Ikea comes under fire again accused of clearing core Russian forest in search for wood

Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Ikea contributes to the destruction of ancient forests in Russia in search of wood for his furniture according to Swedish television’s investigative report.

Swedish television which has of late been getting under the skin of Swedish organisations, exposing they hypocritical management philosophies has come once more on Ikea which recently won the hearts of the British people with its cheap furniture.

It turns out that the Furniture giant, Ikea contributes to the destruction of Earth's unique forests in search of wood. And they do it with the support of large, established environmental organizations reports the channel.

Ikea’s global operations demand more wood as by far the main raw material. 60 percent of everything it sells in its more than 300 department stores contains wood in any form.

In search of wood Ikea has a wholly owned subsidiary, Swedwood which has turned its gaze toward Russia and the vast coniferous forest belt, which lies across the northern hemisphere. The forest belt of virgin forest, which together with the tropical rainforests along the equator, contributing to the conditions of life on earth. Forest belts bind huge amounts of carbon and are home to hundreds of thousands of unique animal and plant species.

Felling of trees is certified by the international forestry organization, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which will protect unique forests. But there are compromises and it can not protect each forest, according to the chief of the FSC in Russia.

On paper, FSC has strict rules for the certification of rules that will ensure protection for ancient forests. In reality, it is about compromise according to Andrei Ptichnikov, general manager of FSC in Russia.
“We can not protect each forest. If we would protect each old tree, we would have to close. No company would use the FSC rules. How realistic it is always a compromise,” he says.

World Wildlife Fund, which supports the FSC's approach to forest certification, received last year Skr35 million in grants from Ikea. And the FSC's income in Russia, a quarter is directly from Ikea.

Andrei Ptichnikov is pleased with the large corporate donations to support them in their work - and sees no problem with the relationship with the sponsors.

Among the critics is the network to protect the forest and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
By Scancomark.se Team

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