1 September 2005
Ban illegally logged timber and protect local manufacturing
The Green Party wants a ban on the import of illegally logged timber to protect native forests in third world countries
and keep local businesses working, in the third Green Solution announced this afternoon.
"We have a responsibility not just for the chainsaws we hold but for the products we buy," Green Co-Leader Jeanette
Fitzsimons says. "A ban on illegally logged timber would send the message that New Zealand is opposed to environmental
destruction wherever it happens, and in the process we'd benefit local manufacturers trying to do the right thing.
"In the past month, two New Zealand furniture factories in the South Island town of Waimate have shut up shop, blaming
cheap imports many made from illegally-logged timber.
"We have protected the last of New Zealand's publicly owned forests from logging. Now we have to stop destroying the
forests of the third world through our consumption. Forests in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Malaysia are being ripped
off by illegal logging operations that provide no benefit at all to the host country, destroy their forest and ignore
the rights of indigenous people.
"This timber and furniture is being imported to New Zealand and is undercutting our sustainably produced timber and
furniture makers who are trying to use sustainable products."
The timber ban is the third in a series of Green Solutions that the Greens are unveiling during the election campaign.
The Green Party wants an immediate ban on imports of all illegally logged timber and products made from it, and would
phase in a requirement for all timber and timber products to come from certified sustainably managed forests, Ms
Fitzsimons says.
"The Indonesian government has asked for help. 90 percent of the logging of its forests is illegal. If there is no
market for this illegally logged timber, the environmental destruction will stop.
"New Zealand imports about 12,000 cubic metres of sawn hardwoods and around $100 million worth of furniture and
componentry. Much of this timber is illegal and unsustainable. While such timber has been hard to track in the past, it
is now becoming easier. Chain of custody tracking now exists for timber: furniture is just one more step."
ENDS