Biodiversity: Logging on

The EU must do more to stamp out illegal logging argues Papua New Guinean forest campaigner Brian Baring.

Cheap plywood manufactured from timber illegally sourced from the world’s rainforests and imported into Europe is destroying traditional village life and threatening thousands of unique species of plants and animals, according to Papua New Guinean forest campaigner Brian Baring.

Baring, who grew up in a traditional village on Papua New Guinea’s northern coast, is touring Europe’s capitals to put pressure on EU governments to end the illegal timber trade operations that he says are wreaking havoc with traditional ways of life. “I’m trying to inform European politicians about the unsustainable and illegal logging going on in Papua New Guinea,” says Baring. “I’m just an ordinary person picked out to represent my people.”

There is a huge demand for timber products in Europe, says Baring, much of which flows through China and then ends up over here in Europe. “The European demand for Chinese plywood is growing, and that is having a huge affect on the forests, ecosystems and biodiversity of Papua New Guinea. People are losing their way of life.”

Baring explains that the logging companies are shipping their timber to China, where it is processed into plywood and other products, then “laundered” into Europe illegally. “Where I come from, the land has been heavily logged, and the exposed land is regularly flooded. The logging companies have also bulldozed
some of our sacred sites. When the bulldozers come in, young people see that there is no respect for their customs and culture and they begin to lose faith in our traditional way of life and in their elders, and that’s when society can collapse.”

Baring says that his tribe has also lost its hunting grounds and villagers have been forced to switch to canned foods. “When I was a young boy, there was no logging in my area, but when I was 12 some loggers moved in. I could clearly remember how the forest was before, the boys in the village would set traps for animals – they would succeed easily. Now when I go back that doesn’t happen so easily. My uncle told me that the hunting is not so good any more.”

Greenpeace forestry campaigner Sue Connor says stopping the illegal trade is difficult but not an impossible task. “There are no laws in the EU that say you may not bring in timber products that have been harvested or processed in contravention of the laws of that country,” says Connor. “But what consumers
can do is ensure that they buy Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified products. FSC is the only internationally recognised certification scheme that guarantees that wood has come from well managed
forests.” But FSC labelling is not compulsory admits Connor. “It’s a real problem; there is no law saying that you need to make sure your timber is legal and sustainable. That’s a huge gap in the market, in EU regulations. What we are saying is buy FSC and then you know that you are buying something that’s got control on it and comes from a well- managed forest.”

Greenpeace has been lobbying hard for EU wide legislation to stop illegal timber products coming into the European market. “It’s not impossible to trace timber products, it’s a matter of political will,” says Connor. Baring agrees and urges the EU to do more to control consumer demand and to better regulate the timber market. “The market cannot regulate itself. There needs to be more control mechanisms put in place to stop the illegal trade.”

There is currently a policy process going on that could put in place some tracing requirements, with a regulation that allows the European commission to negotiate on behalf of the EU with a handful of tropical timber producing countries called Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT). But FLEGT, according to Greenpeace, has far too many loopholes to be effective. “One of the biggest loopholes is that it doesn’t cover China where five in ten tropical logs end up. These are being processed and re-exported. That’s a huge blind spot. It also doesn’t cover South America so Brazil is wide open and it doesn’t cover Russia either,” says Connor.

Greenpeace believes there needs to be a blanket approach to combating the trade in illegal timber, and is calling for governments globally to set up a network of protected areas to save what it calls the "last 20
per cent" of the world’s remaining ancient forests. And the trade is also damaging Europe’s industries already reeling from cheap Chinese imports of shoes and ceramics. European plywood manufacturers are
becoming concerned about the impact of Chinese products flooding the market. “Stolen timber is very cheap, no one can compete against it,” says Connor.

And in Papua New Guinea, Greenpeace is also concerned over reports of human rights abuses against the local population, including rape, torture and intimidation. “Young girls working in the logging camps often end up pregnant, and this also brings shame into the villages,” says Baring. “Often the logging companies promise to build schools and health clinics, but that hardly ever happens. And when the forest is gone parents cannot pass their skills on so easily to their children.

It is still possible to live on the land in my village, but people now are depending more on canned meat. But for that kind of food we need money. People don’t have jobs to get a salary, so people start moving to the city or working for the logging company. Our way of life has really changed”.

• Previous article
• Next article