Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 26
1 sustainability", is there some indication there?
2 A. I think the indication there is, in fact, that forestry
3 as is practised in a vast amount Europe at the moment has
4 not been fully sustainable. He says countries -- I think
5 he is inferring to countries outside the United Kingdom; he
6 is referring to European countries.
7
8 Q. That is Hector Munro -- he is what?
9 A. He was Minister of Agriculture at the time.
10
11 Q. On page 7 of your statement you refer to McDonald's in
12 2.11.5?
13 A. Right, yes.
14
15 Q. I believe this is referring to -- is this America or is
16 this just general -- no, it is general.
17 A. It is general background.
18
19 Q. So, can you just explain what you mean at 2.11.5?
20 A. What I mean there is that the knowledge about the
21 problems of the forest was available to the whole of the
22 world, basically, to McDonald's in the past, and what I am
23 saying is that, given that all paper will in some way
24 impact the environment of the forest, McDonald's were in a
25 position to actually make some hierarchal rating of where
26 they took their paper from and attempt to take any paper
27 they did take from the environment from the one that had
28 the least effect on the environment and biodiversity.
29
30 I believe this is so because there are forest changes in
31 the United States which have been run for strange reasons
32 sometimes, which have protected biodiversity, such as the
33 Menomenee forest, which belongs to the Menomenee tribal
34 people. It is about 400 square miles of forest, and
35 I would say, in fact, material from the Menomenee forest is
36 now being sold in England. This is hard woods for
37 flooring, but they also do soft woods there, and it is
38 being sold as a premium in this country because it is being
39 considered that, in fact, it has been produced in a
40 seriously environmentally sensitive way, partly because of
41 religious reasons that the people there have; but partly
42 practically because the people in the Menomenee forest, who
43 are a tribe of American Indians, had nowhere else to go.
44
45 So, unlike the rest of the timber industry they could not
46 move on, so their management has been sustainable of all
47 parts of the forest, particularly as they use part of the
48 forest for religious purposes as well.
49
50 Q. When you say in that paragraph, "and demand that suppliers
51 meet a specification that protects forest biodiversity",
52 does that refer not only to use specific forests that are
53 run well but also make some specifications?
54 A. I think they are specifying ----
55
56 Q. For other sources?
57 A. I think they are specifying no old growth anyway. That
58 would be a reasonable thing for them to specify. They also
59 should be looking, if they are doing their job properly as
60 an environmentally concerned company, they should be going
