In the United Kingdom, central government is estimated to purchase as much as twenty percent of all the country’s timber, (this figure rises to 40 per cent when local authorities and other government bodies are included), and a commitment to procurement policy has been released by its central government.
To summarise, the social criteria that will now be included in the UK Governments procurement policy are:
Identification, documentation and respect of legal, customary and traditional tenure and use rights related to the forest;
Mechanisms for resolving grievances and disputes, including those relating to tenure and use rights, to forest management practices and to work conditions
Safeguarding the basic labour rights and health and safety of forest workers.
The social criteria have been adopted following a consultation with trade and environmental stakeholder organisations which concluded in August 2009.
Covering the numbers for a minute, forestry products imported into the UK in 2008 consisted of 11 million cubic metres of wood (sawnwood, other woodand woodbased panels) and 9 million tonnes of pulp and paper. Speaking on behalf of the Government, Mr Hilary Benn, said “Developed nations such as the UK must support developing nations so that they do not have to make a choice between their ecosystems and their economies. Developing countries have long and rightly called for action by consumer countries to support their own efforts to manage their forests.”
The new social criteria demonstrate the UK’s commitment to use government purchasing power to help push illegal and unsustainable timber out of the market by improving labour standards, protecting the interests of developing nations and tackling climate change. A welcome move.
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