- report from Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth – Netherlands), through Burma Campaign UK

 Despite a European trade ban, Dutch timber companies are continuing to import Burmese wood. Today Milieudefensie has published a research which shows that the wood arrives in Europe via a loophole in the sanction regulations. The Milieudefensie ‘Burmese wood inspection team’, cordoned off the two largest Dutch dealers in Burmese wood for the yacht-building industry, Worldwood and Boogaerdt, as ‘crime scenes’.

Burmese wood is conflict timber: using profits from the timber trade, the Burmese junta finances armed conflict in the country and violates human rights on a massive scale. Because of these violations, in 2008 the European Council initiated a trade ban of Burmese wood. According to the United Nations’ agricultural organization (FAO) 466,000 hectares of forest disappears annually in Burma, approximately 75 football pitches per hour. Destructive logging leads to land rights conflicts, loss of biodiversity and poverty.

Milieudefensie investigated companies in the Netherlands that are or have in the past been involved in trade in Burmese teak. A researcher in Burma identified the timber routes. Direct trade in timber from Burma to Europe appears to have halted; however, the wood still arrives on the European market via countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. For this, documents are forged to mask the Burmese origin, or the wood is further processed, by which its origin is officially changed.

Circumvention

In the Netherlands, Koninklijke Boogaerdt Groep and Worldwood are major players in the Burmese teak trade for the yacht building industry. They themselves state that they purchase the teak from sawmills in Malaysia and Thailand, among other places. Furthermore, many European companies stocked up on large quantities of Burmese wood just before the ban took effect; this is now being traded on the European market. However, the Burmese sanction regulations dictate that companies may not knowingly and intentionally engage in activities which circumvent the regulation. Continuing trade in Burmese wood results in unfair competition on the European market for companies that comply with the ban, such as the DLH Group.

Anne van Schaik, head of Globalisation campaign at Milieudefensie: ‘The judge should investigate whether circumventing the ban in this manner is in effect a violation of it, but in any case, Boogaerdt, Worldwood and other companies must comply with the spirit of the regulation and stop the import. Furthermore, government policy must explicitly prohibit indirect imports of Birmese wood.’

For more information:
www.milieudefensie.nl/english