Will PEFC support real sustainable forest practices?

Join us in fighting for sustainable forest certification practices that aren't controlled by the logging industry! 

The Pan European Forest Council (PEFC) recently gave in to pressure from the Australian government to accept the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) as a legitimate certification for sustainable forestry. AFS was intentionally designed to provide a legal loophole for the lumber company Gunns, Ltd, so that it can continue clear-cutting Tasmania's 200-year-old trees and wrecking a landscape that is truly a natural treasure.

Send a message to PEFC Chairman Michael Clark that he must renounce the AFS policy and stand up for real sustainable certification policies, not those engineered by the logging industry to greenwash their destructive practices.

 

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Please Suspend Acceptance of AFS Certification

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I was deeply shocked to discover that you have adopted the Australian Forest Standard (AFS) into the PEFC brand. The so called "AFS standard" is not endorsed by any environmental NGO and was written to allow Australian timber giant Gunns Limited to deceptively market itself as "legal and sustainable" while the company continues its horrific practices of clear-cutting ancient forests, napalming the land, killing Tasmania's native wildlife, and destroying the habitat of endangered species.

I was even more alarmed to discover that your organization actively lobbied the UK Government's timber procurement process, CPET, to allow your brand to be recognized as providing a guarantee of legality and sustainability.

I cannot believe that your organization or the UK Government wants to be associated with the destruction that Gunns and its main supplier, Forestry Tasmania, wreak upon Tasmania's forests.

I hope that you are aware that the forest and logging operations you that are now branding as legal and sustainable by the PEFC and UK Government are exactly the kind of operations that have just been declared illegal by the Federal Court of Australia. The Wielangta judgment is scathing about the atrocious forest system in Tasmania and casts doubt on the legality of many of the operations by Gunns Limited certified by the AFS.

I am asking that you suspend the Australian Forestry Standard until it becomes a legitimate standard rather than the shame certification system that allows Gunns and Forestry Tasmania to pass some of the world's worst forest practices off as legal and sustainable.

I have copied this letter to the UK Government Minister responsible for supporting your brand and the Australian Forestry Standard.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
January 16, 2007


Background Information

The Pan European Forest Council (PEFC) is the lumber industry's attempt at self-regulating its own forest standards. The PEFC recently bowed to pressure from the Australian government and accepted the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS). The AFS certification standard was developed and designed to provide Australian lumber company Gunns Ltd a legal loophole that allows the company to continue clear-cutting Tasmania's 200-year-old trees, napalming the land, and killing its native wildlife – while selling itself as a leader in environmental and sustainable forest practices.

Ironically, just days after the PEFC adopted Gunns' AFS standard, an Australian federal court found that Gunns' logging practices were illegal and driving several species to extinction.

Accepting this standard destroys the credibility of the PEFC and provides cover for Gunns' horrific logging!

Please tell PEFC Chairman Michael Clark that accepting the Gunns AFS standard is unacceptable!