Consumer Pressure Mounting for Implementation and Enforcement of the U.S. Lacey Act — EIA
Hong Kong Customs displays 82.5kg of rhino horns from South Africa and destined for Malaysia. Photo: ISD

Consumer Pressure Mounting for Implementation and Enforcement of the U.S. Lacey Act

Washington, DC – A coalition of labor and environmental groups released a video today that illustrates how the Lacey Act, one of United States’ oldest and most successful conservation laws, addresses the urgent need to crack down on the global illegal timber trade by closing end markets to illegal timber and wood products.1 In the United States, growing consumer pressure for compliance with and enforcement of the U.S. Lacey Act, a law amended in 2008 to ban imports of illegally sourced timber products,2 is making waves on Capitol Hill and in industry circles.

“The Lacey Act is a powerful tool to protect consumers from unwittingly supporting the destruction of the world’s forests. The 2008 amendments to the Lacey Act sent a strong message to the forest products industry around the world to eliminate irresponsibly sourced timber from supply chains or risk legal consequences in the United States,” said Kate Horner, Director of Forest Campaigns at the Environmental Investigation Agency. “But, without swift action by the US government to fully enforce the law, the final consumer will remain the source of wealth that fuels the mafias currently raiding the world’s forests.”

In recent months, tens of thousands of Sierra Club3 and Rainforest Action Network4 members have sent letters to policymakers demanding full implementation of the Lacey Act and to companies demanding legal and traceable sourcing of timber products.

“American families want to know where our household wood products come from, and we won’t let criminal companies degrade our homes with illegally sourced items. This year alone, more than 75,000 Sierra Club members and supporters have asked the Obama administration to fully enforce the Lacey Act and stop the illegal timber trade,” said Jesse Prentice-Dunn, Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program.

United Steelworkers have also highlighted how the Lacey Act supports the domestic forest products industry by curbing these illegal practices, which undercut the U.S. economy and destroy good-paying American jobs.5

“Environmental crime is serious crime, and it deserves serious consequences,” Kate Horner continued. “Proactive sourcing policies that ensure legal, sustainable and traceable supply chains must become the new market norm.”

Policies to fight the illegal timber trade are gaining momentum, and through the Lacey Act, the United States has sent a strong message that it will not support a “no questions asked” approach to global forestry. However, much remains to be done to stop the global, multi-billion dollar illegal timber trade. Renewed efforts to fully fund and enforce the Lacey Act will play a key role.

Editor’s Notes

  1. “Support the Lacey Act!”
  2. Amendments to the Lacey Act from H.R.2419, Sec. 8204.
  3. The Sierra Club. “Protect the Lacey Act!”
  4. Rainforest Action Network. “Lumber Liquidators: Trading Siberian Tigers, Organized Crime, and Illegal Logging for Cheap Hardwood Flooring.”
  5. United Steelworkers. “USW Calls for Increased Support for U.S. Lumber Industry Workers: Illegally Harvested Wood Undermines American Economy.”

Contact:

Kate Horner, +1 360 319 9444, [email protected]

Dan Byrnes, +1 202 495 3039, [email protected]