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Furniture Manufacturer South Cone Trading Co. Takes Decisive Steps to Help Preserve Rainforests |
A Viable Alternative for the Furniture Industry |
GARDENA, CALIFORNIA, Oct. 21 -/E-Wire/--
On Sunday, Sept. 28, the New York Times published a front-page feature story exposing widespread illegal logging of mahogany in Peru. The piece, reprinted in several national and international newspapers, is a strong indictment against private sector players and government officials and presages a dire future for the rainforests.
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South Cone Trading Co. is a high-end furniture manufacturer with a different way of doing business. In coordination with non-profit organizations, South Cone has taken decisive steps to reverse this trend and behave in ways that help preserve the rainforests while simultaneously allowing for the use of rainforest wood resources.
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South Cone produces about 75% of all Peruvian furniture exports. Based in Gardena, CA, with factories in Peru and Argentina, South Cone sells its products in more than 500 retail stores in the United States and manufactures under private label for such well-known retailers as Crate & Barrel and Room and Board.
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South Cone and its factory in Peru are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified corporations (SW-COC 653 and SW-COC 554 respectively). This means that South Cone, as well as its retailers and end-consumers, are part of the "chain of custody" of sustainably harvested tropical hardwoods.
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The Times article noted that "no one knows" where the illegally logged mahogany ends up. The effectiveness of FSC's program is that everyone along the chain of custody knows exactly where the tropical hardwoods come from and that they are harvested under the strictest norms of sustainability.
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South Cone has taken other steps to extend its commitment to rainforest preservation, while simultaneously continuing to grow its furniture business.
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(1) Four years ago, the company completely phased out the use of mahogany, precisely because of the illegal logging associated with it and the pressure its harvesting puts on the rainforests. South Cone has switched to alternative hardwood species, like mohena, sauco, and others.
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(2) About 30% of South Cone's production is currently FSC certified. A piece of furniture that has the FSC logo guarantees the buyer that at least 70% of the wood used to make it comes from sustainably managed forests. South Cone expects production to be 95% certified by the end of 2005.
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(3) Last year, South Cone and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) joined forces and committed $160,000 each to research additional alternative hardwood species, so as to further ease the pressure on mahogany and the rainforests. The strategy here is to increase the offering of commercially valuable hardwoods so as to make sustainable rainforest management commercially viable. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is managing USAID funds in this project.
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(4) In 2001, the founder and CEO of South Cone, Gerry Cooklin, decided to extend the company's environmental commitments. He and his wife, Petie, formed Partnerships and Technology for Sustainability (PaTS), a non-profit organization that is currently active in the Peruvian Amazon.
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PaTS believes that the most effective way to preserve the rainforests is to give indigenous inhabitants the opportunity to prosper. If the indigenous people of the Amazon do not prosper economically, they have no choice but to resort to slash and burn, poaching, and illegal logging to survive.
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PaTS is working with the Yanesha people of the Palcazu Valley, a typical Amazon community, who in the past several years have implemented rainforest management programs in their land.
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The role of PaTS is to help the Yanesha reap the benefits of their environmental stewardship. With South Cone's support, PaTS has trained more than 100 Yanesha in wood processing, woodworking, quality control, product design, budgeting and finance, and other essential skills necessary for wealth creation.
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The Yanesha have already made 15 products from sustainably harvested wood and non-wood resources. These products, including wood stools and painted fabrics, will be presented in October at the International Furniture Show in High Point, North Carolina, for limited distribution in the U.S. It is important to note that 100% of the profits from the distribution of Yanesha products are reinvested in PaTS activities.
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PaTS has also helped construct two wood drying sheds and will soon begin construction of the first wood processing plant in the Palcazu Valley.
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South Cone's initiatives show that there is an alternative way to use rainforest wood resources to the one exposed in the New York Times. What South Cone is doing in Peru represents the other side of capitalism, one that the company believes is as newsworthy as the one presented in Sunday's Time's piece. The company also believes that FSC certification should become a standard of the furniture industry.
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Of the illegally logged mahogany, the Times article said, "Such timber moves through a chain of corrupt officials and exporters who buy or forge documents, through customs agents, importers and lumber yards who cannot be certain of the wood's origin, and finally into American homes."
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With FSC certification and the types of activities that South Cone and PaTS promote, the timber the company uses moves through a "chain of custody" that finally becomes a piece of furniture that ends in an American home. This is radically different from the other, illegal and corrupt chain.
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This chain is environmentally sound, socially responsible, but also profitable. In the end, it shows that all the parties involved—the loggers, mills, furniture manufacturers, retailers and end-consumers of furniture—can be "custodians" of the rainforests.
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