Finished Woods from Asia Increase

What used to be a trickle of finished wood products from Asia to the United States is now a flood. Furniture imports from China alone have risen from approximately $21 million in 1989 to nearly $1 billion in 1999. For environmental groups such as the Rainforest Action Network, the trend may be a golden opportunity to alter forestry practices in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Now that the imports are finished products, environmentalists can appeal directly to the consumer to put financial pressure on timber companies to embrace sustainable forestry practices. The effort will be faced with the challenges of monitoring practices in countries with poor roads, unsophisticated communications, and widespread official corruption. The economics are challenging as well: Richard Rice of the group Conservation International reports that “unsustainable logging can be as much as five times more profitable than the more sustainable alternative.”