...barrysays
Chinese people pay significant importance to health and wellness in their life choices and product purchasing is no different, with consumers being willing to pay a premium for 'healthy' goods. However some of these healthy goods are being produced at an unhealthy environmental cost.
Chinese people pay significant importance to health and wellness in their life choices and product purchasing is no different, with consumers being willing to pay a premium for 'healthy' goods. However some of these healthy goods are being produced at an unhealthy environmental cost.
 | I posted an item earlier this year relating to the lack of awareness in China as to what makes a ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ product in the international marketplace. As a guest judge for the Green Space Interior Design Competition at the 23rd China International Ceramic & Bathroom Fair in Foshan, I was introduced to the local understanding that 'green products' are "natural" or "good for health" or "simple and pure”. This seems to be the fundamental requirement of a green product in China. Whilst there is general international consensus that “green” refers in some way to some environmentally preferable attribute of a product, service or technology, there is in fact no single, universal definition of the term. |
| General lack of education about environmental issues in China, combined with the media’s indiscriminate use of terms and lack of clear directives from government seems to have contributed significantly to the air of confusion surrounding definitions and resulted in a lack of importance attached to promoting sustainable goods and services. | In China there certainly seems little or no awareness of concepts such as the 'carbon footprint' 'embodied energy' 'environmental impacts’ or 'life cycle analysis' that might help to define the green qualities of a product. Many "green products" I was confronted with were natural but irreplaceable, required large quantities of energy and water in production and were transported across the globe. Were these green, sustainable or environmentally friendly? |
 | Today, terms like “green” have become the standard vocabulary in describing all things sustainable and environmentally friendly. While they are often used interchangeably, each term actually means something quite different. In the critical essay, Green Versus Sustainability: From Semantics to Enlightenment [1], “green" tends to focus on a single attribute of a product, rather than addressing the overall system in which a product is designed, constructed, purchased, used, or discarded. “Sustainable” encompasses the entire system from design through disposal. According to the authors, “Green evokes small incremental improvements in social practices, modern technology, and human habitats, whilst sustainability implies a revolution in organizing our personal and collective lives and inhabiting the planet.” |
 | So what about the term “environmentally friendly?” This should refer to products or services that are not harmful to the outdoor environment or its inhabitants. However, for more than a decade, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued warnings about products or services marketed as ‘environmentally friendly,’ ‘environmentally safe,’ ‘environmentally preferable’ or ‘eco-safe,’ noting that products, packaging and services nearly all have some environmental impact and that such marketing terms do not help consumers make informed choices.[2] Recently our design team have been specifying timber for floors, doors and cabinetry on a number of projects for China. In line with our own company ethos we promote sustainable design and construction and so require a clear understanding of the source, transportation and manufacture process of our specified products. Obtaining such information proves to be virtually impossible from all but a handful of suppliers. |
| More than half of the timber now shipped globally is destined for China and many nations in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa in particular export the lion’s share of their timber to China. |
 | According to a 2010 analysis [3] by Chatham House, a respected UK think tank, illegal logging is slowly declining globally but this is despite, rather than because of, China’s influence. The report concluded that, from 2000 to 2008, China imported 16 to 24 million cubic meters of illegal timber each year. This is twice the quantity of total timber imports annually by leading industrial nations. Academic research and NGOs such as WWF and Global Witness have already revealed the existence of illegal trading networks in central Africa, Burma and Russia leading directly to Chinese ports or cities. Now for the first time fingers are pointing directly to Beijing and public holding enterprises and local government officials responsible for this highly lucrative illegal trade. The China government has recently commissioned an analysis of its role as an importer of illegal timber and released draft guidelines to improve sustainability of its timber-importing corporations [4]. |
| Beijing also recently hosted the 2011 Asia Forest Partnership Dialogue, designed to assess progress in efforts to combat illegal logging in Asia over the last decade. However, China still has no national action plan or legislation to prevent the import of illegally sourced timber, and no formal trade arrangements with major timber-producing countries designed to improve enforcement. |
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world's forests. Over the past 20 years, FSC has earned a reputation as the most rigorous, credible forest certification system. There are two types of FSC certification: Forest Management and Chain of Custody. In both types of certification, independent Certification Bodies verify that all FSC-certified forests conform to the management standard.
| The following types of wood and wood products are considered unacceptable, and are avoided in FSC-labeled products:
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 | Our own attempts to source FSC certified or other sustainable timber products in China have proved incredibly frustrating. Timber products typically offered to us are: 1. Lauan - This is the most commonly used tropical veneer. It is poor to medium quality wood, generally used for inexpensive plywood and door skins. If compensation for indigenous peoples losing their homelands and the loss of biodiversity are factored in, the real cost of lauan is extremely high. 2. Mahogany - The demand for authentic mahogany from Latin America has caused numerous logging companies to encroach on indigenous peoples’ reserves in Brazil. The forest people are endangered by log poachers who fell the trees and sell the wood to middlemen, who in turn sell it to importers from the U.S. and other industrialized countries. |
| 3. Teak – Products from Burma and Thailand are not only environmentally unsound, but associated with questionable ethics. As teak is one of the only sources of foreign exchange for Burma the government has sold teak concessions to Thai logging companies, who then export the teak. Thailand has imposed a ban on logging since massive deforestation caused flooding which killed hundreds of people. So Thai loggers have moved their operations to the Burmese border, which still has large tracts of teak. This area is home to ethnic minorities who are fighting to defend their homeland. |
 | Despite dominating the global timber market, Chinese wood-products corporations feel little pressure from buyers to improve the legality of their timber products and consider it largely unimportant to their future competitiveness, according to the Chatham House report. Are we a lone voice in asking for such certification from our timber sources? Lobbying by specifiers, buyers and concern groups can have a major influence on consumer preferences and have forced some of the largest retail chains in North America and Europe, such as Walmart and Ikea, to limit products sourced from old-growth forests. Indonesia booked a 114% increase in sales of timber product exports to the European Union during the first quarter of 2013, following the introduction of self-made certification system to help the country comply with international regulations.[5] At some point, Chinese companies will buck the trend toward sustainable logging at their peril. |
 | Genuine third-party eco-labels and green product certification programs can be very helpful in evaluating the attributes of green products because they validate that the product meets certain industry-independent standards. They can also offer greater assurance to consumers, specifiers, and other purchasers that a product’s marketing claims truly reflect its green attributes. The results of a 2008 survey [6] showed that more than one-half of the Architects, Engineers, building owners, and contractors surveyed consider green product certifications and eco-labels very valuable when selecting green products. Chinese people pay significant importance to health and wellness in their life choices and product purchasing is no different, with consumers being willing to pay a premium for 'healthy' goods. However some of these healthy goods are being produced at an unhealthy environmental cost. General lack of education about environmental issues in China, combined with the media’s indiscriminate use of terms and lack of clear directives from government seems to have contributed significantly to the air of confusion surrounding definitions and resulted in a lack of importance attached to promoting sustainable goods and services. |
| [1] Yaranella, Levine and Lancaster 2009 [2] FTC Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims 1999. [3] Illegal Logging and Related Trade - Indicators of the Global Response, Sam Lawson and Larry MacFaul, July 2010 [4] The State Forest Administration and Ministry of Commerce Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forests Management and Utilisation by Chinese Enterprises (2009) [5] Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System (INDO-TLAS) / Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK) - Ministry of Forestry / Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia [6] McGraw-Hill Construction 2008 Image Source: google.com | Related Article: Green Products, What Are They? Related Event: Guest Judge: Green Space Design Competition |
