P733 CEEFAX 733 Thu 21 Oct 21:12/20 1/5 -HE NEW F REST STJWBRDSHIP COUNCIL There is the prospect of new hope for the rainforests. A new scheme has been unveiled designed to tell consumers whether the timber they are buying is from a well-managed forest. As things are, the forests are disbppearing. You can picture it as 30 football pitches a minute, or four Twit:jrlands a year. However you measure it, they are steadily vanishing. bz Alex Kirby, BBC correspondent Next Page Read Hear Cmnt9Info ReligionP733 CEEFAX 733 Thu 21 Oct 21:25/26 2/5 THE NEW FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL One reason the forests are disappearing is poverty. Growing numbers of desperately poor people have to have somewhere to eke out a living. So they cut down the trees. But another reason is commercial logging to supply foreign markets, including shops in Britain. Now several concerned groups have combined to set up the Forest Stewardship Council. They include conservationists, human rights and forest peoples' organisations, and sections of the timber trade itself bz Alex Kirby, BBC correspondent Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP733 CEEFAX 733 Thu 21 Oct 21:14/11 3/5 -HE NEW FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL The Forest Stewardship Council, launched this month, will accredit independent companies as having timber from sustainable forests. Thjsj companies, in their turn, will certify that timber products conj from forests that meet the standards set down in the FTC's principles: They must bj environmentally appropriate, economically viable, and socially beneficial. bz Alex Kirby, BBC correspondent Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP733 CJJFAX 733 Thu 21 Oct 21:15/27 4/5 -HE NEW FOREST STJWBRDSHIP COUNCIL The World Wide Fund for Nature-UU has put £20,000 into setting-up the Council, and the Government's Overseas Development Administration has contributed £14,000. The new agency will mean consumers pay a little more for wood they know has conj from properly-managed forests. Nine forests have already been certified, in Papua-New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Peru, Mexico and the USA - and work is under way to certify a forest in Britain. bz Alex Kirby, BBC correspondent Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo ReligionP733 CJEFAX 733 Thu 21 Oct 21:14/21 5/5 I -HE NEW FOREST STJWBRDSHIP COUNCIL The Forest Stewardship Council accredits independent companies whose timber is environmentally appropriate, economically viable, and socially beneficial. The World Wide Fund for Nature-US says the demand for wood certified under the scheme is already far greater than the available supply. It also says the market has changed tremendously in the last two years, with the growth in demand for timber that has been responsibly produced. bz Alex Kirby, BBC correspondent Next Page Read Hear CmntyInfo Religion