The Irish government is being pressed to develop procurement policies that favour timber and wood based products from independently certified well-managed forests.
The call has come from Co Offaly-based Just Forests which wants Ireland to follow the example of the UK, France, Germany and Denmark. The UK has had a procurement policy favouring Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber since 2000 and the others are about to follow suit.
In a letter to the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tom Roche, executive director of Just Forests, said that at the Convention on Biological Diversity in The Hague this month, both France and Germany announced they will change their public procurement policies to include environmental criteria for purchasing timber and favour schemes such as FSC.
And, Mr Roche added, Denmark is close to implementing a public procurement policy.
He told Mr Ahern that Offaly county council became the first local authority in Ireland to formally adopt a timber purchasing policy in April 2001 and added: ‘The world’s forests are under severe threat. It need not be so. You have an opportunity to add the Irish government’s name to the list with France, Germany and Denmark. Please do so now as time is running out.’
