IKEA under fire for ancient tree logging

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/29/ikea-ancient-tree-logging?intcmp=122


Ikea has been criticised for using wood sourced from 600-year old forests in Russia. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP


The home furnishing giant Ikea, founded in Sweden in 1943, is facing heavy criticism for the logging and clear-cutting of old-growth forests in the north of Russian Karelia by its wholly owned subsidiary Swedwood.

According to leading environmental organisations, such logging is destroying ancient and unique forests that have a high conservation value.

Wood is by far the primary raw material in Ikea's products. Roughly 60 percent of the products stocked in the multinational's 300 department stores around the world contain wood in any form.

For years, the company has used the "We Love Wood" slogan to promote the fact that Ikea only uses wood obtained in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way.