Buying Destruction

Buying Destruction

A Greenpeace report for corporate consumers of forest products

"Any company or industry associated with, or considered to be associated with,
the destruction of the rainforests has a PR disaster on its hands."

- David Crabtree, London Express Newspapers, UK

(You can download the full report at the end of this summary)

Executive summary

As the 20^th Century draws to a close, only one fifth of the world’s original forest remains as large tracts, with logging emerging as one of the most important causes of – and precursors to – ancient forest loss (1). In light of this, and predicted increases in global forest product consumption, Greenpeace believes that individual and corporate consumers of ancient forest products have both a right and a responsibility to choose wood and wood-based products which do not contribute to environmental or social degradation. Yet, as the illegal production and transport of forest products continues around the globe, and as the logging industry remains resistant to the demands for increased transparency, it is difficult to know either where wood products come from or how they are produced.


Click on image for full legend Frontier forest past and present. Source: WRI (97)	Click on image for full legend Estimated area of ancient forest logged each year. Sources: Environment Canada (98); WWI (98); WRIn (96); FAO (90)

In its latest report on forest issues, Buying Destruction, Greenpeace looks at the current difficulties in tracing the origins of forest products, outlines how companies can respond to the crisis of global deforestation, and highlights how they can adapt to changing market demands. Drawing on recent literature and information from both forest products companies and environmental organizations, the report discusses current threats to ancient forests and outlines the implications of forest loss both for consumers and for forests. It also gives information on a number of major companies which have already committed to stop their role in ancient forest destruction.


Click on image to enlarge Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada © Greenpeace/Aikman	Click on image to enlarge Amazon, Brazil © Greenpeace/Monk

The report profiles logging in ten ancient forest regions: Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Gabon, Guyana, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Russia and Suriname. It concludes with details of more than 150 logging companies active in the production and/or trade of ancient forest products (2).


Click on image for full legend State of the world's forests 1999. Source:FAO (99)	Click on image to enlarge Kids debarking vines, Amazon, Brazil © C.Plowden/Greenpeace

The report includes:

one-page summary of the main conclusions	details of companies who have already committed to stop buying ancient forest destruction
detailed bibliography	implications of forest loss for the forest products industry
fully indexed contents for easy reference	discussion and analysis of ITTO, FAO, WRI and other official data
profiles of more than 150 companies producing and/or trading in ancient forest products	data on major producers and consumers of ancient forest products worldwide
maps showing the location of logging activities	overviews of the forestry industry in each region covered
quotes from industry commentators and analysts	appendices detailing the nature, rates and implications of ancient forest destruction

Although aimed primarily at corporate consumers of forest products, the report will also be of interest to all companies involved in the production, trade and retail of forest products, including foresters, paper producers, printers and publishers, builders and construction companies and furniture and DIY retailers; all those involved with forest policy, including government forestry offices, economists, academics, environmental and other NGOs; those involved in wider issues of forestry, ecology and natural resource management.

Click on image to enlarge
Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada.
© Ian McAllister/Greenpeace

The main conclusions of this report are as follows:

Only one fifth of the world’s original forest remains as large tracts of ancient forest, and much of what does remain is threatened by logging and other activities such as mining, infrastructure development and conversion to agriculture.

An estimated 10 million hectares of ancient forest are degraded or destroyed each year – that’s an area the size of a soccer pitch every two seconds.

Global trade in wood products amounted to total exports of more than 382 million cubic meters of wood and wood products in 1996. Much of this global trade is dominated by a relatively small number of very large companies.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) anticipates significant increases in demand for forest products in the coming decades. Unless consumers act to reduce their demand on forests, many more areas of ancient forest will be lost.

Logging represents the single most important threat to the world’s remaining ancient forests. There are widespread illegalities in the production and transport of forest products. The forest products industry has so far largely ignored growing demands for transparency. Only with cooperation from the industry will it become possible to know where wood products come from and how they are produced.

There is growing consumer and investment concern over the damaging effects of ancient forest exploitation. Research in the US shows that consumers do not want to buy - or invest in - ancient forest destruction and are prepared to pay more for environmentally certified wood products.

Several companies, including Nike, 3M, Kinko’s and Levi’s have already committed to stop buying ancient forest destruction.

Independent forest certification is needed urgently - it is a key way to provide customers with information that can help them to choose the kind of products and production processes that they want to support.

Both analysts and representatives of the forest products industry are warning that independent environmental certification is increasingly becoming a requirement to access key markets.

Greenpeace believes that you and your company can also make a difference to the fate of the world’s remaining ancient forests, by demanding greater transparency - and greater responsibility - from your suppliers.

Buying Destruction: a Greenpeace report for corporate consumers of forest products

Greenpeace International Publications, August 1999

ISBN: 90-73361-54-0

pp viii + 75

Download the full report in pdf format here (9.6 Mb):

Footnotes:

(1) Ancient forests are defined as the world’s remaining forests which have been shaped largely by natural events and which are little impacted by human activities.

(2) This preliminary report is the first of its kind. It forms the first in a series of reports on research into the global logging industry commissioned by Greenpeace, and contains information on more than 150 companies which are producing, processing and/or transporting ancient forest wood and wood products. Subsequent reports will include case studies on other large timber producing countries such as Malaysia, the Congos and the US as well as in-depth studies of wood flows from producers to consumers. A second (forthcoming) Greenpeace report, Market alternatives to ancient forest destruction, focuses further on how corporate consumers can find viable alternatives to ancient forest destruction.