PNG Eco-Timber Hits Australian Market

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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11/16/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Australians have the opportunity to buy timbers that do not come from

endangered old-growth forests, as sustainable community eco-timber

products are now available from Papua New Guinea.

g.b.

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Title: PNG eco-timber hits Aussie market

Source: The National

Date: November 16, 1999

Byline: Ruth Konia

PORT MORESBY: Timber produced sustainably by forest communities in

Papua New Guinea has hit the Australian market.

At a launch in Sydney yesterday, representatives from World Wide Fund

for Nature called on Australian timber consumers to buy PNG "eco-

timber" as an alternative to rainforest timber from industrial logging

operations.

WWF PNG country coordinator Kilyali Kalit said PNG eco-timber is the

first to reach the Australian market bearing the Forest Stewardship

Council (FSC) stamp of approval.

The FSC is an internationally recognised system of certifying timber

that takes into account the economic, environmental and social

importance of forests. The FSC system establishes forest management

performance standards that are independently audited, giving consumers

the confidence that the timber they are buying is "good wood".

PNG eco-timber now available in Australia comes from a community-run

project in West New Britain, under a PNG National Government Program

funded by the European Union. Trained community members produce timber

using a portable sawmill set up within the forest.

To meet the strict criteria of the FSC, the area to be logged is

divided into a number of clearly marked coupes of five to 20ha each.

Before logging takes place, a full inventory of the area is

undertaken.

Cutting of small trees and seed trees is not allowed and trees to be

logged are carefully selected so that when they fall, they do not

damage nearby seedlings or create large gaps in the canopy.

Industrial-scale logging has been ravaging PNG for the past two

decades. The WWF says large-scale industrial logging has caused

unacceptable damage and that community forestry is the superior

alternative.

"The number of trees cut in an industrial logging operation in one

week would sustain a community sawmill for several years," Mr Kalit

said.

"Community forestry is not only better for the environment, it also

returns most of the wealth to the people living off the forest

resource.

"The premise behind eco-forestry is that customary landowners will

care for their forest, whereas foreign-owned logging companies do not.

Community forestry provides landowners with an income from the forest,

enabling them to say 'no' to foreign loggers."

The global market for FSC-certified timber has grown dramatically in

recent years. The FSC has certified over 17 million ha of forest

worldwide. In PNG the certified forests cover an area of 4,310ha.

So far, more than 25 cubic metres of timber from the EU-sponsored

project in PNG has been exported to Australia in four shipments.

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