Archived press release

Renewed FoE Pressure on Mahogany Traders as Logging Season Kicks Off in Brazil

22 June 1998

Over the past few days, Friends of the Earth has leafleted staff outside Timbmet, Meyer and Lathams in the run up to a meeting this week of the Brazil sub-committee of the National Hardwood Association [1], at which continuing problems with the mahogany trade will be discussed.

Despite conclusive and widespread evidence of the illegal logging of mahogany, and the fact that there are no sustainable sources of mahogany in Brazil, companies such as Meyer, Timbmet and James Latham continue to deal in this timber.

In May, Buckinghamshire based timber merchant, Parker Kislingbury decided to stop selling mahogany following discussions with Friends of the Earth about illegality in the mahogany trade.

Virtually all mahogany entering the UK comes from primary rainforest in Brazil [2]. The trade is having a devastating effect on the forest and its people, as loggers continue to invade areas set aside for indigenous people [3]. Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon are higher than ever and Brazilian government sources state that over 80% of all timber from the Amazon is obtained illegally [4]. The UK timber trade continues to rely on widely discredited voluntary agreements to guarantee that mahogany imports are legally and sustainably produced.

Sarah Tyack of Friends of the Earth said:

"After the continued failure of voluntary agreements to provide a guarantee of legally and sustainably obtained mahogany, the UK timber trade must now face the reality that if it is to maintain credibility with its customers, it must disassociate itself from the mahogany trade. The meeting this week is a real opportunity for the timber trade to put its money where its mouth is: these companies claim to be committed to the environment, they must now withdraw from the mahogany trade to prove they really mean it."

For more information on the UK Timber Trade and Mahogany, please see Friends of the Earth'sMahogany Website.

[1]The Brazil sub-committee of the National Hardwood Association is meeting this week following the association's AGM. Representatives from the Timber Trade Federation were at the international mahogany working group in Brasilia at the beginning of June where the issue of the uncontrolled trade was discussed at length without any effective agreements on control measures being agreed.

[2]The UK is the world's second largest importer of mahogany from Brazil. Virtually all the UK's mahogany comes from the Brazilian state of Par, where investigations have revealed a widespread illegal trade.

[3]Illegal logging of mahogany within areas set aside for indigenous people is having a devastating impact on these people. GTA, a network of human rights and environmental groups in Brazil, have been calling for the UK to withdraw from the mahogany trade since 1992. Only very few mahogany trees grow per hectare of rainforest. It is estimated that for every mahogany tree logged, dozens of other trees are damaged.

[4]In May 1997, a leaked report from the Brazilian Department of Strategic Affairs confirmed that 80% of all timber extracted in the Amazon was being illegally obtained.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust