Who are you calling a tree hugger?
16 April 2010
Reading this online? Thanks. You can be sure that no trees have been hurt in the making of this blog.
Call me a tree hugger? Well if you must. I’m definitely not a hippy but I have been taken aback, during research Progressio Ireland carried out last month, on the importance of trees for the water we drink, the air we breath and especially for the poorest in our planet.
The UN estimates that 1.2 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods and survival and that about 20% of total global CO2 emissions is caused by deforestation.
The focus of Progressio Ireland’s recent research was on illegal logging, a black market trade that destroys the environment and the lives of millions of poor people every year.
Released on the 14th April, Progressio’s research has stirred up quite a bit of discussion here. We have discovered that just 3% of printers and 6% of timber distribution outlets in Ireland are certified. In response to the research the Sunday Tribune has said that Ireland is “top in the EU for import of illegal timber”.
Progressio’s research is the first to examine the extent of certification in the Irish timber market. At the present time certification is the only way to ensure that the timber and paper products we buy are legal and sustainable.
The extent of the lack of certification in the Irish market was referred to as staggering in the Irish Examiner. This newspaper contrasted the situation in Ireland with that of the UK where more than 80% of timber and panel products consumed is certified.
Part of our reasoning in carrying out this research is to put pressure on the timber industry in Ireland to certify. In the report Progressio calls for the industry in Ireland to take certification more seriously and at least allow consumers the choice of legal and sustainable wood products when selecting wood derived products.
Unfortunately in the short term at least, because there are so few certified suppliers in Ireland, consumers will find it difficult to exercise a choice in favour of certified timber. Unfortunately too, in the short term at least, Irish importers and timber consumers will be adding to the problem of global warming and the destruction of the environments of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.
Emmet Bergin is Advocacy Officer for Progressio Ireland
Comments
Northern consumers can be caught between a rock and hard place: all this information on industry harm to people and the environment but no means to act ethically if the law hasn’t caught up.
And even if the world has caught up, shopping can still be an exhausting enterprise: the constant internal monologue… Price? Local? English or fair trade? Organic? Renewable sources? Artificial ingredients? Returns policy? VOC content? Glycaemic index… Got to lie down under a shopping cart.
Meanwhile on the other side of the globe, it’s control over natural resources, being paid for their work or meeting their most basic needs that people wait for their laws to catch up with.
Clare Jeffery
Progressio contributor
Keep up the good work. Providing sustainable wood and paper products has to be the next Fair Trade. Only it's probably even more important than that, because - without knowing it - we all depend on getting this right.
I recently heard the head of the Fair Trade movement say that 20 years ago the issue wasn't on anyone's radar, but now there are thousands of products available and it's a mainstream concept.
Hopefully you can do the same for wood and paper. Wouldn't it be great to think that in another 20 years there won't be unsustainable wood or paper products in our shops? That no-one would even consider buying them and that, as a consequence, we have managed to preserve the environment and ecosystem for our children and the flora and fauna that live there?
It is a Sisyphean task, but Fair Trade's success gives a sense of hope.
Thankfully we can make sure that our lawmakers know that we won't stand for illegally logged timber in the EU.
Progressio is the only development agency actively campaigning on this issue. So we need as many people as possible to lobby their MEPs about the strong legislation being debated in Europe. It deserves our support. But we only have until July 5.
Please take action right now.
Dan Hale
Progressio Campaigns
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