§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has about the extent of illegal trade in timber from the rain forest countries of South-Eash Asia.
§ Mr. NeedhamAuthoritative information about the extent of illegal harvesting and exports of timber from the rain forest countries of South East Asia is limited. I have, however, been sent a copy of a report on such matters by the TRAFFIC Network, which was published with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what international agreements supported by Britain relate to the international trade in timber;
(2) what steps are being taken by the United Kingdom Government to ensure that all United Kingdom imports of timber are derived from legally felled forests and are traded legally.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe Government's policy on timber is to encourage the sustainable management of forests. We support the International Tropical Timber Organisation's target for all internationally traded timber to originate from sustainably managed forests by 2000. Except as provided for under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species there are no restrictions on the import of tropical hardwoods into the United Kingdom; wider restrictions would be neither practicable nor desirable.