Save the World's Forests
prev(4/5)|Save the World's Forests|next(5/5)
4. What We Can Do
We use wood in our daily lives in a variety of forms such as houses, paper and furniture. Most of this wood comes from forests abroad. Japan imports large amount of wood from all over the world.
In 2006, the equivalent of about 70 million m3 of wood (‘Trade Statistics of Japan', Ministry of Finance, Japan, estimated by conversion to log) was imported, accounting for about 80% of domestic demand. This implies that those who are living in Japan, as consumers of wood, have responsibilities to the world's forests.
The aim of illegal logging is mainly to export wood and wood products. What can we do as consumers in order to reduce illegal logging, and furthermore to stop deforestation in the wood-producing countries?
HS44 (excluding paper and furniture)
'The Green Purchasing Law' (Law concerning the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-friendly Goods and Services by the State and Other Entities of 2000)
Since April 2001, Japanese government has enforced the ‘the Green Purchasing Law' which stipulates that national government and public institutions must buy products with a low environmental burden. As one of the measures against illegal logging, a new regulation introduced in April 2006, obliges the public sector to buy the only wood/wood products as are verified for their ‘legality' or certified ‘sustainability. Verification of ‘legality' and certification of ‘sustainability' should be based on the ‘Guideline for Verification on Legality and Sustainability of Timber/Timber products' made by Forestry Agency, Japan. The following three modes of verification are given in the guideline.
<Specified Items>
- Paper (e.g. forms, printing paper, etc.)
- Stationary (e.g. business envelopes, notebooks, etc.)
- Office furniture (e.g. chairs, desks, shelves, etc.)
- Bed frames
- Public works material (e.g. lumber, glued laminated timber, plywood, laminated veneer lumber, flooring, etc.)
(1) Verification method via a Forest Certification system
This is a method to verify by receiving a forest certification*1 seal (provided by PEFC, FSC, SGEC*2 , etc.).
*1 Mainly privately operating systems. A third party certifies that the forest is well-managed, and put the seal on the wood products harvested from it, there so that consumers can choose and buy them later if they wish.
*2 PEFC: Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes
FSC:Forest Stewardship Council
SGEC:Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council
(2) Verification method by company under the authorization of associations for forest owners, forestry or wood industry
Respective associations establish their own voluntary code of conduct and authorize individual companies. An authorized company issues a legality verification certificate to a company operating at the next stage, i.e. the related company closest in commercial process, to make a chain of verification on legality and certification on sustainability.
*3 Existing proofs such as receipts can be used for the ‘certificate of legality'.
(3) Verification method byoriginal measure of each company
This is a method*4 to verify by an original measure set by respective companies under comprehension of the distribution process from harvesting to delivery.
*4This verification method can adopt a variety of criteria, but these should require the same level of reliability as in (2) above. The Green Purchasing Law also encourages local governments and other public sector such as private companies and individual citizens to purchase green goods/services. Green purchasing is expected to spread beyond the national governmental offices.
Some of the Environmental NGOs and wood industries are also continuing to work towards methods of verifying legality and certified sustainability in timber procurement.
Fair Wood Campaign
< What is Fair Wood? >
Fair Wood is environment-friendly and socially-fair wood.
For example,
- At least Legally-harvested wood
- Wood from well-managed for sustainable forest management
- Wood certified sustainability by a trustworthy third party
- Wood from the closest available forest
‘Fair Wood Campaign' began as a joint program conducted by the Global Environmental Forum, FoE Japan and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) since 2003. This campaign aims to promote a social commitment in order to protect what is left of the valuable forest ecosystem and to support sustainable forest management. It asks especially the importers/companies of timber products/paper to do the following two things:
- To promote green procurement of timber products and paper
- In order to do this, a ‘supply chain management' system should be adopted, and the purchaser should demand sustainable forest management from the supplier side.
The main activities of the Campaign are,
- To collect information on the world' s forests, to research into and analyze them, and to disseminate the findings
- To develop and disseminate tools and guidebooks for green procurement of timber/paper
- To organize seminars/study groups/symposium
For details please see Fair Wood Campaign(Open new window,Japanese only.)
Japan Paper Association's Policy for Wood Procurement - on illegal logging
Japan Paper Association (JPA) is a business representative of the paper industry, consisting of the major paper pulp companies. Its purpose is to support sound development of the paper/paper board/pulp manufacturing business in Japan. The JPA has established a ‘Code of Conduct of the Japan Paper Association for Issues on Illegal Logging', and addresses the problems of illegal logging and products in partnership with the international forest/paper manufacturing businesses, in order to prevent illegal logging from degrading forest timber resources, to sustain the ecosystem and to prevent global warming.
For details please see Japan Paper Association's Policy for Wood Procurement - on illegal logging(Open new window, Japanese only.)
Don't Use Illegally-Harvested Timber!
The housing/construction sector, which is generally on a smaller scale than the paper industry, lags behind in taking measures against illegal logging. A survey by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan in 2007, reveals that 50% of all returns from housing/construction companies point out their customers' low awareness level about the illegal logging issue as one of the obstacles to introducing green procurement of timber.
The Council for Tackling Illegal Logging Issue provides information on corporations that supply legal wood and wood products on its website.
Goho Wood Navi http://www.goho-wood.jp/(Open new window, Japanese only.)
We urge you, as a consumer, to make sure to use timber that has not been illegally harvested.
prev(4/5)|Save the World's Forests|next(5/5)