ECOTIMBER: SAVING PACIFIC THREATENED RAINFORESTS

 For the first time ever in New Zealand, sustainably produced tropical timber, called `Ecotimber', is now available. The first shipment of one container arrived in February 1997 from the Solomon Islands.
 In an internationally unique cooperative venture, Greenpeace has worked with the New Zealand joint trade body the Imported Tropical Timber Group (ITTG), and local Solomon Island non-governmental organisations SIDT (Solomon Island Development Trust), Komuniboli Training Centre, and EU funded Isabel Sustainable Forest Management Project (ISFMP) to bring ecotimber to New Zealand.
  "Its the perfect win win situation" says Greenpeace Forests Campaigner, Grant Rosoman, who has been working on the programme for the last four years. "New Zealanders get Greenpeace endorsed timber for floors, decks and furniture to substitute the current destructively logged timbers. Solomon Island villagers earn a real income and protect their forest at the same time."
 Ecotimber has emerged as one answer to the rampant destruction caused by industrial logging. Villagers in Solomon Islands, the stewards of their ancestral forests, have been searching for an alternative path - they desperately want an income from their forests to pay school and health fees, build new houses, and buy everyday things we take for granted. Ecotimber gives them a cash return 40 times greater than if they allowed logging.
 With large-scale Logging still escalating in Melanesia, this economically viable alternative is needed now more than ever. For the first time western markets have a solution to tropical timber use that protects forests and supports Pacific indigenous people. Ecotimber complements responsible actions taken be many people around the world who have said no to destructively logged tropical timbers. In New Zealand, tropical timber imports are now only one quarter of what they were in 1989.
 The first pilot shipment of ecotimber was sold out on arrival, and demand is strong for the increasing supply of commonly known tropical woods now in the Ecotimber range, such as Taun (Pometia spp.), Kwila, Callophyllum, Vitex and Nyatoh.

What is Ecotimber?

 Solomon Islands ecotimber comes from forest areas where the land is owned by the indigenous people and has their support. An agreed land-use plan lays out forest reserves, garden land, and the area to harvest ecotimber. Single trees are felled with minimal damage and milled with portable mills where they fall. The timber is then carried out by hand or floated down the rivers. Good management ensures the forest regenerates properly. The profits from selling ecotimber are shared by the community. All of these aspects are monitored by an outside body. Training is a key component, with a compulsory 6 week ecoforestry course with support from Greenpeace, the ITTG, Pacific Conservation and Development Trust, and New Zealand government ODA..

Eco-Certification

 To verify claims of `ecotimber' or `sustainability', eco-certification has begun. Greenpeace and most major environment groups currently support the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international body with an agreed set of standards. FSC certified timbers are now available on world markets and Greenpeace urges wood users to ask their timber supplier or furniture outlet to source FSC certified timbers. The Solomons ecotimber is in the process of obtaining FSC certification but also has its own internal monitoring attached to a logo that guarantees it meets ecotimber standards.

Good Wood : The story behind the New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group

 In 1989 blatant advertising and promotion of tropical rainforest timbers upset New Zealanders so much they took to the streets and protested outside timber yards. The bad publicity the timber outlets received prompted them to join a meeting with the protesters to talk it through. Thus began the ITTG, and for the last 5 years Greenpeace and other environment groups have been sitting around the table with more than 80% of New Zealand timber importers and retailers.
An agreed Charter of Understanding sumarises concessions negotiated over the years. Timber importers agreed to not import timber from the contentious areas of Sarawak and Sabah, Brazil, and Burma. The timber retailers agreed to not advertise or promote destructively sourced tropical timber decking. The environment groups agreed to not protest outside the outlets of ITTG members who were keeping to their commitments.
 However, this did not solve the problem that the ITTG came together for of moving the trade away from destructive rainforest sources. In 1994 the ITTG began its Solomon's ecotimber programme with the first fruit of it arriving this year with the ecotimber shipment.