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On 18 bags of charcoal distributed in supermarkets and Belgian DIY stores, nine contained only or partly tropical timber, reports Thursday the WWF. The provenance of the wood is, moreover, neither specified nor certified by a label of sustainable and legal management of forests, underlines the international organization of defense of the environment. "Supermarkets and DIY stores show little transparency about the dubious origin of their charcoal," denounces Béatrice Wedeux, forester policy of WWF-Belgium. "So there is a risk that the charcoal in our barbecues is linked to the illegal destruction of natural tropical forests.
According to the badyzes carried out by the wood biology laboratory at the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, 51% of the charcoal imported by Belgium comes from Nigeria. The largest exporter to the EU, however, this country has the highest annual rate of deforestation in the world (5%). Between 2010 and 2015, a quarter of Nigeria's natural forests disappeared.
In addition to tropical timber, 16% of the badyzed charcoal was imported from the temperate forests of Ukraine, another country where deforestation is a threat. because of illegal logging
A common product in this period of outdoor grilling, charcoal is not covered by the EU Timber Regulation, which aims to prevent illegal timber from entering the European market. . WWF therefore requests that the new version of the Regulation, currently under revision, cover all wood products, including coal.
In Belgium, federations such as Fedustria (for the import of timber), inDUfed (for the paper) and companies like Colruyt also support this demand, according to the NGO.
Currently, the EU Timber Regulation does not take into account 67% of wood products.
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