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Forest Campaigner Nathan Argent chained to a palette of illegal rainforest plywood in London
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Yesterday morning, Greenpeace volunteers blockaded the entrance to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs department in London to protest the tonnes of illegal timber continuing to enter the UK from the world's largest tropical island, Papua New Guinea.
UPDATE - UK building supplier to remove illegal PNG sourced timber
Wolseley Build Centres, a leading UK timber supplier and major purchaser of Chinese plywood illegally sourced from PNG forests, will remove all Chinese plywood from its 200 stores and suspend all further purchases.
Yesterday, they informed Greenpeace that their response is a direct reaction to the Partners in Crime report that Greenpeace UK recently launched.
The timber merchant was identified in the report as a major player in the supply of illegally sourced PNG timber, which is 'laundered' through China before arriving in countries such as the UK.
This means that none of the top three UK builders merchants will be retailing Chinese plywood with logs sourced from PNG, Russia, or Africa.
The importation of illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products is not only a problem in the UK. In response to illegally logged timber being imported into Australia from PNG, the Australian Government has committed to introducing laws to stop the importation of illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products.
In November 2004, in response to a Greenpeace blockade of a Brisbane-based subsidiary of Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, Senator Ian Macdonald, Minister for Forests, Fisheries and Conservation stated: "On this issue I do agree with Greenpeace. I do think some of the most important forests in the world are being destroyed through illegal logging and I do think we have to, through the world community, stop the destruction of these very special forests."
The Australian government is still developing its policy on the issue. Meanwhile, illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products are being imported into Australia - and the Australian government still does not have the laws to be able to stop it.
The UK action follows a major investigation into a criminal trail of illegally logged rainforest timber from PNG, which is 'laundered' through China before arriving on shop shelves throughout the world. The companies logging this timber are linked not only to environmental destruction, but also human rights abuses.
UPDATE - UK building supplier to remove illegal PNG sourced timber
Wolseley Build Centres, a leading UK timber supplier and major purchaser of Chinese plywood illegally sourced from PNG forests, will remove all Chinese plywood from its 200 stores and suspend all further purchases.
Yesterday, they informed Greenpeace that their response is a direct reaction to the Partners in Crime report that Greenpeace UK recently launched.
The timber merchant was identified in the report as a major player in the supply of illegally sourced PNG timber, which is 'laundered' through China before arriving in countries such as the UK.
This means that none of the top three UK builders merchants will be retailing Chinese plywood with logs sourced from PNG, Russia, or Africa.
The importation of illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products is not only a problem in the UK. In response to illegally logged timber being imported into Australia from PNG, the Australian Government has committed to introducing laws to stop the importation of illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products.
In November 2004, in response to a Greenpeace blockade of a Brisbane-based subsidiary of Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, Senator Ian Macdonald, Minister for Forests, Fisheries and Conservation stated: "On this issue I do agree with Greenpeace. I do think some of the most important forests in the world are being destroyed through illegal logging and I do think we have to, through the world community, stop the destruction of these very special forests."
The Australian government is still developing its policy on the issue. Meanwhile, illegal and destructively logged timber and timber products are being imported into Australia - and the Australian government still does not have the laws to be able to stop it.
The UK action follows a major investigation into a criminal trail of illegally logged rainforest timber from PNG, which is 'laundered' through China before arriving on shop shelves throughout the world. The companies logging this timber are linked not only to environmental destruction, but also human rights abuses.
