2011-04-21 15:35

CANBERRA - Big corporations and environment groups formed an alliance on Thursday in an attempt to urge the Australian government to crack down on illegal logging.

Companies including Ikea, Bunnings and Fantastic Furniture, along with Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and others, released a common platform on Thursday, setting out the plan to give the Australian federal government 11 points on imposing laws to achieve a globally sustainable forestry.

Under current law, no one is allowed to import illegally logged timber, but there is no ban on introducing the products made from them.

Earlier, the government planned introducing legislations to ban on products made from illegally logged timber.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed the government's early efforts, but it believes more needs to be done to ensure the $14.6 billion trade be  snuffed out.

"If the government is serious about effectively tackling illegal logging, all the elements in the common platform should be incorporated in the legislation," the foundation's Lee Tan told Australia Associated Press on Thursday.

"Our neighbors in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea ... have been fighting uphill battles."

The platform, supported by Kimberly-Clark, The Wilderness Society and the Uniting Church in Australia, would broaden the definition of illegal timber and wood products.

Importers would be forced to disclose specific information at the point of importation.

The public would be empowered by allowing anyone to take action against a breach under the Act.

The platform also urged the logging laws in Australia to be harmonized with the US Lacey Act and laws in the European Union.