China Crucial in Promoting Responsible Logging - NGO
Date: 26-Jun-07
Country: CHINA
"China is extremely important ... especially in regions which have weak structures and weak governance," Heiko Liedeker, executive director of the global non-government organisation, told a stakeholder meeting in Beijing.
"A lot of Chinese companies are buying up forest licences and concessions. Some are good, some are minimal, some are clearly not acting legally," Liedeker said.
"Unless (Chinese) businesses accept this responsibility... then there will continue to be illegal logging," he added.
The Forestry Stewardship Council certifies sustainably harvested wood from forest to shop floor.
Environmental groups accuse Chinese businesses of complicity in the illegal import of wood from irreplaceable forests across Africa, Latin America and Asia, to feed China's booming export machine.
But Beijing says it is clearing up the problem and counters that Western countries that import its timber products should share the blame.
Liedeker said he was impressed by the "unprecedented growth" of FSC-certified companies in China, but said issues of trademark misuse and a lack of compliance were hampering efforts to drive sustainably harvested trade.
"There have been some serious problems," he said, referring to the use of false trademarks on wood products made by Chinese companies to charge premium pricing in foreign markets.
"But we are very confident that this is a temporary situation", he said, adding that it was a result of China's rapid growth and "lack of experience" auditing its timber sources.
Liedeker said the country needed legislation requiring "unbroken tracking of every stick of wood into China," and should crack down on entry ports to curb the flow of illegal wood into the country.
"It's 10 times as difficult to control illegal logging when the logs are inside the country. Controlling the import points is the most important part," he said.
