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Brazil forms eco-friendly timber certification unit |
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| BRAZIL: September 20, 2001 | ||
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BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's environmentalists have created an organization to certify for consumers that wood they are buying was cut legally rather than taken by illegal loggers in the world's largest tropical forest, the World Wildlife Fund said yesterday.
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The Brazilian Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC, would certify local timber and work as a unit of the international group of the same name. The Amazon, most of which is located in Brazil, is larger than all of Western Europe combined and shelters up to 50 percent of the world's animal and plant life. Yet figures show that deforestation was the worst in five years in 2000 because of illegal logging and fires. Brazilian wood represents just 14 percent of all certified wood exports extracted from the world's tropical forests so there is scope for growth in trade, WWF said. "Based on principles and criteria which are ecologically adequate, socially beneficial and economically viable, FSC certification will help enlarge the Brazilian share of the world's market while supporting good forest management," WWF said. There are 70 companies in Brazil that have won FSC certification to sell timber. Leading environmental groups like WWF and Greenpeace, in addition to Amazon groups like rubber tapper organizations will be members of the council in Brazil. Groups such as Brazil's paper and pulp producer Klabin are also taking part.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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