§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that all timber imports into the UK come from sustainable sources. [19605]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government are working with the timber trade, environmental pressure groups and other stakeholders to encourage a greater demand for sustainable timber across all sectors of the economy. The Government are also working with many stakeholders in different producer countries to promote sustainable forest management as well as tackling illegal logging. The Forest Law Enforcement Conference held in Bali in September, which the Under-Secretary of State for International Development attended on behalf of the Government, has added a new dynamism to efforts to curb illegal logging through effective measures at a national, bilateral and international level.
For their own operational activities the Government are committed to actively seek to purchase the timber and timber products they need from legal and sustainable sources. To this end Government buyers have been instructed to implement this policy and to report annually on their purchases. An interdepartmental working group is monitoring progress and will provide further guidance and advice to buyers. The Government's approach should help to transform the market into supplying more timber and timber products from sustainably managed sources. More information is given in the Third Annual Report on Greening Government, published on 27 November 2001 and available on the internet (http://www.sustainabledevelopment.gov.uk).
These steps are a tangible measure of the Government's commitment to implement the G8 Action on Forests agreed at its 1998 Birmingham summit.