Cabinet decisions addressing illegal and unsustainable logging imports released last week claim to be a package of actions. In fact they are a long list of inactions.
The National Government has backed away from the previous Government’s 2008 requirement to label the tropical timber used in outdoor furniture – kwila – which is being illegally logged, particularly across West Papua.
Labour’s mandatory labelling requirement hadn’t yet been fully implemented, but it was a good start. Now National have ignored calls from the New Zealand forestry industry and environmental networks for regulation to stop the import of wood products from rainforests.
I am personally extremely disappointed because when my Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Bill to ban illegal and unsustainable timber imports was voted down, the Minister of Forestry, David Carter, told me that while he hadn’t supported the Bill, he would take action. He said he was aware that voluntary regimes to stop this trade were not working.
Yet Cabinet has decided that we should follow the Australian Government who have also just reneged on an election promise to act on the issue and decided that encouraging voluntary labelling is sufficient action.
One of the most offensive aspects of Cabinet’s decision is that in his paper to Cabinet – which I have read – the Minister states that no human rights are affected by this policy position. The human rights of the 60 million indigenous people worldwide who are affected by illegal logging clearly don’t matter to this Government.
The illegal timber trade is a bloody business costing human life, endangered species, and the environment.
Click here to read the full article: NZ Inaction on Illegal and Unsustainable Logging
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 10:48 amand is filed under Sumatra, 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.
Comments are closed.