Report Links Wal-Mart to Illegal Logging
Although Wal-Mart’s stated intention is to sell products that sustain natural resources and the environment, a new report entitled “Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers: How Wal-Mart’s Sourcing Practices Encourage Illegal Logging and Threaten Endangered Species“suggest otherwise.
The EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency) worked undercover and met with eight Chinese manufacturers who supply Wal-Mart with wood products.
Wal-mart has allegedly failed to question where the wood originated from that they use for much of their furniture. As a consequence to their “no questions asked” policy, protected forests in countries such as
Not all wood was found to be illegally logged but one of the largest wood manufacturers in China producing over 200,000 baby cribs for Wal-Mart were allegedly obtained from illegal sources. Their main wood supplier is in the Russian Far East, which is in the middle of the Siberian tiger breeding area.
Tigers get a bad rap because the more their forests disappear, the more likely they are to intrude and feed on farmers livestock and/or attack people. Tigers also continue to be poached for their body parts and sold on the black market for various Chinese medicines.
Sources: New Evidence From EIA Undercover Investigation Highlights Wal-Mart’s Blind Eye to Illegal Logging
The Legal Timber Protection Act.
