How you can help forests

What you do and what you buy can have some of the greatest impacts in terms of forest conservation and good management.

You see, by choosing or even just asking for sustainably harvested wood you can set in motion a chain of events that will have a positive impact on the conservation of existing forests and the good management of those forests from which timber is already being extracted.

Here are just a few of the things you can do.

Buy FSC

One of the main causes of forest lost is illegal logging, which is fed by high demand for timber in Europe and in countries such as Japan, the United States and China.

But you can help stop this. Make sure that any timber products you buy (and that includes everything from furniture to paper and even toilet tissue!) carry the FSC label. Without this label, timber may well stem from illegal or controversial sources. Find out more

Get to know your wood

Find out how your garden furniture or wooden flooring may have contributed to the destruction of the world's most valuable rain forests. Learn more

And use our photographic guide to help identify your timber

Save paper

Dating as far back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, paper has had a long, rich history that continues to span today into modern day life.

But even with advances in digital technology and “paperless” offices, the consumption of paper in many parts of the word is on the rise, threatening the last remaining natural forests and the people and wildlife that depend on them.

Find out what you can do as an individual to reduce your paper consumption

Don't flush our forests and wildlife down the toilet

Be careful with your tissue & toilet paper

Every day, about 270,000 trees are flushed down the drain or end up as garbage all over the world.

In fact, every time you use a toilet roll or other tissue products you might be directly contributing to this environmental destruction.

Tissue products, such as toilet paper, handkerchiefs, kitchen towels and napkins cannot be recycled after their use, for understandable reasons! So it is important to ensure that the tissue products you buy contain a high level of recycled content. Find out more

Spread the word

Help promote FSC and sustainably harvested wood by displaying a poster in your window, on your school or workplace notice board or any where else where you know lots of people will see it!

The more people who are aware of the issues, the greater the chance we have of making a real difference.