'Good wood' labeling: Can it save Asia's tropical forests?

"For us, this is an issue of global competition,'' says Dr. Irsal. "We could lose customers if we don't get certified.''

By all accounts, Inhutani's practices are among the best in Indonesia, and it has fulfilled most of the FSC criteria, including promising to spare some of the biggest trees. But two years ago, wildcat loggers began to stream through Inhutani's forest, cutting trees earmarked for survival. Though Inhutani has complained to local officials, the logging has continued. Some executives privately allege that the loggers have ties to the local police and government. As a result, "they tell us we may not get certified,'' says Irsal. "It's something beyond our control."

It's a problem that's hitting almost all of Indonesia's legitimate timber operations, with companies complaining that the illegal loggers turn violent if they're opposed. In some places, concession owners have taken to blowing up bridges and dumping loads of rocks on their access roads to keep the illegal loggers out.

"The situation is overwhelming the best efforts of good people,'' says Graham Tyrie, a forester working on a European Union project to help Inhutani improve its forest management. "It's depressing.''

Certification has met with some success in North America and Europe, where environmental groups are more effective and forests are easier to monitor. In tropical countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, though, the forests are remote and often bedeviled by communal conflicts and mismanagement. As a result, only about 17,000 square miles of tropical forest has been certified by FSC-accredited groups.

But Indonesia alone loses more than 17,000 square miles of rainforest a year, and the global annual deforestation rate is estimated to be about five times that.

Some environmentalists say that certification is a stop-gap measure. "Something that even the NGO's don't want to accept is that there has to be a dramatic cut in consumption,'' says Mr. Keating. Otherwise, he says, "demand will simply bulldoze over certification.''

Time is running short, if the supply of certified wood is going to meet demand. While about 200 patches of global forest have already been certified, they represent a tiny fraction of world demand. "If Home Depot came on board tomorrow, they'd exhaust the global supply of certified wood in about a day," says the WWF's Taylor.

Rainforest Relief's Keating says his big worry now is that the FSC and buyers are going to fudge on their commitments when confronted with the reality that there's not enough wood. "There's been this rush to certify, but they're going to have to water down their standards if they're going to meet demand.''

For Keating, the euphoria of the 1999 success is wearing off. He's begun to doubt Home Depot's ability to meet its commitment. "This is so big, we're willing to wait,'' he says. "But we may end up having to start another campaign.''

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