Trade slams WWF report into illegal timber imports

The report, Cut It Out, claims 3.2m/m3 is brought into the country each year and that more than 65% finds its way into the construction industry.

John White, chief executive of the TTF, said the figure was ‘complete rubbish’. ‘There’s no way it’s true,’ he added. ‘We have a good relationship with WWF, we all want to stop illegal logging, but this misleading and inflammatory report does a disservice to the UK’s efforts to reduce the amount of illegal timber entering the supply chain.’

There is confusion of how to accurately interpret industry data. White says a recent independent report commissioned by the TTF found that over 9m/m3 of timber coming into the UK was certified as legal and sustainable. But due to lack of information, it’s impossible to determine whether the remaining percentage is illegally imported, while the WWF says certification is still at a level where the market makes room for illegal wood on a large scale.

White said the WWF report had made incorrect marketplace assumptions and took a monolithic approach regarding illegality. ‘Assuming a rate of illegal timber production and assuming that percentage applies to all imports is statistical nonsense and has no place in a serious report,’ he said. ‘And I’d question WWF’s definition of illegal logging. Every country has different forestry laws and some illegal activity is obviously more nefarious than others. You can’t compare stealing trees with incomplete paperwork.’

However, Beatrice Richards, head of WWF’s Forest team, said the report used accepted methodologies approved by the European Forestry Institute. ‘We used a conservative baseline to generate the figures which appear in the report. If TTF can come up with a better method, we’d use it.’