A new poll from the WWF charity has shown that a vast majority of people in the UK are unsure whether the timber products they buy are harvested illegally from rainforests.
The poll questioned 2000 UK consumers, with 90% of those surveyed saying it is important that timber is legally harvested and back the European wide law to help tackle illegal trade. The poll also shows that 84% of those surveyed believe that companies that break the law by trading in illegal wood and wood products should face penalties.
Head of Forests Trade & Policy at WWF UK, Beatrix Richards, said –
With such an overwhelming response by EU citizens and with the support of progressive timber trading companies, European decision makers should be left in no doubt that the public backs a strong new regulation to tackle the illegal timber trade in Europe. It is very worrying that there are signs of a significant risk that this key legislation could not only be very weak, but could take as long as five years to be implemented. This regulation has already been six years in the making; a further delay would be totally unacceptable.
Illegal timber still makes up an estimated 16-19% of EU imports, with illegal logging a key driver of deforestation causing major environmental consequences for the world’s poorest countries.
Secretary of State for UK Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Mr. Hilary Benn, proclaims the UK, as the world’s fourth largest importer of timber, is fully committed to making it an offence to import illegally produced timber. WWF UK is calling on the UK government and to do all they can to ensure that the European Parliament and EU governments adopt a strong legislation without further delay.
