A report released by international NGO Global Witness found that illegal taun timber from Papua New Guinea was making it into the supply chain in the United States as flooring, creating risks for U.S. companies and having a devastating impact on people in Papua New Guinea.
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A report released by international NGO Global Witness found that illegal taun timber from Papua New Guinea was making it into the supply chain in the United States as flooring, creating risks for U.S. companies and having a devastating impact on people in Papua New Guinea.
Between 2014 and 2016, Global Witness investigators traced the supply chain of taun (Pometia pinnata) timber spanning 9,000 miles from Papua New Guinea—home to the largest remaining tropical rainforest in the Asia-Pacific region—through China to U.S. retailers. The resulting report, “Stained Trade,” found that landowners in Papua New Guinea are being illegally stripped of their land by their own government, and their ancient rainforests are being cut down by foreign-owned logging companies. The report says that to date, timber worth over $1 billion on overseas markets has been cut under illegal land leases in Papua New Guinea, and the bulk of this has gone to China, the world’s largest timber importer. Roughly one out of every 10 tropical logs entering the Chinese market in recent years came from an illegal lease in Papua New Guinea, according to the report.
The failure by taun flooring manufacturers in China to carry out due diligence on their supply chains means their U.S. customers often have little or no information about the circumstances under which the wood was logged, creating serious legal risks under the U.S. Lacey Act, the report says. Several Chinese exporters told Global Witness investigators that larger U.S. buyers had increased scrutiny of and even dropped taun flooring, at least in part out of concern over its legality after Lumber Liquidators was found criminally liable for violations of the Lacey Act. But those Chinese exporters also told investigators their perception was that smaller U.S. importers did not need to worry about the Lacey Act and could fly under the radar of enforcement.
Investigators found taun flooring being sold by a number of U.S. companies ranging from small flooring importers and distributors to giant retailers, including The Home Depot, and a U.S. subsidiary of Nature Home, which says it is China’s largest flooring brand.
Home Legend was mentioned in the report as the flooring brand selling taun flooring at Home Depot, but Darleen Meese, VP of operations at Home Legend, told Wood Floor Business that before any contact from Global Witness, Home Depot had internally determined to stop selling all taun products and Home Legend had also halted importation of Taun products from Papua New Guinea. Additionally, she said, “Please know that there is absolutely no evidentiary link between Home Legend’s product purchases and any illegal land transfers or illegal logging whatsoever.”
Regarding the company’s procurement practices, she told WFB, “Home Legend continually reviews and supplements its supply chain documentation so that it can demonstrate that its products are legally and sustainably sourced in all instances and in compliance with the Lacey Act. That being said, Home Legend remains committed to working to improve its procurement policies as new information becomes available.”
Nature Home did not respond to inquiries from WFB as of the publication time of this article.
The Global Witness report includes many recommendations, among them:
- U.S. wood flooring importers and sellers must carry out due diligence to ensure legality, and those procedures should be public.
- The U.S. government should increase scrutiny of wood products involving complex manufacturing supply chains, such as those in China.
- The Chinese government should create mandatory measures to ensure imported wood is produced in compliance with all laws in countries of origin.
- Chinese companies must carry out due diligence to ensure their timber is legal.
- The Papua New Guinea government must ensure that all logging on illegal land leases is halted and control of the land must revert to the customary landowners, and customary landowners should be compensated for any loss or damages from illegal operations on their land.
The full report from Global Witness is available here.
