Wal-Mart Buying Illegal Russian Timber for Products Sold in US Market

US based retail giant Wal-Mart is the subject of a detailed and lengthy report released earlier this month by environmental watchdog group The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The report alleges numerous Chinese companies producing wood furniture including baby cribs for Wal-Mart are buying illegally harvested Russian timber that is destroying critical forest habitats.

The report includes multiple undercover investigations where EIA staff posed as timber buyers and company representatives looking for a manufacturer for their products. They approached companies actively producing products for Wal-Mart for the US market and found nearly all of the wood used in production was from illegal Russian sources.

The report claims companies producing products for Wal-Mart say the retail giant is aware of the source but turns a blind eye in favor of reducing production costs. By not taking any substantive action to address the problem Wal-Mart is indirectly encouraging the practice to continue.

The EIA report can be downloaded here.

Wal-Mart Stores to Stop Selling Louisiana Cypress Mulch

Home Depot and Lowes Not Following Wal-Mart's Lead

New Orleans, LA - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has informed its suppliers that, effective January 1, 2008, the company will no longer buy and sell cypress mulch that is harvested, bagged, or manufactured in the state of Louisiana. The Save Our Cypress Coalition, a group of environmental organizations, has been publicly pressuring the major retailers Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s to stop selling cypress mulch since November 2006.

“It’s a tremendous step that Wal-Mart has recognized that cypress sustainability is a serious concern,” said Mark Ford, Executive Director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. “The Save Our Cypress Coalition sincerely thanks Wal-Mart for the action they’ve taken in Louisiana, and we will continue to work to completely end the sale of unsustainable cypress mulch.”

The decision comes on the heels of another recent action by a home retailer that acknowledges the concerns of the Save Our Cypress coalition, while failing to implement practical solutions to address those concerns. Lowe’s has stated it has implemented a moratorium on mulch from cypress harvested south of I-10/I-12 in Louisiana, excluding the Pearl River Basin. But there is no enforceable mechanism for ensuring that the moratorium is actually being upheld by suppliers. Home Depot and Lowe’s have claimed in the past that their suppliers do not source from coastal Louisiana, but the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper has gathered evidence proving this assertion to be false. The evidence is available at www.saveourcypress.org.