Malaysia: WWF's sustainable timber scheme under fire

Grace Chua Straits Times 26 Jul 11;

A MALAYSIAN timber firm has been accused of cutting down orang utan habitat in a conservation area run by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Environmentalists say Ta Ann collected timber from the forest in Sarawak despite being a member of a WWF forest-certification scheme.

The company is one of several criticised in a report released yesterday by London-based environmental organisation Global Witness, which questions the transparency and effectiveness of these voluntary programmes.

Ta Ann, which produces plywood and sawmill products, is part of the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), a 20-year-old scheme to promote sustainable wood products and stamp out illegal logging. About 300 companies whose trade is worth more than US$70 billion (S$84.7 billion) are part of the voluntary programme, and must not get their timber from illegal sources or endangered habitats.

Ta Ann is only one case study in the report, Pandering To The Loggers. Global Witness forest campaign leader Tom Picken said such schemes '(allow) companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF while they continue to destroy forests and trade in illegally sourced timber'. 'When a landmark scheme created in the name of sustainability and conservation tolerates one of its member companies destroying orang utan habitat, something is going seriously wrong.'

In an e-mail response to The Straits Times, Ta Ann said it has over 97,400ha of legal forest concessions within the WWF's Heart of Borneo conservation area, but the programme permits sustainable forest use.

It said about 70 per cent of that licensed area is kept for buffer zones, biodiversity conservation and wildlife corridors, adding: 'No orang utan has ever been sighted or identified in preoperational or operational work in the developed area.'

In the report's two other case studies, Global Witness said British building supplier Jewson was still selling illegally sourced timber 10 years after joining the certification scheme, and that a subsidiary of the Swiss-German Danzer Group had run into conflicts with local communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Yesterday, Mr George White, the WWF's head of GFTN, said the Global Witness report was misleading and contained a number of errors.

He told The Straits Times that under Ta Ann's two-year participation agreement, which runs out this September, only two of its processing facilities had to meet sustainable-sourcing requirements. Ta Ann, he said, was the scheme's first inroad into Sarawak as an attempt to engage the forestry industry there.

Mr White admitted: 'GFTN can and will make greater efforts regarding transparency and clarity as to the scope of participation by companies... We are currently in the process of amending the Ta Ann data to ensure we have this clarity and to ensure there is no confusion.'

He added that the scheme has changed the forestry industry, but that progress takes time.

The Global Witness report, however, challenges the fundamental notion that eco-certification alone can save the environment, said Mr Picken. 'Ultimately, policies and programmes in the timber sector need to address both the quality of practice and overall demand,' he noted. 'It is simply impossible to carry on certifying ever-increasing areas of forest as being under 'sustainable management', while forests continue to disappear.'

WWF slammed over destruction of forest
Isabelle Lai and Rashvinjeet S. Bedi The Star 26 Jul 11;

PETALING JAYA: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been accused of allowing timber companies to get away with destructive forestry practices despite being members of its sustainable timber programme.

This was alleged in the report “Pandering to the Loggers” by investigative group Global Wit­ness, which criticised WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) scheme as having “few minimum standards” for membership participation.

The group claimed this would allow unscrupulous companies involved in “destructive activities” to still join and benefit from the scheme, reported English newspaper The Guardian yesterday.

The 20-year-old GFTN scheme links more than 300 companies, communities, NGOs, and entrepreneurs worldwide and is responsible for nearly 19% of forest products bought or sold internationally.

The report singled out Malaysian logging company Ta Ann Holdings Bhd among others which engaged in unsustainable practices despite being a GFTN member.

It alleged that Ta Ann Holdings had clear-felled Borneo rainforest “equivalent to nearly 20 football pitches a day” and worked within a WWF conservation project site for endangered species.

Ta Ann Holdings yesterday refuted Global Witness’ allegations and said the legality and origin of its timber had been verified by independent bodies Tropical Forest Trust and SGS.

Meanwhile, GFTN head George White said many aspects of the report were incomplete or inaccurate. He claimed that the first year of work with Ta Ann’s mills had resulted in improvements in their sourcing profile.

White said the Lik Shen sawmill had achieved legality verification and plans to achieve Verified Legal Compliance certification by the end of 2012.

To allegations Ta Ann worked within WWF’s Heart of Borneo (HoB), White clarified that it was not a “locked up” area for pure pre­servation and conservation use.

WWF accused of failing to regulate sustainable timber scheme
Investigative group claims that members of group's Global forest and trade network are involved in 'highly destructive activities'
John Vidal The Guardian 25 Jul 11;

Conservation group WWF let timber companies use its panda brand logo while they were razing some of the world's most biologically rich rainforests or trading in potentially illegally sourced timber, according to the investigative group Global Witness.

The WWF's flagship Global forest and trade network (Gftn), which is part-subsidised by the US government and EU, promotes sustainable timber, bringing together more than 70 international logging companies and large numbers of timber sellers. The WWF says the 20-year-old scheme is now responsible for nearly 19% of forest products bought or sold internationally, with members' combined annual sales approaching $70bn (£43bn).

However, Global Witness's report, Pandering to the Loggers, claims Gftn's membership and participation rules are inadequate, allowing companies to systematically abuse the scheme.

"There are few minimum standards required for companies joining Gftn," says the report. "Meaning even companies involved in highly destructive activities, such as clearing natural forests to make way for plantations or buying wood products from illegal sources can join and benefit." WWF rejects that.

The report, which is billed as a "basic evaluation of the operation and effectiveness of the scheme", looks in detail at three case studies.

One is the Malaysian logging company Ta Ann Holdings Berhad, which has clear-felled rainforest in Borneo equivalent to nearly 20 football pitches a day while a member of the WWF scheme. Investigations by Global Witness show it working legally within the boundaries of a WWF conservation project that WWF bills as, "crucial to the survival of Borneo's endangered species including orangutans and clouded leopards".

Another member of the scheme, UK building supplier Jewson, failed to ensure all its timber came from legal sources for nearly 10 years after joining. WWF said Jewson had changed its timber sourcing practices after problems had been found.

Global Witness also claims that a third timber company, the Swiss-German Danzer Group, has a subsidiary working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which has been allegedly involved in conflicts with local communities.

"Gftn rules are less stringent than US and EU laws prohibiting the import of illegal timber," said Tom Picken, a forest campaigner at Global Witness in a press release. "When a landmark scheme created in the name of conservation tolerates one of its member companies destroying orangutan habitat, something is going seriously wrong."

WWF said many of the allegations were misleading. "Gftn has made a major contribution to conservation through its ability to engage with industry. Participants make clear commitments that demonstrate they reject illegal or suspicious timber. Trade participants report on an annual basis, and sites are inspected on an annual basis where appropriate."

It also said that only Ta Ann's processing facilities were included in the WWF scheme. "The first year of work with Ta Ann's mills has resulted in improvements in their sourcing profile. As with all participants, longer term compliance with the agreed action plan will be critical to their continued participation."

It added that it was investigating allegations of an incident involving a community associated with the Danzer subsidiary in Congo. "Whilst WWF-drc continues to investigate the case, no further engagement will be taken [with the subsidiary]."

WWF, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, makes about $500m a year from donations and corporate endorsements but has been criticised by other environment groups and NGOs for its links to forestry, mining, tobacco, banks, palm oil, biofuel and other companies. Last month a German public broadcaster accused WWF of being too close to GM food companies working in Latin America. The charge was strongly denied by WWF, which argues that it seeks a "constructive dialogue" with industries. GM soybeans have been certified as "sustainable" by the Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS), an organisation instigated by the WWF.

Global Witness has called on WWF to rigorously evaluate the scheme with a comprehensive independent audit. "Donor governments using public-sector funds to finance Gftn should make further support conditional on such an evaluation being carried out, along with the implementation of any resulting recommendations being realised," said Picken.


WWF response to Global Witness report
WWF 26 Jul 11;

In response Global Witness’ report Pandering to the Loggers released on Monday 25 July, WWF issues the following statement:

For 20 years, the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) has worked successfully to create a global marketplace for sustainably sourced forest products. The programme now includes approximately 300 companies, communities, NGOs in more than 30 countries around the world.

GFTN believes in providing practical solutions that allow companies to develop and implement region-specific strategies that promote responsible forestry and trade, combat illegal logging and protect some of planet’s most valuable resources.
Examples of GFTN’s major achievements include:

GFTN has been instrumental in the creation of markets for credibly certified forest products. Since its inception, GFTN has been a mechanism to promote and develop markets for forest certification, especially through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). All GFTN participants are required to set and meet targets concerning credible certification. Today more than 50 per cent of the global market for FSC material is traded by GFTN participants, and many non-GFTN participants have been driven to adopting chain of custody or to certifying their forests as a result of the commitments made by GFTN participants. GFTN’s practical approach has enabled the industry to be part of the solution to unsustainable deforestation and forest degradation.

GFTN’s stepwise approach to responsible purchasing of forest products has become an industry standard. GFTN formalized the stepwise approach to responsible sourcing of forest products in 2003. Today this system is used not only by participants, but has become an industry benchmark. Through a series of steps, members can work through the levels of verification they need to indicate to themselves (and to GFTN) that they are making progress across the spectrum of sources they use. The approach has been instrumental in increasing demand for certified and legally verified products, and huge increases in the transparency of supply chains. The process has demonstrated that market demand can both drive certification and improve general performance.

GFTN strategy for forest certification. GFTN pioneered a strategy in 2005 that has enabled the certification of tropical forests. Since then, work with committed companies and managers operating in a tough environment has paid off with the certification of forests in many countries where previously there had been no certified forestry operations. This approach has been core to GFTN’s work in producer countries, and since 2007, GFTN participants have been able to achieve FSC certification in over 20 million hectares of forest.

GFTN has played a key role in promoting transparency in supply chains with respect to legality of forestry and trade. GFTN’s 2006 Keep It Legal and 2009 Exporting in a Shifting Legal Landscape guides provided essential informationregarding existing forest laws in major producer countries, and showed buyers how to assess the level of compliance in their supply chains. GFTN’s guidance is also used by producers to assess the level of compliance within their own supply chains and how to demonstrate this to their customers.

“We believe the private sector can be a significant positive force to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests,” says George White, Head of GFTN. “By mainstreaming responsible forestry practices among the forest-related sector, GFTN creates market conditions that help conserve the world's forests, while providing social and economic benefits for the businesses and people that depend on them.”

“Of course, some GFTN partners have a way to go on their journey to sustainability. But these are precisely the companies that should be in GFTN, and we applaud their commitments to improving their environmental performance. Companies caught flouting the rules and spirit of GFTN will be removed from the network,” says White.