Peru exporting outlawed timber from Amazon to the US

[Judi Lynn]

Simeon TegelFebruary 2, 2013 10:57

Peru exporting outlawed timber from Amazon to the US

US consumers unwittingly support illegal logging. Is Washington's new effort to crack down on the practice "just another action plan"?

LIMA, Peru — Some of the fine wooden furniture that makes for chic centerpieces in American homes are being sourced in far less elegant ways in this South American country.

Environmentalists have long sounded alarms about illegal logging, claiming that export companies profit from ransacking the jungle of rare hardwood species in poor countries with lax law enforcement.

Now, the US government is taking a tougher stance.

Washington has given Peru one more chance to clean up its forestry sector and stop exporting illegally logged timber to the United States.

The move is a response to a report by green nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that detailed widespread “laundering” of illicit wood in the Peruvian Amazon to make it appear as though it had come from legitimate logging concessions.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/peru/130201/peru-illegal-logging-exporting-outlawed-timber-amazon

[pscot]

1. Back in the 70's, cars from Japan

used to arrive on pallets made of Philippine mahogany. Most of it was cut in 4x4's or 2x3's, eight feet long. It was discarded, either burned or sent to landfills. It was beautiful wood. I still have a massive coffee table I made from it.