Wal-Mart turns a blind eye to illegal timber sources

2008-02-26T13:44:35Z

Al Norman writes on AlterNet:

According to EIA, Wal-Mart does not ask its suppliers where their wood comes from, and the retailer's 'don't ask' policy "is having particularly dangerous consequences for the high conservation value forest of the Russian Far East and the endangered species dependent on them, including the world's largest cat, the Siberian tiger.
Roughly 84 percent of Wal-Mart's wood products, like cribs and toilet seats, are sourced from China, and much of China's lumber is imported from Russia, where as much as 50 percent of the logging is illegal. EIA undercover investigators met with 8 Chinese manufacturers that supply Wal-Mart with wood. EIA asserts that Wal-Mart is focused only on price, and "has not concerned itself with the origin of the timber used for its products." Wal-Mart's supply chain "will contribute to the depletion of Russia's 'protected' forests unless concerted changes are made," the EIA warns.
Alexander von Bismarck, the Executive Director of EIA, says, "To have Wal-Mart ignore measures that to the rest of the world seem common sense -- such as asking where your suppliers' wood is from -- has an enormous impact. It undermines the current global efforts to clean up the timber industry. When Wal-Mart fails to implement an entire category of environmental responsibility, it creates demand designed to take advantage of that. This is currently feeding the illegal logging problem." The EIA believes that Wal-Mart has within its power the ability to "limit the destruction of some of our planet's final frontier forests and the wildlife and people who depend upon them."
Today, there are more than 6,800 Wal-Mart stores around the globe (the company recently opened its 3,000th international store), but only 400 remaining Siberian tigers. That's not very sustainable odds.

Read the full post here.

siberian tigers at Brave New Films

Wal-Mart turns a blind eye to illegal timber sources