Shortly after 7.30 this morning, Greenpeace volunteers blockaded the entrance to the Department for the Environment,Food and Rural Affairs DEFRA offices on London's Millbank, in protest at the tonnes of illegal timber continuing to flood into the UK from the world's last rainforests.
The British Government has known about this illegal trade for years, but has failed to stop illegal timber entering the UK.
The entrance to DEFRA - the Government department responsible for the environment, was blocked by volunteers using a crane to place over a tonne of plywood - secured with large chains - right outside the door. Two activists chained themselves to the timber to prevent it being removed, while climbers scaled the outside of the building, securing a massive banner reading 'Ban illegal timber'. Volunteers handed out leaflets containing information on illegal timber to Defra staff and other Londoners on their way to work, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, and MP Mark Pritchard, member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.
Around 11:30, police used boltcutters to remove the two activists chained to the plywood, and they were released without charge. At midday, our forest campaigners met Environment Minister Elliot Morley outside the QE2 centre in Westminster, where he was attending a conference on sustainable procurement for the public sector. They presented him with a copy of the our crime file. Mr Morley said he was happy to go on record calling for a ban on the import of illegally logged timber.
The thing is, this isn't yet the stated position of the Government - Mr Morley needs to make a stand, and make it clear that the UK Government is fully supportive of a ban on illegal timber imports into the EU.
Today's action follows a major investigation into a criminal trail of illegally logged rainforest timber from the world's largest tropical island - Papau New Guinea, which is 'laundered' through China before arriving on shop shelves here in the UK. The companies logging this timber are linked not only to environmental destruction, but also to serious human rights abuses, including torture and rape.
Illegally logged timber from Papua New Guinea, home to animals and plants found nowhere else on the planet, has been traced back to UK ports, building sites and builders' merchants. It has been on a 14,000-mile journey via the processing mills of China, where it is transformed into plywood and then exported to countries around the world, including the UK.
This plywood is openly available from builders' merchants such as Wolseley, who own more than 200 Build Centers across the UK. It has also been found on building sites, such as at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies during renovation work.
The logging industry on Papua New Guinea is dominated by Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, a company that has been directly linked to both environmental destruction, and human rights abuses including torture and rape. Illegally logged timber from Rimbunan Hijau, and other companies, can be found as plywood at Wolseley Build Centers and other builders' merchants throughout the UK.
China is by far the largest importer of rainforest destruction in the world. For every ten tropical logs shipped from the world's threatened rainforests, five are destined for China.
Nathan Argent, our forests campaigner chained to the plywood, said: "The Government must ban this criminal trade immediately.
"The Government have known about this problem for years and they've done absolutely nothing about it. We were easily able to pick this illegal timber off the shelf of a builders' merchant, despite the fact that it's been illegally logged and bears the stench of human rights abuses.
"There are perfectly good alternatives to this timber. Buy timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council - it's the best way to guarantee that timber has come from environmentally and socially responsible sources."
Video clip: Forest Campaigner Nathan Argent (locked on to the rainforest plywood pallet outside DEFRA) explains why this action has been necessary. (Windows Media format, 1.7MB)
For much more detail download the latest Greenpeace report, Partners in Crime: The UK timber trade, Chinese sweatshops and Malaysian robber barons in Papua New Guinea's rainforests.
