§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent steps she has taken to prevent the importation of illegally logged hardwood timber. [71674]
§ Mr. MorleyCustoms can seize illegally logged timber only if the species concerned is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). New Eli-wide legislation is needed to empower customs authorities to prevent entry of illegally logged non-CITES timber. The UK is working within the EU to identify what legislation is needed and how it can be introduced. The UK Government has also committed its own central departments and their agencies to procure timber from legal and sustainable sources.
In the meantime we are lobbying hard to ensure that the proposal to increase the protection afforded to big-leaf mahogany by uplisting it to Appendix II of CITES is approved at the Conference of CITES Parties in Santiago, Chile, in November. We will also work hard in the margins of the meeting to encourage more tropical
172WInformation on (b) and (c) has not been collated and is not available, but, for example, approximately 28 Infected Premises were directly connected with Longtown Market.
timber producing countries to list more of their trees on Appendix III of CITES, which would bring these species under monitoring control.