Illegal Logging Gives EU Massive Eco-Headache

[Karl]

(Read Full Article: Illegal Logging Gives EU Massive Eco-Headache | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 17.04.2008)

With tropical rainforests continuing to disappear at an alarming rate, the EU is partially to blame for importing illegally felled timber. So what is Brussels planning to do? On Monday, April 14, Greenpeace organized a demonstration outside the Brazilian embassy in Berlin to protest over-exploitation of tropical rainforests. According to a recent Greenpeace study, five hectares (12.4 acres) of forest are destroyed in Brazil per minute, with every hectare of forest burnt down releasing between 500 and 1100 tones of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Today, one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to the destruction of the rainforests. According to the World Wildlife Fund, areas the size of 30 football pitches are disappearing every minute. The problem of illegal logging is particularly acute in Indonesia, allegedly the world's third largest producer of greenhouse gases. Once hailed as one of the best solutions to saving the planet from greenhouse gases and global warming, rising demand for palm oil has resulted in local companies burning woods and peat lands to make way for palm oil plantations which supply European markets.

In March, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas announced that the Commission will be proposing new measures to tackle illegal logging this May, amid fears that the current EU legislation is not effective enough. A Friends of the Earth report recently alleged that illegally logged timber was used in a number of EU-funded construction projects, while the Commission has admitted that 1000 square meters of illegally imported timber from Indonesia was even used in the renovation of its headquarters in Brussels.

Commissioner Dimas has now agreed that the illegal timber issue is "very important because it contributes to deforestation, which is detrimental for both climate change and biodiversity" -- issues which the EU executive is "determined to fight." He said the EU executive had concluded voluntary agreements with Malaysia, Indonesia, Cameroon and Ghana, adding that discussions were underway to conclude similar accords with other countries.

[hoon]

It would certainly be good if deforestation was taken more seriously both from a climate point of view and a biodiversity point of view.