Take Action regarding the President's Initiative Against Illegal Logging.

The United States needs to change its policy regarding the trade of timber. We must adopt a more balanced policy that outlaws the importation of illegal timber and protects individuals living in exporting countries.

Below are sample letters and addresses for individuals who are key players in affecting change regarding regarding The President's Initiative Against Illegal Logging. We encourage you to personalize these communications, and help increase the awareness of this effort.

Write to Condoleeza Rice:

Dear Secretary Rice:

I urge you to expand coverage of environmental defender cases in the annual State Department Country Report on Human Rights. In addition, I urge you to include new information in the report that reflects the impact of direct foreign investments from transnational corporations and international financial institutions on the human rights situation in profiled countries.

The President's Initiative Against Illegal Logging should be expanded to include more direct, national responsibility by:

• Supporting requirements that all federal procurement for purchase or use of wood products require all products to carry country-of-origin and other labeling that meets,at a minimum, the standards established by the Forest Stewardship Council.
• Supporting the use of all available tools and authority by federal agencies to intercept and impound illegally harvested wood products imported into the United States.
• Prosecuting money laundering and impounding the profits associated with imports of illegally harvested wood products for use in supporting enforcement efforts.
• Supporting changes to U.S. laws that would make it a crime to knowingly import wood products that have been harvested or exported in violation of the laws within the country of origin, and that have been harvested without strong forest management standards.
• Redoubling efforts with the Government of Singapore to develop and implement a Plan of Action under the "Memorandum of Intent on Cooperation in Environmental Matters," as part of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, to address Singapore's significant role in the smuggling and laundering of illegally-harvested timber from throughout the Asian region.

Additionally, I urge you to promote independent, non-governmental forest monitoring and reporting initiatives, and to ensure that the safety, civil liberties and human rights of those involved are fully protected.

Address:
The Honorable Condoleeza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, C 20155
Email: secretary@state.gov
Fax: 202-647-1579

Representative _____________ Senator _____________
House of Representatives/ United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515/ Washington,DC 20510

Dear Representative:

I have just finished reading a new Sierra Club reported titled "Take Action to Defend the World's Forests."This report exposes the links between human rights abuses and timber production in many foreign countries.The American government must take a stronger role to protect environmental advocates in these countries.

I urge you to hold public hearings to:

• Discuss the involvement of U.S.-based corporations in human rights violations abroad and strengthen or pass new legislation ensuring these corporations can be held accountable for their actions overseas.
• Determine the extent of U.S. wood product imports that may originate from illegal harvesting operations or that could be considered "conflict timber."
• Examine linkages between the illegal timber trade, illegal money laundering,and the financing of international terrorism.
• Examine the extent to which U.S. authorities are currently using all available tools to intercept and impound illegal wood imports and the profits of such imports; and explore ways of curtailing such imports and trade.
• Support new U.S.policies that would permit the federal government to identify and impound proven illegally harvested timber at the U.S. border. The U.S. must also support credible forest certification programs based on strong forest management standards, like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
• Support government procurement stipulations that all federal procurement involving the purchase or use of wood products require each product to carry country-of-origin labeling, which certifies its legal harvest and chain of custody. The labels should certify — to standards at least equivalent to those of the FSC — the level of sustainable management of the wood's country of origin.
• Provide new and increased funding to the U.S.State Department and the US Agency for International Development for programs under the President's Initiative Against Illegal Logging.

Consumer Advocacy

The following companies wholesale and retail illegal timber. Write to these companies. Tell them that you and others will not purchase their products until the timber and products are labeled as sustainably produced by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Besides Ilho Sales & Import and the retailers it supplies, which are named in the Brazil section of this report, the Sierra Club identifies two companies that have been clearly documented as selling illegal timber. They are:

Certain companies use timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council when available. The Rainforest Action Network offers a list of companies selling FSC-certified products.

Buyer beware: This does not mean that all of the products within a store have been certified, or that all of the stores within a chain carry the same merchandise.> For instance, while Home Depot may pledge to use certified timber products "whenever possible," what is actually carried in an individual Home Depot may vary.

The Sierra Club strongly advises using the Rainforest Action Network link below to make an accurate and up-to-date determination of the source for certified forest products, as well as to identify manufacturers and retailers committed to providing the most sustainable timber products available:

• Forest Stewardship Council
• Rainforest Action Network

As a consumer, you can help stop the success of illegal logging by making the following choices when buying or using wood and wood products:

Repair, restore or adapt something you already have. You may need professional help, but this may still be cheaper than buying something new and it's far better for the world's forests. Buy secondhand, recycled, reclaimed or waste timber. This is a better environmental choice than buying new.

Buy locally produced timber products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). If you can't recycle, buying locally-produced timber products means that less fossil fuel was used in transportation. All FSC-certified wood carries the FSC logo.

Buy FSC-certified products from farther away. If no timber is available from a locally certified forest,the FSC logo is always preferable.

Whenever you consider the purchase of wood products:

• Ask for wood products that carry the FSC label.
• Educate the store owner/manager regarding the critical importance of stocking FSC-labeled products. Explain that this label offers the best means available (currently) of ensuring that you and other potential buyers know where the product came from, that the wood was harvested legally,and that the forest of origin is being managed to high environmental and social standards.

If retailers request additional information, please send the FSC (contact information provided below) the retailer's name and address. A FSC staff member will then contact the retailer directly.

Look for this Logo

Whenever you are considering the purchase of wood products do two things:

(1) Express a purchasing preference for wood products that carry the FSC label; and (2) educate the owner/manager of the store on the critical importance of stocking FSC-labeled products as the best means currently available of ensuring that you know exactly where the product came from, that the wood was harvested legally, and that the forest of origin is being managed to high environmental and social standards.

Forest Stewardship Council — U.S.
1155 30th Street NW, Suite 300
Washington,DC 20007
Phone: (202) 342-0413 • Fax: (202) 342-6589
URL: http://fscus.org
E-mail: info@fscus.org