WWF urges crackdown on illegal wood to China

by Andy Scott, PrintWeek 17-Mar-05, 08:00

A report by environmental group WWF has warned that China will become one of the major destinations for illegally harvested wood, unless it alters its current policies.

The report, China's Wood Market, Trade and Environment, states that more than half of the timber used in China for pulp and paper production comes from countries struggling with issues such as over-harvesting, illegal logging and use of wood from natural forests including in Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Some of the world's leading pulp and paper companies such as UPM have paper mills in China, with production set to increase by 6.5m tonnes for printing and writing papers in the country over the next two years.

"China will soon be the leading global wood market, and we would hope it will also lead the efforts to safeguard the world's forests," said WWF China's forest programme director Zhu Chunquan.

The WWF report was released in Hong Kong on 8 March at a meeting on illegal logging, which also marked the launch of The China Forest and Trade Network (FTN).

Story by Andy Scott