| WWF-Malaysia's Timber Campaign Gets Global Support |
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KOTA KINABALU, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia's Forest and Trade Network (FTN) has received international support for its responsible purchasing of timber campaign in discouraging illegal logging.
The latest support came from the McCorry group of companies, a European timber trading group with its international operations headquarters in Malaysia, which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia FTN here Thursday.
Malaysia FTN, the Malaysian chapter of WWF's Global and Trade Network (GFTN), was represented by WWF-Malaysia's conservation director Dr Arun Venkataraman and McCorry by its chief executive officer Jonas Israel. The signing was witnessed by Sabah Tourism Board's chairman Datuk Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin.
With the MoU, McCorry became the 11th wood-based company to sign with Malaysia FTN and the first international group to support the Malaysia FTN campaign on responsible forestry to encourage legal logging trading.
"WWF-Malaysia constantly looks for ways to incorporate environmental awareness in the corporate sector by being as practical as possible. Malaysia FTN is a means of improving business by reducing risks and by being as transparent as possible in purchasing policy," Arun said.
According to Arun, the world's forests today remain under threat from deforestation, illegal logging and poor forest management.
He said the GFTN created market conditions to help conserve forests and biodiversity while providing economic and social benefits for businesses and people that depended on them.
McCorry and Malaysia FTN will work together with the group's timber product suppliers over the coming months to support their achievement of responsible forestry practices and Forest Stewardship Council certification.
"The GFTN membership gives us a basis to live up to our commitment to protect the only renewable resource we have -- our forest," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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