Protect ancient forests

In May 2005, new figures revealed that the rate of Amazon deforestation for the year to August 2004 had reached a new record: 26,130 square kilometres, or six football pitches a minute.

Twenty percent of the world's ancient forests have been cut down since 1950, and those remaining in Indonesia and central Africa will be gone within decades if destruction continues at the current rate, fuelled by unsustainable and illegal industrial logging, land speculation and agriculture.

The world looks set to lose thousands of species of plants and animals in what could be the largest wave of extinctions since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

As the main importing market of timber from tropical and boreal, or sub-Arctic, forests, the European Union is part of the problem: it is estimated that 50 percent of such wood sold in Europe is logged illegally. The trade in timber is tainted with corruption, violence, violation of human rights and money laundering.

Illegal logging costs timber-producing countries €10-15 billion per year. This compares with €10 billion disbursed as EC aid in 2002.

Greenpeace campaigns for the establishment of moratorium on destructive activities in the last intact forest landscapes, the creation of a global network of protected forest areas, and for legislation to stop the sale of illegal and unsustainable timber products on the EU market.

This would make companies accountable for their operations and support timber-producing countries by promoting sustainable forest management and policy reform.

The EU must also ensure that its own public authorities procure only legal and sustainable timber and purchase Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - or equivalent - certified wood products.