A multinational timber company has agreed to allow Greenpeace to visit its suppliers in Liberia to verify that they are not involved in illegal logging or connected with arms trafficking.
The decision by the Danish DLH Group follows a ‘thorough dialogue’ between both parties after recent calls by the non-governmental organization for the company to limit, or even end, its trade with Liberia.
DLH, which stands for Dalhoff Larsen and Horneman, says it has no evidence that any of its suppliers are connected with illegal logging or arms trafficking, and says it regularly assesses the environmental impact of their forest concessions.
Under the agreement, Greenpeace will send information it holds about suppliers in Africa to the company. DLH said it would ‘make changes in relations with suppliers’ if the information showed this were needed.
DLH claimed it had made ‘strenuous efforts to select suppliers who are competent and responsible’ but added ‘let us be honest and say that, unfortunately, we sometimes make mistakes. Our own controls can fail. In some countries we have more than 100 suppliers. We will of course correct any mistakes if brought to our knowledge.’
In July 2001, DLH stopped buying timber from some suppliers in Liberia who were alleged to have links with arms trafficking. The decision was made in the light of a report from the United Nations Security Council. However, DLH said total withdrawal from Liberia would harm the local economy, where forestry is one of the few legitimate profitable activities.
The company has also faced recent challenges from NGOs over its sourcing of teak from Burma (also known as Myanmar), where there are human rights and forced labour concerns relating to forestry.
It says it will continue the trade because it ‘believes in dialogue more than boycott’ and hopes its environmental standards ‘can have a positive influence’ there on timber harvesting methods. However, it said its position ‘can be adjusted when new information is available’.
DLH, which has an annual turnover of £370million ($530m) and employs 1350 staff, published an environmental policy in 1992 that commits it to choosing suppliers ‘with the best environmental conditions’, and to co-operate with non-governmental organizations on logging issues.
The paper firm Boise has said it will no longer cut down ancient trees in some undisturbed US forests. The company said the decision was made partly due to pressure from business customers, including the clothing company Patagonia, which last year cancelled its paper contract with Boise over the issue.