Archived press release

"VIETNAMESE" FURNITURE SCAM EXPOSED. Rainforest Timber Sold at Chelsea Flower Show

24 May 1999

FOE is warning environmentally conscious consumers not to buy hardwood garden furniture labelled as coming from Vietnam. In fact, the timber probably comes from Cambodia, where the country's precious forests - vital to its economic future - are being illegally destroyed to fund the Cambodian military.

Illegal logging is the greatest threat to Cambodia's forests. Global Witness has extensive documentary, photographic and video evidence of a thriving illegal logging trade across the Vietnam/Cambodia border [3]. There is also footage of British importers and wholesalers admitting that environmental claims about the timber cannot be justified.

By the end of 1997 almost seven million hectares of Cambodia's land area had been allocated as concessions to loggers, covering virtually all the country's forests. The Cambodian forests are home to many endangered species such as elephants, Javan rhinoceros, tigers and bears. Logging silts up rivers and streams, causing flooding and droughts. Local communities suffer because logging damages farming and fishing. Logging is carried out under the protection of armed groups, dominated by the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. Villagers are routinely denied access to logging concessions which have taken over land and forests on which they have relied for a living for many generations. Forestry officials are regularly intimidated by those involved in illegal logging,some have even been murdered. The World Bank has now warned that Cambodia's forests could be commercially logged out within five years.

In 1997, revenues from forestry returned less than $13 million to the Cambodian national budget. The 1997 loss to the budget from illegal logging has been estimated at $184 million. Much of this money funds Cambodia's ”parallel” military budget.

Sarah Tyack, Forest Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:

“The Chelsea Flower Show is a celebration of the wonderful world of botany. So it is a tragic irony that products made from tropical timbers are on display at this show. To buy Vietnamese garden furniture is to play an unwitting part in the continuing destruction of Cambodia's rainforest. The only way to be sure that your garden furniture is from well managed forests is to buy UK produced timber, or timber products which carry the Forest Stewardship Council logo” [4] .

Patrick Alley, of Global Witness said:

"Cambodia's forests are being used as a personal bank account by Cambodia's and Vietnam's political, military and Mafia style business leaders, with severe social,ecological and economic implications for the country and its people. By refusing to buy Vietnamese garden furniture, the British consumer can send a clear message to the garden furniture trade and to these leaders that they do not want to support human rights and environmental abuses funded by illegal logging".

Friends of the Earth is not targeting the Royal Horticultural Society on this issue.

[1] One of the companies who will be displaying its products at the Chelsea Garden Show is the Traditional Garden Supply Company which sells Vietnamese garden furniture.

[2] Friends of the Earth and Global Witness, launched a campaign nationwide to highlight the impacts of this trade on rainforests and people. Global Witness is a human rights and environmental group which has conducted investigations into the Cambodian and Vietnamese timber trade, and produced a report called “Made in Vietnam - Cut in Cambodia”. For copies of the report call Global Witness on 020 7272 6731.

[3] As well as alarming rates of deforestation in Cambodia, Vietnam currently loses around 200,000 hectares of forest annually. Logging is the main cause of forest loss and at current rates the forests will be gone within 50 years. Due to the depletion of their forests, Vietnam now imports illegally from Cambodia.

[4] The Forest Stewardship Council accredits well managed forests in temperate and tropical forests worldwide, according to a set of high forest management principles that have been agreed by a diverse group of environmental, human rights and community based organisations, the timber trade, forestry profession and forest certification bodies. For further information call 01686 413916.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust