The risks of illegal logging in the Solomon Islands are high enough that importers of uncertified Solomon Islands timber in the US and EU are unlikely to be able to meet their legal requirements without extensive site visits.About half of China’s tropical log imports come from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.China imports 82% of the logs the Solomon Islands exports.In other words, logging roads in the Solomon Islands would take you from Shanghai to Tibet and back again, despite the fact that the Solomon Islands are 338 times smaller than China. Our new satellite imagery analysis shows that logging roads in the Solomon Islands are twice as long as the Yangtze River.A recent report commissioned by the Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Finance suggested that if logging activities continue at their current pace, natural forests will be exhausted by 2036.The Solomon Islands exported more than 3 million cubic metres of logs in 2017, more than 19 times a conservative estimate of the annual sustainable harvest.The Solomon Islands is China’s second-biggest source of tropical logs (after Papua New Guinea), despite the fact that the Solomon Islands are only twice as big as Beijing.This report explores the unsustainability of this logging, the commercial and legal risks to business, how the timber trade in the Solomon Islands does little to benefit local people and how China, as the main importer of logs from the Solomon Islands, has a responsibility to act. We call on China to require its timber importers to carry out checks to ensure that the timber they buy is, at a minimum, legal in its country of origin. ![]() ![]() Time is running out for China – both to protect the forests of the Solomon Islands it profits from, and its position as a leader in global environmental governance and a responsible global trade partner. The impact of this was seen in a recent $13 million fine of criminal charges to giant American flooring retailer, Lumber Liquidators, in relation to imports of flooring made in China using illegal wood. Most of China’s major wood trading partners - including the US, Japan, the UK, South Korea, Canada, Australia and Germany - have laws in place that require companies to check that timber was harvested legally in its country of harvest. Increases the commercial and reputational risks to its businesses and those The illegal activity Chinese businesses are taking part in, China enormously Improve governance, prevent environmental degradation, and achieve the UN Questions asked,’ it risks undermining efforts by its trading partners to Important aspect of its ecological footprint: the raw materials that it sourcesĭestination for about two-thirds of all tropical logs globally, many of whichĬome from countries like the Solomon Islands that are struggling to addressĪctor in the global timber trade, if China continues to buy its wood with ‘no But the Chinese government is overlooking an Serious steps to address environmental degradation and to reduce pollution andĬarbon emissions at home. The two countries supply half of China’s tropical log importsĪnd we found widespread risks of illegality in both countries’ forest sectors. ![]() Group of islands is the country’s second biggest source of tropical logs, after Solomon Islands’ timber is exported to mainland China, and indeed this small Islands, and the ensuing disastrous impact on our global environment, lies in Suffer the added burden of losing more of the world’s carbon sinks. Unchecked, it will have a devastating and irreparable impact on the country’sĮnvironment, and our global climate, already pushed to danger point, will
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |