Have one certification for timber, urges Lim (HL)"The green consumerism perpetrated by the NGOs has affected consumer perception on tropical timber and timber products. They (NGOs) claim that buying our timber will lead to rampant felling of trees.
"Such action has affected our exports of the products to the European markets to the extent of reducing our revenue by 50 per cent in the last four or five years," the minister told newsmen after meeting a delegation of European parliamentarians yesterday.
The five-member team, led by Mr Carlos Costa Neves of Portugal, arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday for a three-day official visit.
Dr Lim said although Malaysian exports of forestry products to Europe have been improving, access to the markets has been hampered by the practice of having different certification exercises and schemes in each country.
Malaysia supports and practises sustainable forest management, and the introduction of common certification for forestry products can only further the cause, he said.
"We will follow the (common) standards and criteria, but please get input from us or the International Tropical Timber Organisation (Itto) before drawing them up...don't be unduly influenced by vested interests like the fund-raising NGOs.
Malaysia has pointed out that stopping the imports of tropical timber will not help sustain the forests, he said, adding that the country has set up its own National Timber Certification Council.
Using Itto criteria and indicators, it certifies that timber products from Malaysia are from sustainable forests.
If this certification or that of Itto is not recognised by Europe, the country may end up having to submit to NGOs like the Forestry Stewardship Council, he said.
Dr Lim said the European parliamentarians, who are on a fact- finding mission to Asean, agreed to consult their respective governments on the matter.
Europe took about 20 per cent, or RM3 billion worth, of Malaysia's total exports of timber and timber products last year.
"For the whole of 1999, we exported about RM17 billion of the products," the minister said, adding that the Europeans bought mostly sawn timber, furniture and moulding.