§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action her Department is taking to reduce the amount of tropical plywood used in the United Kingdom.[143221]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government are committed to sustainable forest management and is playing a leading role in international negotiations on forests in a number of fora, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). The Government are also playing a major role internationally to combat illegal logging and its associated trade, in addition to seeking to ensure that the import of endangered timber species is in compliance with CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
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1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Water and sewerage companies Anglian 215 237 242 242 240 206 190 194 224 192 Dwr Cymru 387 390 413 357 329 306 288 260 245 234 Northumbrian North 182 187 190 192 184 171 168 164 161 153 Northumbrian South 95 98 90 85 82 76 73 72 73 67 Severn Trent 614 665 632 479 399 344 340 340 340 550 South West 152 145 142 129 101 92 84 84 83 84 Southern 141 133 120 113 99 95 93 92 92 92 Thames 930 1,078 1,109 1,080 906 770 662 688 865 925 Under EU law, a ban on the import of illegally logged timber can only be imposed at EU level. We are therefore playing an active role within the European Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process. On 13 October the EU Council of Ministers adopted Council Conclusions providing a broad endorsement of the FLEGT Action Plan, which addresses development co-operation, trade in timber, public procurement, private sector initiatives, financing and investment safeguards, money laundering and conflict timber
The Government are also keen to discourage consumers from purchasing illegally logged timber. For over three years UK central departments and their executive agencies have been required to actively seek to purchase their timber and timber related products from legal and sustainable sources. We believe the UK to be the first country to implement such a policy. The challenge is considerable and implementation has not been without difficulty, but already the effect is being felt in the UK and abroad. The UK Devolved Administrations and many local authorities in England have indicated that they have adopted similar policies or are considering doing so. Additionally, the UK Timber Trade Federation is developing a sustainable timber procurement policy for its members to consider adopting.