The timber trail

Nearly half our furniture imports come from China. Vietnam is the second-largest source, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia.

All these countries are implicated in illegal logging. According to the World Bank, illegal logging accounts for between 70 and 80 percent of total timber production in Indonesia, up to 35 percent in Malaysia, and up to 40 percent in Vietnam.

China's timber trail is an import-export maze. China is a major importer of wood from Asia and Russia, where illegal logging is rife. As much as 50 percent of timber production in the Russian far east is estimated to be from illegal logging operations - and a lot of this finds its way across the border into China.

Most of the timber China imports is subsequently exported in the form of processed wood products like panelling and furniture. World Bank figures suggest China re-exports about 70 percent of all its timber imports. More and more of it is coming here.

Forest facts

• Deforestation causes the loss of about 13 million hectares of forest each year, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation. Re-planting and forest restoration reduce annual net losses to 7.3 million hectares.
  
  
• Forest destruction remains a major threat to biodiversity. A recent report by Birdlife International estimates nearly two-thirds of bird species are found in forests and many can live nowhere else.
  
  
• The world's forests store an estimated 283 gigatonnes of carbon in their living biomass. Between 1990 and 2005, deforestation and degradation resulted in the decline of forest carbon stocks of 1.1 gigatonnes each year.

What's in store

The furniture in our shops doesn't have to carry a country-of-origin label. What's more, importers aren't required to prove the products they're bringing into the country are made from legally sourced wood.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry recently commissioned a report on the legality of timber products in New Zealand. It concluded that imported furniture is "certainly likely to include illegal timber products" but the size of the problem is difficult to establish.

According to this report, one of the complicating factors is that timber from several sources (including illegal sources) can be used in one item. Staining and finishing also makes it difficult to detect - just by looking - what type of wood has been used.

Timber framing in imported upholstered furniture such as lounge suites is another issue. The report quotes importers and retailers who say that the source and legality of lounge-suite framing is often unknown. Unless the importer has specified the timber to be used, you may not know what you're buying.