Ever wondered where your outdoor furniture came from? Ever pondered on the story behind your lovely new decking? Or how about the journey your toilet paper took to arrive at your loo?
Blogpost first appeared on ABC online
Most Australians assume that everyday purchases such as dining chairs and toilet paper don’t come from illegally operated logging operations. And fair enough – despite nice images of green ticks, trees or frogs – there is no requirement to know, much less reveal, the origins of the timber and timber products we use every day.
This is all about to change. The Labor Government has just tabled a new law to stop illegal timber products entering Australia.
Currently, there are no laws to stop the multi-million dollar trade in illegally logged timber products that come into Australia every year estimated to be worth between $480m to $840m. The most common dodgy products that make their way into the country include outdoor timber furniture and decking as well as plywood and hardwoods used in construction. But even everyday products such as tissues, toilet paper, notepads and diaries could come from an illegal source.
Under the new laws, it will be a criminal offence to import products made from timber logged illegally. Importers will also be required to take a number of steps to determine whether their merbau decking or mahogany tables come from legal sources. Offenders could go to jail for five years if they are found selling or importing illegal timber products.
Sound tough? Not as tough as the devastating effects of illegal logging.
Illegal logging is a crime. It fuels corruption and human rights abuse and destroys rainforests and biodiversity. Every day, forests and communities in countries across the world are directly affected by the unregulated way that we import products from their forests. Illegal logging is also a major driver of global climate change as part of the 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.
The World Bank has estimated that illegal logging costs timber producing countries between US$10-15 billion per year in lost revenue, accounting for over a tenth of the total timber trade world-wide estimated to be more than US$150 billion a year. This lost revenue is desperately required for much needed public services such as schools and hospitals.
Illegal logging is particularly rife in our region. Figures from last year reveal that about half of all logging undertaken in Indonesia was illegal and in PNG, the largest recipient of Australian aid, it is estimated that 70-90% of all logging is illegal.
And whilst illegal logging is on the decline in some countries, in PNG, the situation is getting steadily worse. Today, over 5 million hectares of PNG’s remaining rainforests are slated for destruction under a new lease system which is being seen as one of the largest land grabs in PNG’s recent history. Most of this logging is illegal as the leases have been fraudulently obtained. One lease in the remote province of East New Britain has been ‘approved’ by children as young as three and four, by the deceased and by people that do not exist at all. When the villagers protested the logging, task force police were paid by the logging company to intimidate and abuse them.
These villagers have had their forests and livelihoods stolen to make cheap timber products in China that are then shipped to markets like Australia. Similar cases of illegal logging devastating communities and forests are reported every day in countries like Indonesia, the Congo and Brazil.
A recent Greenpeace report using on-the-ground investigations by UK NGO Earthsight revealed that illegal timber from the rainforests of Sarawak in Malaysia is bought and sold in hardware and timber yards across Australia.
Many of Sarawak’s rural communities are affected by illegal logging. The Penan people, for example, claim that illegal logging has contaminated rivers causing pollution and illness. They also claim that loss of their traditional forested land has caused loss of game and medicines causing hunger and sickness.
A report released in July 2010 by three human rights groups verified allegations that Penan women and girls were raped by logging company workers. Workers from the notorious Malaysian based company Samling were among those the Penan accused of abuse. Samling own a major timber distribution company in Australia which they use to import and distribute products around the country.
This year, Greenpeace exposed illegal plywood from Samling in a well-known ‘green building’ development in Sydney’s CBD. In response, the development company immediately announced an audit and it is understood the illegal timber was sent back. The scandal proved how hard it is to detect illegal timber without effective national laws – even for a developer seeking to use the very best green standards.
While corruption, bribery and greed are often at the root of illegal practices in timber producing countries, importing countries like Australia share the responsibility for continuing to import illegal timber at great cost to the environment and forest communities. And decisions we make as purchasers can have profound impacts on policies and practices in other countries.
Illegal logging also undermines the Australian companies trading in legal and well-managed timber, by under-cutting their prices and making the market less competitive.
Some responsible Australian timber retailers and importers have put their own procurement policies in place to detect and eliminate illegal timber. But unscrupulous competitors continue to trade in often cheaper, illegal and unsustainable products and undermine the market.
In 2009 an unlikely alliance was forged to bring in the illegal timber ban promised by Labor in the lead up to the 2007 election. The biggest names in the timber industry and Australia’s leading social justice, environment and church groups joined forces to make sure the best laws were passed. Most recently these groups signed a Common Platform to outline the key elements needed in laws to effectively stop illegal timber imports.
Finally, this legislation has been tabled in Parliament and will be debated and hopefully passed early next year when Parliament resumes.
The Bill is not perfect, and will likely require changes over the coming months. Perhaps the most critical next step, however, is to ensure that there is proper enforcement. That means a commitment to training and sufficient resources, particularly at the border, so that illegal timber imports can be found and stopped. This will ensure border controls are rigorous in much the same way as customs and quarantine monitor for imports such as illegal drugs and pests.
If these laws are properly implemented we can then hope the trade of illegal timber products in Australia will end and systematic changes to the forest industries in producer countries will occur. This will benefit communities and species that rely upon the world’s remaining forests for their survival – and that includes every one of us.
FIND OUT MORE: Illegal logging
TAKE ACTION: Stop illegal timber products coming into Australia
