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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Netherlands bans Malaysian logs

The Netherlands' Independent Appeals Board has ruled in favour of global NGO Greenpeace which alleged that Malaysia did not practise sustainable forest management.

KUCHING: The Netherlands has banned Malaysian logs because Malaysia does not practise sustainable forest managements.

The Netherlands’ Independent Appeals Board in Amsterdam recently ruled that Malaysia’s regulations governing forestation were well below world standards.

Ruling in favour of international NGO Greenpeace, the board concurred with Greenpeace’s complaint that Malaysia’s wood certification scheme fell below the acceptable world standards and was not a badge of good practice.

Greenpeace’s complaint was based on “solid evidence and international reports” which it had compiled and presented to the board.

According to the Appeals Board judgment, the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) had demonstrated:

  • No respect for the rights of indigenous peoples;
  • Maps of MTCS certified forests are not adequately accessible to the public;
  • The EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessments) in Malaysia are inadequate to assess sustainability; and
  • No guarantee can be given that MTCS certified forests do not disappear for other land uses, such as plantations.

The decision simply means that the Dutch will ban wood products certified under the MTCS from entering the country.

The Dutch government policy on the import of raw materials must comply with general European Commission (EC) policy, and on logs, the guidelines set by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO).

The EC follows basic tenets in its Environmental Action Programme (EAP).

The EAP states that wood can only be imported from tropical areas that practised sustainable wood harvesting management.

The Netherlands, along with a host of other countries, is complying with European Union (EU) efforts to standardise basic trade regulations in the bloc.

FMT learnt that certain locales within the Netherland and in neighbouring countries within the EU bloc have already banned the use of tropical hard woods in construction projects, especially those imported from Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Indonesia.

Stubborn Sarawak

However, this doesn’t seem to bother Sarawak.

Last week State Second Resources Planning and Environment Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan stubbornly said Sarawak will not comply with international timber certification and trade regulations.

He said the state “already has its own set of timber industry policies”.

“The international sanctions focus on the question of legality of the timber certification, native customary rights (NCR) and human rights activities.

“These issues are irrelevant as they are well taken care of all this while by the government,” he said.

The EU Timber Regulation is expected to take effect on Jan 1, 2013.

Under the EU Timber Regulation, Malaysian suppliers must show compliance by acquiring certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) for the European buyers.

While the Sarawak timber industry is concerned about the situation, Awang Tengah is dismissive.

About 98 percent of the timber from Sarawak is exported in the form of raw logs.

Awang Tengah’s dismissive attitude has perhaps to do with the fact that virtually all of these logs are destined for Asian markets.

Three of the largest importers of Sarawak logs are South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

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