Forestry

FORESTRY FACTS

One of Ikea's most weighty environmental issues is forestry because 70% of the raw material used in Ikea products is either wood or wood fibers (7). According to Ikea Group's Environmental Manager, Susanne Pulverer Bergstrand, Ikea's annual timber requirements consists 85.5M cubic feet of solid wood, particleboard, MDF, plywood, and veneer, and 120,000 tons of cardboard and paper. Ikea distributed 145 million catalogs in 2004. Their rate of wood consumption increases by 20 % a year (14).

Wood is a great material because it is natural, recyclable, biodegradable, and most importantly, renewable--provided it comes from forests that are managed to ensure sustainable growth (11). Logging is known to contribute to habitat destruction, water pollution, and social injustices such as the displacement of indigenous peoples (8). The harvesting alone can further damage surrounding trees and soil especially small trees vital to stand regeneration, which is needed to reverse the damage (9).

In the 1990s several reports brought to light the alarming decreases in forest resources across the globe. The figures below illustrate the rate at which the world's frontier forests have decreased. Frontier forests are the remaining large intact natural forest ecosystems that are undisturbed and large enough to maintain all of their biodiversity. (12)

original forest extent

remaining frontier forest

UNDER PRESSURE

Greenpeace and other environmental activists then began to put pressure on wood consuming industries to take action and stop the exploitation of ancient forests. By 1999, the wood consuming industry was being blamed for threatening whole ecosystems after images and stories about the near extinction of Orangutang and Mountain Gorilla were published by the media. Soon after, Ikea announced that it was taking action to ensure none of its products were made from wood that came from ancient forests. A band of German environmentalists, called Robin Wood, started a protest after observing teak furniture in the store. Teak is a high-value tree species. The one-day long protest ended with Ikea promising to sell teak products only if they were certified as new growth. Ikea has also been experimenting with furniture made of young eucalyptus, which could take the pressure off of some old-growth forests. (13)

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Global Forest Watch, an initiative of the World Resources Institute, received $2.5M from Ikea to help fund the mapping out of the remaining intact natural forests in various parts of the worlds, the results of which are compiled in atlases. It wasn't until 2000 that Ikea was aware of the exact origin of 20% of their timber. Thanks to the mapping produced by the Global Forest Watch project, they now know that it comes mainly from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, but also Canada, China, and South Africa (14). These are all areas that are under threat of destruction.

Ikea was one of the first members of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international accreditation body founded by the Rainforest Alliance and other organizations (15) in response to the failure of the Rio Earth Summit to sign a global forest convention (18). FSC's task it is to create one international certification system with well-defined standards, taking economical, ecological, and social aspects into account in a proactive manner. The certification system can be described as an eco-labeling program where private companies use market- and consumer-oriented mechanisms to improve their image in the eyes of the customer (18). Ikea's long term goal is to ensure that all the wood raw material used in its products originates from independently verified well-managed forests that are certified by the Council (13) using certain principles and criteria. However, Ikea's forest manager for Finland and Russia, Kjell-Owe Ahlskog says that it is not possible to be everywhere all the time so Ikea cannot guarantee 100% that timber doesn't come from illegally felled trees or forests worthy of protection (11). Also, the availability of FSC-certified timber is still very limited so the changeover to wood raw material coming only from certified sources will take some time (10).

OTHER SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY TOOLS

Ikea claims that they "must see to securing a sustainable supply of raw material not only today, but for the future...Step by step we strive to move towards more sustainable forestry practices, using various systems and tools. It has not been enough to just focus on one single measure, efforts have to be put on several different levels." (10). Some of these systems and tools are mentioned below.

As a part of their responsibility to help the environment and support local communities where new Ikea stores are being built, Ikea planted a Living Classroom alongside sixth graders at the Plymouth Meeting Friends School just outside of Philadelphia. The Living Classroom includes trees grown from the seeds of historically significant trees, lesson plans, a granite marker, and a copy of the PBS documentary Silent Witnesses, about historically significant trees. (18)

In 2003, Ikea began sourcing wood for sofa parts from Ejido Pueblo Nuevo, a community-managed forest in Durango, Mexico. About 200,000 acres of the forest is certified by the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program, which was the first organization to implement the concept of sustainable forestry certification in 1989.

Ikea employs 17 forestry managers worldwide (15) to make sure that Ikea products are not made from illegally felled timber or intact natural forests. They also make random checks among the logging companies that sell timber to Ikea suppliers and checks that the timber comes from the exact site approved by the authorities. Ikea supplements its forest managing program by informing suppliers about responsible forest management via educational programs and seminars.

Ikea and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have come together to carry out forestry projects that contribute to the development of global toolkits on forestry issues and promote responsible forestry in priority areas such as Russia, China, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria (17). Since 2001, Ikea is funding a scholarship for students from Russia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania to study forestry at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science for one year.

The Sow a Seed foundation was started in 1998 by Ikea and it aims to rehabilitate 14,000 hectares of burned rainforest in Malaysia by planting native tree species (16).

CRITICISM AND CHALLENGES: LONG WAY TO GO

Rachelle Jackson, director of research and development at Cal Safety Compliance Corporation, states that FSC certified forests dominate in the United States and Europe, which are not the major areas where illegal logging takes place. Those major areas are cited by Jackson as Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and the African Congo, where only 6% of global FSC certifications lie. Some of these areas are not equipped to provide adequate forest protection due to political corruption and economic challenges. For some of the illegal loggers in these countries, this is their only means of surviving. (19)

According to Greenpeace International's Uta Bellion, "Ikea deserves praise for the work of phasing out hazardous substances in its products. We have also found that the work on forestry issues is pursued with great commitment and know-how. But we have in some cases been disappointed in Ikea, for example, for not being strict enough with suppliers of wood who fail to comply with environmental demands. Ikea prefers to negotiate and help to improve things rather than simply abandon the suppliers. But to make the suppliers understand how important these issues are to Ikea, the company should adopt a tougher attitude towards them. " (11)

Chris Elliot, head of WWF's international forestry program, Forests for Life, discusses his hopes for Ikea: "Ikea's commitment to forest issues is both serious and long-term. However, from WWF's perspective we would like to see Ikea put the FSC label on more of their products. By increasing the number of FSC-labeled products, Ikea will provide its customers with an opportunity to actively choose products that have less impact on people and the environment." (11)

Anders Dahlvig, Ikea-Group President says that "many things remain to be done. Offering low prices at the same time as you show social responsibility and due concern for the environment is a tough challenge. But it is essential to achieve the vision Ikea has 'to create a better everyday life for the many people'. We're moving in the right direction, but we must remain humble."(11)