13th October 2006

A Greenpeace investigation has found that the House of Commons is using plywood containing illegally logged rainforest timber from Papua New Guinea (i). The Green party, Greenpeace and many others have called on Tony Blair to intervene and halt construction work - failure to do so would lose any last vestige he may have of credibility on the environment.

If the Government is serious about conserving threatened rainforest habitats around the world it must adopt strict procurement guidelines to ensure illegally-sourced wood is never again used in its own construction projects - and enact and enforce new legislation to ban its import into the country in the first place.

Phil Blomberg, Rodborough, Stroud


Note to Editor:

(i) More details of the Greenpeace investigation can be found at:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/forests.cfm?ucidparam=20060928153937