A new bill to tackle the import, trade and sale of illegally harvested wood has been introduced to the US Senate.
Senator Ron Wyden has tabled the Combat Illegal Logging Act in order to amend the Lacey Act, the statute governing the trafficking of wildlife and plants in the US, and has been backed by a number of organisations including the Tropical Forest Trust, the Society of American Foresters, the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Rainforest Alliance, the World Wildlife Fund and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
“This bill will, for the first time, make the US market part of the solution instead of a leading cause of the illegal logging problem,” said Alexander von Bismarck from EIA.
Mr von Bismarck also commended the wood products industry, particularly the American Forest and Paper Association and the Hardwood Federation, for taking a “courageous step towards stopping the destructive trade in stolen goods”.
In March Congressman Earl Blumenauer brought the Legal Timber Protection Act to the House of Representatives, with the similar aim of amending the Lacey Act to make the trade in illegally harvested timber in the US tougher.
