Is the wood you use ok?

Or whether the parquet flooring in your home hasn't devastated key habitats of orang-utans and jaguars? That the seats in your sauna didn't once provide shade to African elephants? And the garden furniture hasn't contributed to the destruction of the world's most valuable rainforests?

There is a way of knowing.

Lara was adjusting the wooden slat on a window of her sister's house in Mirdif, Dubai. As she slid it, she noticed a label that pleased her enormously. It said FSC. She was familiar with the FSC symbol and knew that it stood for Forest Stewardship Council - a consumer label which represents forest management to the highest social and environmental standards. While living in Europe and America, Lara was careful about buying from companies that used FSC certified wood; and she was happy to see it in the UAE too. It had always been important for Lara to know that the wood and wood-based products she used caused no damage to natural habitats, wildlife and communities.

Wood is good if harvested responsibly. The WWF considers the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification system to be the only credible system to ensure environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of forests. WWF, therefore, recommends the FSC system to consumers, forest managers, policy makers, businesses and the public.

Half of the world's original forest cover has already disappeared and much of that destruction has taken place over the last 50 years. Illegal logging is a multi-billion dollar business, destroying nature, damaging communities and distorting trade. In some countries in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America up to 80 percent of all trees are cut illegally; and in Russia it's up to 50 percent. In European Union countries, half of the forests have gone forever; and of the forests that are left, only 2 - 3 percent is relatively intact natural forests. The rest are badly degraded. The only pristine forests left lie in the new EU member states; and these face threats as markets open up.

Irresponsibly harvested timber ends up in stores all around the world. Through their purchasing power, multinationals in the timber industry - retailers, forest products companies and Do-it-Yourself retailers - have a lot of influence over how forests are managed. 'Wood giants' choose who they do business with; and WWF seeks dialogue with them to convince them to use only those suppliers that sell them timber products from responsible sources.

Since it was established in 1993 the FSC's global success has been driven by the support of over 700 companies in 35 countries in the Global Forest and Trade Network. They include giants such as North America's Home Depot, the UK's B&Q chain, OBI in Germany, Castorama in France and IKEA. Their aim is to develop FSC certification of forests and forest products to ensure responsible forest management. A total of 43.93 million hectares around the world have been certified as of 16 June 2004. The FSC logo can now be found on more than 8,000 products worldwide.

In 2002, WWF and IKEA joined forces in a 3 year cooperation to further responsible forestry across the world, both being committed to secure forest resources for present and future needs. IKEA's long term goal is to source all the wood from verified, well managed forests i.e. forests that have been certified according to a forest management standard recognised by IKEA. Currently, FSC is the only certification scheme fulfilling IKEA's long term goal. The company already purchases FSC certified forest products. It does not accept from its suppliers, wood that comes from intact natural forests or forests of high conservation value unless independently verified as coming from well-managed sources.

The WWF also has forest partnerships with Sveaskog (the Swedish state-owned forest company), World Bank, the Dutch Government's International Development Agency, Lafarge (world leader in construction materials), and IUCN - the World Conservation Union.