03/03/2005 - Switzerland
is deeply enmeshed in the global trade with
illegal wood. According to a new WWF report,
8 per cent of the imported wood is estimated
to come from illegal sources. The true origins
are obscured by transports through third countries.
A WWF petition launched today calls for a
ban of the import and use of illegally logged
wood by the Swiss government.
Each year about 1 million cubic meters of
dirty wood come into Switzerland - wood that
is logged while dodging national laws in Eastern
Europe, South East Asia, Africa or South America.
This amount equals a line of fully loaded
wood trucks from Zurich to Warsaw or 1/5 of
the wood, that is harvested yearly in Swiss
forests.
“The true scale has been totally underestimated,“
said Hans-Peter Fricker, CEO of WWF-Switzerland.
One of the reasons: illegal wood seldom enters
Switzerland directly. Usually it arrives via
several other countries, where it’s processed.
The original source is obscured – wood laundering
with global dimensions.
“The trade with illegal wood not only damages
the environment, but also hurts the people,“
emphasizes Claude Martin, Director General
of WWF International.
According to estimates of the World Bank illegal
loggers evade 15 billion dollars of taxes
and customs duties - often hitting the poorest
countries of the world. As these loggers are
not interested in a long-term forest management,
they irresponsibly destroy unique habitats
of plants and animals. And even human lives
are of little importance to them: Floods and
landslides as a result of illegal clearings
cause hundreds of casualties yearly.
Therefore WWF Switzerland is campaigning
against illegal wood and trying to persuade
the Swiss government to become more active
and recognize that Switzerland has a responsibility.
A WWF-Petition launched today demands that
import and use of wood from illegal sources
should be banned in Switzerland. “The illegal
raiding of the forests can only be stopped
if consumer countries such as Switzerland
combat the trade with illegal wood” explains
WWF Switzerland CEO Fricker.
The petition also demands a mandatory declaration
of wood species and origin, a necessary move
to help make the international wood trade
more transparent. Accompanied by trees and
WWF activists a larger than life jaguar not
only advertised the petition during his prowl
along the Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich’s main shopping
street. He also drew attention to a safe alternative:
wood bearing the FSC-label always comes from
legal sources and is harvested according to
strict ecological and social standards.
Notes:
1. A large part of the imported wood in Switzerland
has already been made into finished products
such as paper and furniture. 90 per cent of
products based on wood are imported from the
old 15 EU member countries (EU-15).
2. The new WWF Report “ Illegal wood and
Switzerland” not only analyses the direct
wood imports, but also the indirect imports
via EU from 2003. The export trade statistics
of Switzerland and the EU 15 are used as the
basis. For the categories “finished products”
and “unfinished goods” the round wood equivalent
(RWE) was used.
3. FSC is the only credible label for wood
worldwide, which guarantees that wood is harvested
according to ecological and social principles.
The strict rules of the Forest Stewardship
Council and regular independent monitoring
guarantee adherence to the priniciples. The
goal of WWF Switzerland is that most of wood
bought in Switzerland is FSC-certified by
2010.
