You’ve almost certainly bought a product made from illegally harvested wood.

How can I say that? Well, globally, illegal logging accounts for between 20 to 40 per cent of wood production, according to WWF.
Within the EU, WWF says that between 16 and 19 per cent of all timber
imports derive from illegal or suspicious sources – much of it coming
from Russia.

While it wouldn’t sit well with most of us to unknowingly support
the illegal logging trade, because of the fact that most of the time
products aren’t labelled we wouldn’t know one way or the other.

Product certification is a necessary market instrument to help
consumers to distinguish between good and bad. A successful
certification scheme would reassure consumers and provide an incentive
for forest owners and managers to legally and responsibly manage
forests.

The Forest Stewardship Council, created in 1993, is meant to do just
that. It’s described by many as the world’s leading forest
certification scheme and is based on two components: the sustainable
management of forests and certification of the ‘chain of…

 

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