To all friends of Ukraine all over the world

3^rd March 2022

SUPPORT UKRAINE! BAN RUSSIAN AND BELORUSSIAN WOOD NOW!

Joint statement of Ukrainian, Belarussian and European environmental and human rights NGOs and activists

Russia, along with Belarus, is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine. The Russian military are firing missiles and bombs on urban settlements, killing hundreds of Ukrainian defenders and civilians, including children. The EU has called Belarus ”the other aggressor in this war” and ”complicit in the attacks” on Ukraine. The terrible toll of deaths and injuries will grow in the coming days, as fear, grief and anger continue to spread throughout Ukraine.

But we are not helpless.

Both Russia and Belarus rely heavily on the export of timber and wood products. In 2021, the export of timber and wood products from the Russian Federation was $13.9 billion USD. Western countries are the major markets for this wood, either directly or indirectly, including the United States of America, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, as well as countries such as Japan and China. Wood from these regions is used to make buildings, paper, clothes and furniture, and to fuel your power plants.

The financial resources the Russian and Belarussian governments gain from wood exports help to equip the Russian invaders, fuel their tanks and produce their bombs. Therefore, consuming Russian and Belorussian wood and timber products means supporting death and destruction in Ukraine.

Besides all the other demands for support for Ukraine’s government, we, Ukrainian, Belarussian and European environmental and human rights NGOs and activists, appeal to all the governments of countries friendly to Ukraine: please, ban import of all types of Russian and Belorussian timber and wood products (including all paper products, furniture and furniture parts, pellets and sawn wood) now! While new sanctions on Belarus, announced by the EU in response to the Ukraine invasion, now include wood it is not clear that it includes all timber-both raw materials as well as higher processed goods like furniture.

We also appeal to international certification schemes, namely FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), SBP (Sustainable Biomass Programme) and PEFC (Programme for Enforsement of Forest Certification): please, wake up and terminate all forest management and chain of custody certificates for forest concessions and companies from both Russia and Belarus with immediate effect. Not a single stick of wood from these countries is sustainable when it is used to finance overwhelming destruction of a peaceful country.

We also affirm our support for all those affected by this attack, including those stranded at the Ukraine’s border and denied safe passage because of the colour of their skin.

We need your support right now! Please, stop Russia and save the free people of Ukraine!

Signed by:

Aeris Futuro (Poland)
Aevis Foundation (Slovakia)
AntAC (Ukraine)
ANTS NGO (Ukraine)
Assocation MULTIFORM (Poland)
Association Workshop for all Beings (Poland)
Auriga Nusantara Foundation (Indonesia)
Belarusian Association of Workers (Belarus)
Belarusians of Frankfurt (Belarus/Germany)
Belarusians of Krakow (Belarus/Poland)
Belarusians of Wroclaw (Belarus/Poland)
Białorusini Kujawsko-pomorskie (Poland/Belarus)
Biofuelwatch (UK/USA)
Black Sea Women’s Club (Ukraine)
Board of environmental education (Ukraine)
Bruno Manser Fonds (Switzerland)
Bureau of Environmental Investigations (Ukraine)
Camp for Forest (Poland)
Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction (Ukraine)
Centrum Współpracy Międzynarodowej (Poland)
Children’s Ecological Association Green Country (Ukraine)
Children’s independent eco-center “Romantic” (Ukraine)
Chysta Ukraina (Ukraine)
Civic Monitoring of Trees (Poland)
Civil Protection (profi) Manager’s Association (Ukraine)
Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples (Germany)
Earthsight (UK)
Ecoclub (Ukraine)
Ecologistas en Acción (Spain)
Ecopark Osokorky (Ukraine)
Ecopark Vyrlitsia (Ukraine)
Ecoplatform (Ukraine)
Ecosense NGO (Ukraine)
Ecozahiststarokostiantyniv (Ukraine)
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) (UK/USA)
Environmental Investigation Agency (UK/USA)
Environment-People-Law (Ukraine)
Envol Vert (France)
Eremurus (Ukraine)
EuroNatur (Europe)
Europe Beyond Burning (Europe)
Fern (Belgium)
Finnish Nature League (Finland)
Fondatin Green Action (Poland)
Fondation Belarus 2020 Bialystok (Belarus/Poland)
Fondation Belarusians of Lodz (Belarus/Poland)
Fondation Ecodevelopmant FER (Poland)
Fondation Żywi (Belarus)
ForestCom (Ukraine)
FORZA, AGENCY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CARPATHIAN REGION (Ukraine)
Foundation for Sustainable Development (Poland)
Free Svydovets (Ukraine)
Freeshop Belarus (Belarus)
Friends of Fertö lake Association (Hungary)
Fundacja Ekologiczna „Zielona Akcja” (Poland)
Fundacja GAP Polska (Poland)
Fundacja imienia E. Hutten-Czapskiego (Belarus/Poland)
Fundacja na rzecz Efektywnego Wykorzystania Energii (Poland)
Fundacja Otwarty Plan (Poland)
Global Witness (UK/USA/EU)
GMO Eco-right-Kharkiv (Ukraine)
Green Light Foundation (Poland)
Green News Magazine (Poland)
Green Wave (Poland)
Green World ()
Hanna Radziuk (Belarus)
Independent consultant (UK)
Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy (Kyrgyzstan)
Instytut na rzecz Ekorozwoju (Poland)
Leefmilieu (Netherlands)
Legal Analytics (Ukraine)
Maan ystävät ry / Friends of the Earth Finland (Finland)
Manifa Toruńska (Poland)
Media Club of Zaporizhia Oblast (Ukraine)
Mighty Earth (USA/global)
Misto Soncia (Ukraine)
Nashi.Groshi Lviv (Ukraine)
National Ecological Center of Ukraine (Ukraine)
NESEHNUTI (Czech Republic)
NGO “Space” (Poland)
NGO “Voice of Nature” (Ukraine)
NGO Agensy for economic development (Ukraine)
NGO Association of Ukrainian Press ()
NGO Center for International Cooperation and Project Implementation (Ukraine)
NGO Dziga (Ukraine)
NGO Ecoltava (Ukraine)
NGO Ekosphera (Ukraine)
NGO Flora (Ukraine)
NGO Fortress heritage (Poland)
NGO Gamarjoba (Georgia)
NGO Khmelnytsky Regional Organization of the Ukrainian Society for Nature Protection (Ukraine)
NGO Kryvyi Rih City Human Rights Society (Ukraine)
NGO Our Home Manyava (Ukraine)
NGO PLATO (Ukraine)
NGO Unique Planet (Ukraine)
Open Cages (Ukraine)
OPORA (Ukraine)
Ozero Supii (Ukraine)
Partnership for Policy Integrity (US/EU)
Peli can live (Ukraine)
People’s embassies of Belarus (Belarus)
Polski Klub Ekologiczny Okręg Mazowiecki (Poland)
Primary Forest (Association) (Slovakia)
Pro Regenwald (Germany)
Rainforest Action Network (United States)
Rainforest Foundation UK (UK)
Rainforest Relief (USA)
Renewable Energy Cluster (Ukraine)
Sad Istoriy v Rivnomu (Ukraine)
Save the Mokrzańskki Forrest (Poland)
Save the ravines of Kleszczow (Poland)
Society for Threatened Peoples (Switzerland)
Społeczny Instytut Ekologiczny (Poland)
Stowarzyszenie “Wspólna Ziemia” (Poland)
“Stowarzyszenie Białoruski Związek Solidarności​
(Belarus/Poland)”
Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA (Poland)
Südwind (Austria)
Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto (Finnish Association for Nature Conservation) (Finland)
Terra-1530 (Moldova)
The All-Ukrainian Initiative “Active Community” support ()
Toruńska brygada feministyczna (Poland)
U-Cycle (Ukraine)
Ukrainian Climate Network (Ukraine)
Ukrainian Ecological Club “Green Wave” (Ukraine)
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (Ukraine)
Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group ()
United forest (Poland)
We Are the Forest (Slovakia)
Wild Carpathians Initiative (Poland)
WOLF Forest Protection Movement (Slovakia)
Working Group on Rainforests and Biodiversity (ARA) (Germany)
WWF-Ukraine (Ukraine)
Zero Waste Lviv (Ukraine)
Zero Waste Society (Ukraine)
Związek Stowarzyszeń Polska Zielona Sieć (Poland)