Mar 29, 2006, 18:17 GMT
Curitiba, Brazil - The international environmental organization Greenpeace Wednesday charged that China is playing a key role in destroying the world's forests by 'laundering' some of the most protected tree species in its booming economy.
The charges were delivered at the UN biodiversity conference in Brazil, where government ministers from some 90 countries are attending three days of high-level talks on the issues. The 10-day conference will continue after their departure.
In a report entitled 'Sharing the Blame: Global Consumption and China's Role in Ancient Forest Destruction,' Greenpace presented documentation that China is now the world's largest importer of tropical woods.
'Half of all tropical trees logged globally end up in China,' a press statement said. 'Much of this wood comes form Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where between 76 to 90 per cent of the logging in illegal.'
The report lauded some international buyers for addressing the issue, and noted that numerous companies in Europe have agreed to stop purchasing Chinese plywood made from illegally logged timer from Papua New Guinea.
Greenpeace, however, said such efforts are not enough and called upon North America, Europe and Japan - which it said consume the majority of illegal timber in wood products - to cut back on their use of paper and wood products. China's own voracious appetite for wood products is also fuelling the problem - in the last 10 years, China's consumption rose by 70 per cent, Greenpeace said. Two-thirds of total consumption was to meet domestic needs.
'Illegal logging is rampant in many of the countries that supply China with wood and this destructive trade is fuelling the global forest crisis,' said Sze Pang Cheung, deputy campaign director for Greenpeace China.
China has already committed to wood conservation, and just last week imposed a 5 per cent consumption tax on disposable wooden chopsticks, hardwood flooring as well as other wood products.
Greenpeace called for China and the other 187 signers of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to establish legally binding rules on illegal logging.
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