Catherine Delahunty Green MP greens.org.nz

Online marketplace Trade Me is moving to regulate the trade of new kwila furniture or decking products, following discussions with the Green Party and a coalition of non-governmental organisations.

Kwila (also known as merbau) was originally found from Eastern Africa through Southern India to Southeast Asia and Oceania. Today commercial volumes of kwila exist only in parts of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Even in these countries, over 60 per cent of the original kwila range has been affected by human activity and most has already gone. Most of the remaining kwila range has already been allocated to logging concessions, with over half of the merbau within intact forest landscapes already on the chopping block.

Less than a fifth of its original area is not yet slated for destruction. Due to its slow growth, plantation forestry is virtually non-existent, and at the current rate of officially-sanctioned logging, most of the remaining kwila and old growth forest habitat will be gone within the next 35 years. This figure does not take into account illegal logging. The World Bank has suggested that 70-80 per cent of the logging in PNG is illegal.

Trade Me recognises the difficulty in accepting claims of sustainable management and agrees that it makes sense to bring the site's restrictions in line with moves toward robust certification in other countries.

Under the new rules, Trade Me will only allow new kwila furniture or decking to be sold that has been certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification or the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

As the Green Party forestry spokesperson, I approached Trade Me in May together with representatives of Rainforest Action and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee, calling for an end to the sale of kwila products via the site. Trade Me has shown a strong commitment to stop the sale of new illegally and unsustainably-logged kwila products.

The rainforests are the lungs of the world. We need them to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change. They are the home of indigenous peoples and endangered species.

Many other countries have already regulated against endangered and illegally harvested rainforest timber, including the USA and the European Union.

The new Australian government has already made an election promise to ban the importation of illegally-logged timber. In New Zealand we only have voluntary guidelines, and the Green Party believes that FSC is the only truly robust certification. The Government can significantly improve the scrutiny of timber entering the country.

The Green Party is delighted that Trade Me has stepped up to the challenge. It is hopeful that with international and domestic pressure, the government can no longer afford to drag its feet, and will assist ethical companies and our own forestry industry by regulating this destructive trade.