Tropical Forests (Hansard, 11 February 1993)

§ Mr. Dafis
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what procedures have been established to monitor the effectiveness of the tropical forest action plan.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
We monitor the tropical forestry action programme through attendance at international meetings such as the tropical forestry advisers' group and through the national forestry planning processes in countries where we have significant aid programmes in the forestry sector.

§ Mr. Dafis
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the relationship between the commitment in the forest principles to unrestricted trade and the policy of limiting trade to sustainably produced timber.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
There is no conflict between the forest principles agreed at UNCED and the International Tropical Timber Organisation's target of the year 2000 for all internationally traded tropical timber to come from sustainably managed sources. Both the UNCED principles and ITTO aim to promote the sustainable management of tropical forests and preclude unilateral and discriminatory restrictions contrary to internationally agreed rules.

§ Mr. Dafis
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the United Kingdom's tropical timber imports are derived from sustainable sources.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
There is no reliable way of determining whether or not timber entering the United Kingdom has come from a sustainable source.
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§ Mr. Dafis
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the International Timber Trade Organisation concerning the report on threatened timber species produced in May 1991.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
We are in frequent contact with the International Tropical Timber Organisation about how best to develop and build upon the work to which the hon. Member refers. We have offered to help meet the costs of expanding this work and of hosting an ITTO workshop, due to be held in March, to consider and, if necessary, refine, the scientific methodologies used to assess the extent to which individual timber species may be put at risk by the international timber trade.