches – and the world’s longest the ability of the company personnel to enforce their
lizard, along with over 3000 species of orchid. threats.16
• Use of police ‘mobile squads’ to quell any industrial unrest
Almost all the land in Papua New Guinea is owned by amongst logging company employees.
indigenous communities under customary tenure. Most of • Use of firearms by logging company managers to threaten
these communities depend on the forest for their livelihood. and intimidate local people.17
The forest provides food, water, housing, fuel, transport and • Torture, physical abuse and unlawful detention of local
medicine. Prior to 2005, logging companies had to acquire people by police officers ‘employed’ by the logging
prior and informed consent from the customary landowners company.18
before logging could legally proceed; now, due to corruption and • Rape of female employees by logging company managers
pressure from logging companies, this law has been amended, and police.19
removing the rights of landowners to be adequately consulted.
The impacts on the people living in and from the forests are
A World Bank funded independent review in Papua New Guinea devastating. According to customary landowner Brian Baring, who
found widespread and serious illegalities across the logging visited the UK in March 2006 to communicate to the UK timber
industry. These findings were reinforced by a UK Government trade about the impacts of logging in Papua New Guinea:
The overwhelming conclusion is that the
robber barons are now as active as they ever
were. They are not only free to roam, but are
in fact encouraged to do so by persons
whose proper role is to exercise control
over them.
World Bank funded Government Review of Disputed
Forest Allocations, Papua New Guinea, 2003
China is the principle market for Papua New
Guinea’s logs – taking more than 75% of
exports in 2005.
ITTO Market Report
Volume 11, Number 4, 16-28 February 2006
© Scheltema/GreenpeaceTHE NEED FOR
POLITICAL ACTION BY
THE UK GOVERNMENT
ON ILLEGAL LOGGING
To help protect the world’s last ancient forests the UK
Government must strengthen its timber procurement
policy and ensure full and transparent chain of custody
such as that offered by the Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC). It is also critical that the Government responds
to the broader issue of illegal timber continuing to
openly cross our borders. Despite endless statements
by the UK Government going back to 1997 pledging
to tackle the trade in illegal timber, there is currently
no effective legislation in place in the UK or the EU that
prohibits its import.
In October 2005, the European Commission did
adopt a package of voluntary measures to address the
illegal timber trade focusing on Voluntary Partnership
Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and timber producing
countries. Whilst Greenpeace has been supportive of some
elements of the VPAs, they on their own can not tackle the
import of illegal timber as evidenced by the case of Chinese
plywood. This is because:
• VPAs will not address trade through third party
countries, such as China, where laundering of illegal
and destructively logged timber is rampant.
©Scheltema/Greenpeace
• VPAs will only apply to timber producing countries that
agree to enter into such agreements. No VPA has yet
been signed with either China or Papua New Guinea.
• If negotiated in secret with producer governments
where corruption and weak forest governance
’I have seen our forests destroyed by foreign companies. are common, without meaningful civil society
They do not respect us or our culture, or our sacred sites. participation, VPAs may legitimise illegal and
They run over our food gardens with their machinery. destructive practises.
They drive their trucks and bulldozers through our
streams polluting it with oil and mud with no regard that
people downstream drink from those streams. They take
the trees they want and destroy many more to get to the Cheap imports of illegal timber and the
trees they want.’
non-compliance of some firms with basic
Malaysian companies, who have already stripped the environmental standards destabilises
majority of their own rainforests, dominate the forest international markets, threatens jobs and
industry in Papua New Guinea, controlling over 80%
of all log exports. These companies are plundering the
creates unfair competition. Without a
rainforests and the country could be logged out by 2020.20 clear European framework, companies
Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau is the undisputed that behave responsibly and want to
ruler over forest resources in Papua New Guinea and
invest in sustainable practises will always
is responsible for around half of the logs that leave the
country. Rimbunan Hijau has been directly linked not only be at a disadvantage.
to illegal logging but also to human rights abuses including John White, Chief Executive of the UK Timber Trade
torture and rape. However, the company appears to be Federation, 16 April 2005
protected by politicians and its crimes go unchecked.ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION CRIME FILE
JULY 2006
UK TIMBER INDUSTRY
CALLS FOR
POLITICAL ACTION
The UK Timber Trade Federation has explicitly called on the
European Commission to introduce legislation that will lead
to clear rules in Europe for fair competition and sustainable
markets. This call also has the support of over 180 NGOs and
70 progressive EU companies including B&Q, Homebase,
Habitat and IKEA.
GREENPEACE DEMANDS
As a matter of urgency the UK Government must:
• CLEAN UP ITS ACT: The UK Government must
ensure that it has full and transparent chain of
custody back to source for all timber products
used on Government construction sites. The Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme is
the best guarantee that wood products come from
©Florian Weiner/Greenpeace
environmentally and socially responsible sources.
• BAN ILLEGAL TIMBER: The UK Government and
the European Commission must act immediately to
ban the import of illegal timber.
THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the only
internationally recognised forest certification system on
the market that can give credible assurance that timber
products come from responsibly managed forests. It is also
the only system supported by major environmental groups
including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and World Wide
Fund for Nature (WWF), as well as progressive timber
companies and many indigenous peoples’ organisations.
All products carrying the FSC logo support responsible
forest management. The FSC logo can only be used on
©Greenpeace/Davison
products whose chain of custody has been audited and
monitored. This requires that the timber be tracked
through all stages of processing from the forest to the
final labelled product.ENDNOTES
1
Logging, Legality and Livelihoods in Papua New Guinea: A Synthesis of Official
Assessments of the Large Scale Logging Industry, Volume 1, funded by the UK
Government
2
Environmental Audit Committee, House of Commons (18 January 2006), ‘Sustainable
Timber’
3
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020410/
debtext/20410-03.htm
©Greenpeace/Morgan
4
The Government requires either ‘Category A’ or ‘Category B’ evidence from contractors
sourcing timber for Government construction sites. Despite repeated calls from
Greenpeace and other NGOs to only accept timber products certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) as proof of legality and sustainability, CPET accepts further
schemes as ‘Category A’ evidence. These are the Canadian Standards Association (CSA),
the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Programme for the Endorsement of
Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC). The Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme
(MTCC) is also accepted as proof of legality. By accepting these, CPET is giving a veneer
of respectability to certification schemes that fail to recognise the rights of indigenous
people and to protect forests of critical importance, that have weak chain of custody
tracing and that have no third party auditing. The standards for Category B evidence,
Illegal logging is a problem shared by which are currently under review, are even lower and include audit statements,
government documentation and supplier declarations.
those producing and exporting timber 5
6
www.allenbuild.co.uk/
Sarawak Timber Association
and timber products and those that 7
Documents obtained from System Clad, via the Greater London Authority (GLA),
import them. Tackling illegal logging show this plywood came from the Shandong Senxin Mill in China. The Zhiheng Woody
Company, which produces the bintangor veneers for Shandong Senxin, confirmed in
will enable the poorest countries telephone conversations with a Greenpeace researcher in June that it purchases its
bintangor from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
to manage their forests better, 8
9
www.ttf.co.uk/buying/conduct/
TTF Press Release (28 June 2006)
reduce poverty and protect natural 10
Hashiramoto, O, J Castano and S Johnson (2004), ‘Changing global picture of trade in
resources. It does not make sense to 11
wood products’ and China Customs data
ITTO (2004), Annual Review
give development assistance on the 12
13
Sun et al, (2004), ‘A brief over view of China’s timber market system’
Sun et al (2004), ‘Meeting China’s demand for forest products: an overview of import
one hand while importing cheap illegal trends, ports of entry, and supplying countries, with emphasis on the Asia-Pacific
timber on the other. 14
region’
ATIBT (7 October 2005) Communique
15
Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) (2001) ‘Papua New Guinea: wilderness laid waste
by corruption’ Dateline 2 May 2001 Australia
International Development, March 2005 16
SBS (2001)
17
SBS (2001)
18
SBS (2001)
19
Australian Conservation Foundation (2003), ‘Submission to the Senate Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade References Committee Inquiry into Australia’s Relationship with
Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island Countries’
20
Katsigris et al (2004) ‘The China forest products trade: overview of Asia-Pacific
supplying countries, impacts and implications’
July 2006
Greenpeace is dedicated to protecting the world’s remaining ancient
forests and the plants, animals and peoples that depend on them.
Canonbury Villas We investigate, expose and confront the trade in illegal and destructively
London N1 2PN logged timber and other products causing forest destruction.
We challenge governments and industry to end their role in ancient forest destruction.
t: +44(0)20 7865 8100 We support the rights of forest peoples.
f: +44(0)20 7865 8200 We promote real alternatives such as products certified by the Forest Stewardship
e. info@uk.greenpeace.org Council (FSC), which ensures that timber comes from environmentally responsible
www.greenpeace.org.uk and socially just forest management.You can also read
