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  Background

The world's forests are under continuing threat. A recent Food and Agriculture Organisation study (FAO 1997) estimates the rate of tropical forest loss at 15 million hectares per annum. Intensive forest management is causing an erosion of forest quality in temperate and boreal forests as a recent WWF study (1994) has shown.

The responses to these threats have been largely ineffectual. Governments continue to offer financial incentives which encourage unsustainable forestry practices. In many cases industry has simply spent money on PR campaigns to convince their customers that all is well. Environmentalists have focused on drawing attention to the problem but not on seeking solutions.

As long ago as 1987 in the so-called Brundtland report ("Our Common Future"), there was a call for co-operation among governments, industry and NGOs "to develop basic codes of conduct for sustainable development".

Such co-operation has been given practical reality in a developing network of Buyers' Groups, partnerships between buyers of forest products and NGOs. Members are committed to improving the quality of forest management around the world. They are calling for their products to come from well-managed forests. They support independent certification of forest management and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

There are Buyers' Groups, or initiatives to form Buyers' Groups, in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Japan, North America, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Current Status

 
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