Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigners have presented a dossier of what its calls illegal or destructively logged timber used in four EU construction projects.
The group’s “Building on forest destruction: Timber use in EU financed building projects” report was presented to European commissioner for environment Stavros Dimas in Brussels while campaigners dressed as marching band members played a ‘fanfare’ on chainsaws, axes and saw blades.
The group alleges that timber used originated from the Amazon, Central Africa, Russia and Indonesia and was purchased from suppliers that engaged in illegal logging.
It highlighted spruce, meranti, ipé and azobé wood which lacked certification of legal or sustainable forest management.
Projects include Cinecity Schiecentrale in Rotterdam (red meranti and spruce), The Pavilion in Brussels (ipé), the refurbishment of the Het Patronat historical monument in Heerlen (meranti and spruce) and the Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid high-speed railway (azobé).
FoE is calling on the European Commission to adopt environmental legislation to prevent illegal timber from being sold on the European market.
It claims meranti used in the projects came from areas where up to 80% of logging is illegal.
