Organizers of next summer's London Olympic Games are drawing criticism for the alleged use of old-growth eucalyptus for sport flooring in a practice facility that will be rented by the U.S. basketball team during the event, according to a report from Markets For Change, an Australian environmental NGO.
The wood was logged from a region within the Australian state of Tasmania. The move irked environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Huon Valley Environment Centre because the area is home to endangered species, including the Tasmanian Devil, Tasmanian giant freshwater lobster and swift parrot, according to London's The Independent. What's more, the logged forests date back more than 1,000 years and are repeatedly lobbied for logging protection by the UN World Heritage Committee.
The full report from Markets For Change can be read below:
The court and facility in which the court is housed is not actually being constructed by Olympic Games organizers but by the University of East London. A spokesman for the university told The Independent that, had it been aware of concerns over the eucalyptus wood, "it would have been considered. But hindsight is a great thing."
