The Myth of The Disappearing Forest

Not all hardwood forests are disappearing, a fact, but one you might question if you believe the headlines in WWF's latest forest campaign, or have received a tweet as I have. Bold statements such as "stop forests being erased" and "illegally sourced wood is in your home", together with "forests are disappearing at a rate of one football pitch every two seconds", paint a wholly negative picture.

I am a big fan of the WWF. They do really important work and are a key public voice when it comes to environmental issues. But surely it is time for a more balanced view on the health of the world's forests and stronger campaigns calling for greater use of wood to help mitigate climate change.

The current WWF campaign, #SaveForests, gives the impression that all forests are in danger. It also states "it is likely every person in the UK has (or uses) products made with illegally logged timber". What an assumption. How is "every person" quantified? I would like to see the data.

But that's not the only statement that concerns me. As I scroll down their latest news release I am confronted with "much of the timber and wooden products entering the UK comes directly from the habitat of some of the world's most endangered animals." Much? How much? Such unqualified assumptions leave an impression that most timber imports are illegal, which just isn't true.

The reality is UK hardwood import behaviour has changed. Tropical imports overall have been declining for decade, and most imports from high-risk tropical countries are now certified, or a minimum of third party legally verified. It's a fact that ought to please WWF! And it's one that has not gone unnoticed by Duncan Brack at Chatham House. Mr Brack points out: "The UK has been one of the most proactive European countries in addressing illegal logging, as reflected in the increase in the number of companies with chain-of-custody certification and in the amount of certified wood-based products on the UK market."

This private sector response, he continues, "is thought to be partly responsible for the decline in imports into the UK of timber-sector products likely to be illegal, currently estimated to comprise three per cent of the total." (www.chathamhouse.org / Nov 25, 2014).

In the meantime the market has also turned its focus to temperate hardwood supplies, such as those from North America. It is here that the hardwood forests are continuing to expand and growth is far outstripping harvest year on year.

So rather than putting the frighteners on UK households and have every family in the land scrutinising their doors, floors and furniture for signs of illegality, the WWF would make a far stronger contribution to the environmental debate if they also ran campaigns that called for the public to "use and buy wood instead of other less environmental materials".

Perhaps they could ask; "isn't it time we examined the legality of other raw materials, not just timber?".