Green IS Group

As an ethical and sustainable producer of tropical hardwoods, we are very distressed to see reports of indiscriminate logging and deliberate burning of rainforest. Global leaders seem to be uniting to bring pressure on the Brazilian president to bring this behaviour under control. Over the last few days we've been encouraged by news reports that bo... th domestic and international protests seem to have forced Bolsanaro to take action to tackle the fires. We would like to reassure our investors on a number of points: There is no danger to any of the Green IS plantations. Our plantations are approximately 500 miles from the rainforest, and each one is surrounded by an enormous expanse of grassland. Teak is not a native Brazilian species, and does not exist in the rainforest - it was introduced in to Brazil as part of a strategy to produce tropical hardwood for export, to take pressure away from logging of the rainforest. Our plantations are certified by the FSC, and as such we are subject to rigorous criteria; this includes replacing more trees than we harvest, and setting aside an equivalent area of land to provide a habitat for Brazilian animals and plants. In the light of the illegal logging and wildfires, international timber buyers will have an increased requirement to prove that timber is sustainably sourced, which we achieve with our FSC certification. While we can only make a relatively small contribution to alleviating the damage being caused, our tree planting programme is currently running at 100,000 trees each year. The International Tropical Timber Organisation has tracked a 300% rise in the value of teak in the past four years, fuelled by consistent demand in traditional markets and huge growth in emerging markets. Despite the growing demand, the supply of teak is constrained by an international boycott on felling teak trees in their natural environment, which is why Green IS plantations employ certified, sustainable forestry practices in carefully managed plantations. The demand for tropical ...Read More