Ban Illegal Timber

The email that you will send below constitutes an official submission to the European Commission (EC) consultation process on combating illegal logging.

For the submission to be considered valid by the EC, certain information must be provided.

All information above the dotted line in the letter is compulsory for the submission to be valid.

Please fill in your name, email address (in the spaces provided) and your country of residence (in the body of the letter).

Please feel free to add any of your own comments at the end of the letter.

So fill in your details and tell the EC to ’Ban Illegal Timber’.

Your name

Your email address

Subject

Message

Country of Residence: (INSERT COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE HERE)

Question: "Do you consent to the publication of your personal data with the publication of your replies to the consultation?"
Answer: "No, references to the personal data should remain anonymous"

Question: "I reply:"
Answer: "As an individual"

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To Stavros Dimas and Louis Michel

Dear Commissioners,

Re : Public Consultation on additional options to combat illegal logging and associated trade.

I am writing to ask that the European Commission urgently presents legislation that will prohibit the import of illegally harvested timber into Europe and also that you require that only timber and timber products that are from legal sources and responsibly managed forests are sold in Europe.

Ancient forests worldwide are under threat - high rates of deforestation and degradation are leading to species extinction, eco-system breakdown, increased poverty, social unrest, political instability and are massively contributing to climate change. Every two seconds an area of forest the size of a football field disappears. Deforestation is contributing up to 20 percent of total CO2 emissions globally. High demand for cheap timber is fuelling illegal and destructive logging in all corners of the world - from Papua New Guinea to Canada and from the Amazon to Russia.

By trading in such timber and timber products, Europe is rewarding unscrupulous companies for their forest crime and undermining the efforts of those who are trying to do the right thing.

New legislation implemented by the EU must ensure that companies can credibly show where their timber comes from and that it is both legal and from responsibly managed forests. Any logging, processing and transportation of timber must be done in compliance with laws of relevant countries, and respect international environmental and human rights laws. In particular the rights of indigenous peoples and forest communities must be upheld and protected.

To be effective the legislation should impose both criminal and civil penalties on those who ignore the law so that there is a real incentive to stop the trade and sale of illegal and destructively logged timber. The legislation must include all timber and timber products, such as paper, furniture, plywood and flooring.

It is clear that voluntary measures will not be enough to stop illegal and destructive trade. I urge you to propose new laws that will stop illegal and destructive timber being sold on the European market.

Please accept this letter as my personal submission under the public consultation on illegal logging.

Yours sincerely,