Initiative
Sustainable wood

Built Environment About ... APP commits to major restoration initiative to protect one million hectares of Indonesian forest

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Built Environment About ... APP commits to major restoration initiative to protect one million hectares of Indonesian forest

Builder's merchant Jewson has recently suspended the sale of Ipe, a species of timber from Brazil, over concerns about the legality of its sourcing.

Greenpeace estimates that around 80% of logging in certain areas of Brazil such as the state of Pará is illegal. Greenpeace estimates that around 80% of logging in certain areas of Brazil such as the state of Pará is illegal.

How do you know that the wood in your garden decking is both legal and sustainable? Responsible companies have been grappling with this thorny question for more than two decades, but despite a huge amount of progress in forest certification over that time, it remains one that is not always easy to answer – especially if the wood in question has been sourced from areas at risk of illegal logging and timber laundering.

Greenpeace recently posed this question – in a typically direct way - to builders merchant and UK-GBC member Jewson. How, they asked, could Jewson be certain that the Ipe (a species of timber from Brazil) it uses in its decking, is actually legal? Greenpeace knew that the company takes sustainability and its timber sourcing seriously - their parent company Saint-Gobain has been an active member of WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network in the UK since 1998 - but they also believed that there was a significant risk that illegal timber from the Amazon may be contaminating Jewson’s supply chain. Greenpeace argued that the official Brazilian documentation stating that the timber in question is legal, is simply not reliable, claiming that the current system is deeply flawed in some timber producing areas, with commonly fraudulent paperwork.

'How, they asked, could Jewson be certain that the Ipe (a species of timber from Brazil) it uses in its decking, is actually legal?'

Greenpeace estimates that around 80 per cent of logging in certain areas of Brazil such as the state of Pará is illegal, and this creates something of a minefield for any company involved in the buying and selling of timber, at any stage in their value chains. If the paperwork is suspected to be illegitimate, how can companies be certain that the wood is legal – and where should the burden of proof lie?

In light of the risks highlighted by Greenpeace and where doubts over the authenticity or legality of such paperwork may exist, it is only prudent for any responsible company involved to put a hold on the buying and selling of Amazonian timber and to initiate a thorough risk assessment on the supply chains in question. And that’s exactly what Jewson has done. The company has suspended the sale of Ipe and will return all its current stock items to its supplier. It will also conduct an audit into its supply chain for Ipe in Brazil, with third-party support. It’s an appropriate and timely response from a company which takes its sustainability commitments very seriously and will help to put pressure on the Brazilian authorities to ensure that monitoring and compliance is improved.

Many of us (who are old enough!) were introduced to the world of sustainability through the lens of the disappearing Amazon rainforest back in the 1980s, and sometimes it’s easy to assume that problem has gone away as the environmental focus shifts elsewhere. Sadly there’s no room for complacency – WWF says that a staggering 17 per cent of the Amazon forest has been lost in the last 50 years to deforestation - and even the most committed companies have to remain vigilant in an ever-more complex environment in which the mainstreaming of sustainability can provide the perfect cover for illegal practices. It’s a jungle out there.

If you’d like to find out more about the risks of importing illegal and unsustainably sourced timber, contact WWF or Greenpeace.

Paul King is Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, you can read more of his blog posts here.