A forest felled?

Friends of the Earth (FoE) has called on the government to take tough action against the importers of illegally logged tropical timber.

The move follows claims that as much as 60 per cent of the tropical timber sold in the UK may have been illegally felled in countries such as Brazil.

The environmental group believes the government should outlaw the imports and impose a certification scheme to prove that timber products have come from legitimate logging operations.

According to Friends of the Earth's Ed Matthew over one million cubic metres of illegal timber entered the UK in 1999."This is having a devastating impact on wildlife-rich forests and on the people who depend on them. Tony Blair has made repeated promises that the G8 will combat illegal logging but the trade continues with the UK at the top of the European list of offenders," he said.

Matthew is calling on Blair to implement "tough legal sanctions" to halt the import of illegal timber.

The Timber Trade Federation admits that there is still a serious problem regarding illegally imported tropical timber but questioned FoE's claims.

Mark O'Brien, the organisation's head of public affairs, said tropical timber formed a very small percentage of British timber imports and warned that a boycott would be in nobody's interests.

"In the absence of large volumes of certified tropical timber in the developing world it is important to maintain trading links with tropical countries to provide the necessary economic incentives to continued maintaining the forests and improving management practices," he said.

"If such trade is not continued the forests will be converted to agriculture or the timber will be sold to less environmentally sensitive markets without any improvement in environmental practices."