19 October, 2009
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee will continue to advocate that consumers do not buy kwila products – either decking or furniture.
Although there will soon be some FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified kwila on the market, (NZ Herald October 19, 2009 Page 7) IHRC believes that there are still very strong reasons to avoid using this tropical forest sourced hardwood.
1. It is widely accepted that kwila is a threatened species – likely to become extinct in 35 years at current rates of logging (Greenpeace figures).
2. Almost all of the kwila available currently in decking and furniture stores comes from the old growth forests of West Papua and Papua New Guinea. In West Papua forestry is largely in the hands of corporations, many of them run by or supported by the military. The indigenous traditional land-owners do not have guaranteed land rights and are powerless against these wealthy outside interests.
3. We strongly contest the claim that kwila forests ‘can be replaced’. Kwila does not grow profusely but instead at a density of only 5-10 trees per hectare in healthy forests. The tree takes up to 80 years to grow to maturity.
“The Indonesia Human Rights Committee and the Rainforest Action Coalition will take up the “Don’t Buy Kwila” campaign again this summer. We have had a combined strategy of dialogue with retailers as well as demonstrations and this has been very effective in terms of outdoor furniture retailers: Placemakers recently assured us it will not purchase kwila outdoor furniture this summer.”
Our future and that of the planet is linked to the preservation of the forests.
For further information: Maire Leadbeater: 09-815-9000 or 0274-436-957
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 6:12 pmand is filed under News, West Papua. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
August 7th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Short, sweet, to the point, FREE-exactly as inofrtamion should be!
August 7th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
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