ECOTOURISM AND BLACKWATTLE LUXURY RETREATS

Asian Rainforest Furniture

From 2007, the owners of Blackwattle has made a decision to avoid, as far as is possible, the use of any Asian rainforest timber in furniture or building materials. We believe that we cannot be sure about the origin of the timber and what was involved in getting them to our property. Where did it come from, who made or extracted it, was an endangered animal's habitat threatened by the logging of the timber? It is virtually impossible to find out the answer to these questions until the Australian government* puts in a legitimate accreditation system. We believe we may be contributing to a problem by purchasing possible illegally harvested timber and would rather be a part of the solution.

Common woods used to make outdoor tables, chairs, bars and benches are logged from tropical rainforests. Some of these, while being the most durable for outdoor use, are becoming rare and also their disappearance threatens the survival of many plant and animal species which share the same eco-system. Some 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical forest is found in Indonesia, which has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres. Of this, 61 percent is lowland evergreen broadleaf rainforest. Indonesia has already lost an estimated 72 percent of its original frontier forest, and half of what remains is currently threatened. Only about 21 percent of Indonesia's forests are protected.

Most Australian timber and wood product imports with suspicious origins are hardwoods derived from tropical rainforests in neighbouring developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Rainforest timbers are attractive and durable. They are generally imported as direct substitutes for hardwoods from Australian native forests. As Australian native forests have been progressively removed from production in favour of more conservation reserves, imports of tropical hardwoods have increased.

Australian Forest certification and product labelling:
Under this approach, timber producers are certified by an independent process that ensures their products come from sustainably managed forests. Timber and wood products are then labelled to show consumers that they are purchasing legally obtained timber derived from good forestry practices. The first international certification system was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council in the early 1990’s. Since then, a range of alternate systems has been developed to provide the same certainty to the consumer. Although the area of certified forest has grown steadily to 280 million hectares, this currently represents just 6-7 per cent of the world’s forests.

*The Australian Government’s draft policy on illegal logging commits it to work with developing countries to improve their forest management practices and develop legal assurances and related processes for their forest products. The government committed $200 million to assist this process in early 2007. The Australian Government has identified fostering and developing the Australian timber industry as a key component in the battle to reduce imports of illegally sourced timber and wood products. It is encouraging the expansion of the plantation sector and value adding to the native forest sector to fill the areas of demand currently being met by imports. Federal Government support for the native forest timber industry is an important development given that domestic demand for hardwood is expected to remain at current levels or even to increase. Using Australian native hardwood timbers is one of the best things that we can do to reduce imports of illegally logged produce which is contributing to tropical deforestation.