Defra issued the results of a review of timber certification schemes with five schemes designed to combat illegal logging and protect forests worldwide given the Government seal of approval.

With the amount of timber products used in construction today, verification of their origin has become increasingly important. An assessment by the Central Point of Expertise on Timber found standards and procedures operated by these schemes continue to merit their current CPET approval status, designed to assure UK government departments the timber comes from responsible sources.

On 18 December, biodiversity minister Barry Gardiner announced that the Canadian Standards Association, Forest Stewardship Council, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and Sustainable Forestry Initiative will continue to be accepted as assurance of legally logged timber from sustainably managed forests.

The Malaysian Timber Certification Council scheme will continue to be accepted as assurance of legally logged timber. The Malaysian scheme was assessed as not quite meeting the CPET criteria for sustainability and is working to improve its standard in this respect.

“Illegal logging degrades forests and damages the environment, leading to the loss of biodiversity,” said Mr Gardiner. “It hurts many of the world’s poorest people who depend on forests for their livelihoods, robbing poor countries of revenues that should be used to develop their economies.”

He said the Government has a responsibility, as major purchasers of timber, to do what it can to ensure that timber is legal and from sustainably managed forests wherever possible.

The schemes will be reviewed again in 2008.

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