KEY POINTS:
Government departments and agencies must get timber and wood products sourced from legally harvested forests, as part of a new policy announced today.
Announcing the Government's policy on illegal logging and associated trade, Forestry Minister Jim Anderton said: "We have a moral and environmental obligation to help address this serious global problem.
"But there are significant economic reasons as well. Illegally produced wood, for example, depresses world log prices by 19 per cent. It also helps fuel cheap and unsustainable processed wood products, like furniture. This hurts our own legal and sustainable producers," Jim Anderton said.
Policy objectives included:
* Making illegal logging a focus of international discussion and action, including talking to Pacific neighbours and supporting regional co-operation on monitoring and tracking of timber and wood products to address illegal logging, and developing bilateral arrangements to address illegal logging.
* Encouraging stronger public and private sector awareness and action and developing ways of identifying legal products.
* Making it mandatory for Government departments and agencies to use legal timber and wood products and to ensure products were from sustainable, managed sources.
* Supporting discussion on the potential for a multilateral agreement to stop illegal logging and do research on effects of illegal logging on New Zealand producers in international and domestic markets.
Mr Anderton said over the next six months a strategy for international engagement would be developed, based on the key policy objectives.
"Consumers can show their opposition to illegal logging by buying New Zealand-produced timber products, looking for certification on wood products that can confirm legality, or asking retailers to prove that wood products are from legally harvested forests. If in doubt, buy New Zealand wood products," Mr Anderton said.
- NZPA
