China's wood flooring is suspected related to international illegal logging
Recently, the international environmental group Greenpeace to disclose its investigation found that: nearly all retailers in China's home-building materials are processed in the sales come from endangered species of wood flooring. Moreover, the lack of monitoring of wood sources, many of wood flooring material may be involved in illegal logging, destructive logging and illegal timber trade.
In "China's domestic building materials industry and the global forest protection" At the meeting, Greenpeace forest conservation project director LIU Shang-wen told reporters: "We have found, including Home Depot, Homemart and the East in almost all homes, including home building materials retailers in the Sales by Intsia wood solid wood flooring. Although the Home Depot in 1999, has promised not to sell, including merbau, including 40 species are listed as the World Conservation Monitoring Center in endangered species products, but any of the above a retail providers do not provide sufficient evidence to prove that these flooring materials at the end of legal or damage to the forests. "
It is understood that, in addition to merbau, more to teak, Billy Couratari and sand as raw materials such as wood flooring in China, home building materials on the shelves of retail stores are also very common. These wood raw materials are from Southeast Asia, the Amazon and the Congo Basin and other illegal logging and destructive logging and illegal timber trade is extremely serious.
Developed countries, demand for cheap Chinese products, promote China's forest products production, driven by China to import more timber. In the past 10 years, China became the world's second largest importer of forest products and consumption country in the timber imports and import volume of tropical forest areas are far higher than other countries. However, China's demand for forest products is changing the global forest products markets and trade patterns. According to FAO data, the majority of Chinese wood products supplier of the forest area is declining, I am afraid can not be sustained in the future supply of a large number of timber to China.
China's timber procurement policy, the international building materials supermarket home brands in China than their local competitors, have made more commitments. However, Greenpeace's survey found that not all brands are in full compliance with international commitments, while China local supermarket or home building materials did not disclose their relevant timber procurement policy, or simply do not formulate policy in this regard. From the Greenpeace released a report we can see that for the investigation of several building materials supermarkets:
B & Q
Objective: To ensure that all wood products and paper products come from reliable, well-managed forests, or recycled materials.
To move closer to the FSC: B & Q store selling all wood products and paper products are subject taken from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, well-managed forests, or recyclable material.
Co-operation with third-party regulatory bodies: the different organizations to cooperate to ensure the legality of timber sources.
Home Depot
In December 2006 through the acquisition of the former family home building materials supermarket of the world enter the Chinese market.
1999 for the first time developed a timber procurement policy, Home Depot has also promised not to sell from 40 species are the World Conservation Monitoring Center (World Conservation Monitoring center) as products made of endangered species, the 40 tree species which would include merbau wood.
March 2007 Home Depot's stores are found in merbau wood flooring sales, in clear violation of the company's own timber procurement policy formulation for the Home Depot ... how China intends to implement its global timber procurement policies, the current not yet known ....
Orient Home
To its website, published policy documents and statements by senior management after repeated study, we did not find any procurement of environment-related policy statements, and any more inclined to use FSC certified products procurement policy.
The current store to sell their homes in the East with 10 brands of merbau Wood floors and almost all of produced by the Brazilian Couratari, Luan Ye hematoxylin and wire sub-processed wood flooring, as well as from the Congo Basin Sapele processed wood flooring.
The Star Micron
model combines the home-building materials supermarkets and traditional retail system of the form of the booth, for example, it does not sell directly to consumers wooden floor, but the stalls were rented to wood flooring manufacturers or distributors, and they are directly facing. These rental stalls selling wooden flooring in, there are many species in question. We are one of the store's investigation revealed that the shop sold a 12 brands of merbau wood flooring, teak flooring in 19 brands and 13 brands Couratari wooden floor.
Chinese consumers would normally wooden floor as a more upscale, closer to natural materials, some experts predict the next few years and the associated wood floor wood consumption will continue to grow. That whether the consumer was concerned about the source of raw materials used in flooring it legal? In this connection, consumer research company Ipsos China had regard to those living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and have conducted surveys of consumers showed that nearly 80 consumers said they know that the last remaining virgin forest at risk. 91% of consumers said they are entitled to know whether the products purchased raw materials from illegal logging, 71% of consumers said they would refuse to buy illegally logged wood products. In addition, 60% of consumers said they would buy expensive than ordinary products 10%, but the material does not destroy virgin forest products.
China's imports of forest products, how many come from illegal logging? Until now, there is no one authoritative and complete data, but to take responsibility for environmental protection, corporate procurement policy is a shared responsibility. Greenpeace called for: home building materials industry in China should first establish the relevance of timber procurement policy to ensure that their legitimate sources of procurement of forest products and eco-environmentally responsible, and in three years time, a gradual transition to all procurement of forest products are must go through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
■ Related links:
Merbau (Merbau common name, English name of the Merbau) by the International Conservation Union's "Red List of Endangered Species in 2006" as "in the near future, face a high risk of extinction in the wild" species, only the island of New Guinea number to reach commercial logging requirements. Even under the officially approved logging the progress of 35 years, merbau will be largely disappeared. Rampant illegal logging and destructive harvesting of this species being forced on a faster road to extinction.