Washington DC, USA ' Importers of wood products may want to keep an eye on newly passed regulations in last months farm bill. New amendments added to the Lacey Act aim to cut down on illegal logging.
Depending on how strongly the new provisions are enforced, the law could have implications for the furniture industrys supply chain.
The legislation creates a requirement for importers to declare the species and country of origin of any plant or plant product, including wood... [Continue]
Vietnamese furniture exporters, who are struggling to source legally logged timber, learnt about some common international laws on the issue at a seminar yesterday.
The half-day event, jointly organised by the HCM City Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association (Hawa) and Swiss-based certifier SGS group, addressed furniture exporters' concerns about the legality and traceability of timber, which have increasingly been demanded by European and American clients... [Continue]
Washington, USA - The International Wood Products Association (IWPA), an international trade association representing the North American imported wood products industry, recently praised a compromise provision to combat illegal logging as part of the Farm Bill adopted by Congress.
The provision targets illegal logging by amending the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to extend protections to plants illegally harvested outside the United States... [Continue]
USA - A dispute over logging obscures the real problem with Oregon's economy
Climb a hill above Linslaw, 35 miles (56km) west of the city of Eugene, and a pattern becomes clear. On land owned by the federal government, Douglas firs, some of them 300 years old, grow in profusion. Interspersed with them are private tree farms, some of which contain little more than earth and a few branches left by loggers... [Continue]
USA - In recent years, there's been a steady movement to curb illegal logging. Some states, such as Mississippi and Virginia have established specific timber theft laws, making illegal logging on private property a felony punishable by jail time.
Whitesburg, Ky The crime scene a once-wooded landscape marked by tire tracks and tree stumps makes the victim, Verna Potter, feel physically violated... [Continue]
Beijing, China - China and the US today agreed to work together in combating illegal logging and the associated wood trade to promote sustainable forest management in a move Washington described as 'ground breaking'.
In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed after their third strategic economic dialogue, the two countries agreed to share information on shipments of timber, step up law enforcement against illegal activity and encourage private-sector partnerships... [Continue]
USA - The Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit group based in Washington D.C., said Wednesday that it found Chinese makers of Wal-Mart's wood products are using timber from a Russian region rife with illegal logging of protested forests.
Is there a toy tiger in your baby's crib? If that crib came from Wal-Mart, an environmental group says the wood it's made from could be endangering real Siberian tigers... [Continue]
