Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 5 • 18th March 2005
China’s Timber Needs Threaten World Forests - Report
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In their 8 March report “China’s Wood Market, Trade and the Environment”, the environmental group WWF urged China to change its current policies regarding timber imports and logging to avert “devastating impacts on some of the planet’s outstanding forests” resulting from the country’s rapidly rising demand for wood. Since China’s logging ban in 1998 due to the flooding of the Yangtze, domestic wood production has dropped significantly and China has been able to start preserving threatened forests through forest restoration and sustainable forest management. To meet growing demand, imports have increased substantially — making China the second-largest market for industrial timber, pulp and paper in the world — including from countries where illegal logging is rampant, such as Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia. “Logging bans in China should not lead to forest loss in other parts of the world,” said Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International. “Decisive action is needed to ensure that supply chains leading to or through China begin with well-managed forests,” he added. Along with the environmental damage, there are also significant financial losses from illegal logging. Indonesia, for instance, one of China’s leading providers of timber, is losing billions of dollars in tax revenue due to the illegal logging.
The report is available here.
“China Timber Demand Threatens World’s Forests - WWF,” REUTERS, 9 March 2005.
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