Flavell Te Ururoa: Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7804. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou katoa. Kia ora koe Mr Deputy Speaker. The Customs and Excise (Sustainable Forestry) Amendment Bill as other speakers have mentioned amends the Customs and Excise Act 1996 to prohibit the importation of illegally and unsustainably produced timber and wood products into Aotearoa. The sponsor of this bill Catherine Delahunty talked about doing the right thing tonight. When we think about the right thing the Maori Party knows that what is right is to keep our natural resources and environment healthy safe and intact for everyone and for future generations. 
Forestry of course is extremely important to Maori. Some estimates put total Maori forest interests at more than 1.2 million hectares. We have a unique interest in forestry within the distinct context of collective ownership and management. But we know also that the economic benefits of international trade agreements need to be balanced with the considerations of local regional and national progress and environmental enhancement. In thinking of the other values that might be useful in this debate tonight I think of the concept of our forest and the significance of it to our identity. We have many names in Maoridom that symbolise the importance of the forest to our identity ngaherehere nehenehe ngahengahe waonui and waoku. We treasure the forest for the scope of its beauties its spiritual presence and its bountiful supply of food medicines and weaving and building materials. 
We have been alarmed at the issue of illegal logging in the context of the value that we as Maori place on forestry. We share the views of indigenous peoples around the world that the tropical forests are critical to the survival and well-being of people all round the world. We appreciate that many people depend on the forest for food shelter income medicine and clean water so we are greatly concerned at the laundering of illegal timber from some parts of the world’s most endangered forests. The report  
Sharing the Blame: Global Consumption and China’s Role in Ancient Forest Destruction  
documents illegally logged timber particularly from the “Paradise Forests” of the Asia-Pacific region being shipped to China. When it gets there it is made into furniture floorings and plywood for domestic consumption and for export to satisfy the rising global demand for inexpensive wood products. 
This bill makes it illegal to import into Aotearoa timber and wood products that are not from a verified legal and certified sustainable source. We in the Maori Party support the move to establish a new schedule that lists verified legal and certified sustainable timber and wood production certification schemes. Finally we are aware that Greenpeace is urging China and the other 187 signatory nations to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to protect the world’s last ancient forest by establishing a global network of protected forest areas to ban the trade in illegal and destructively logged wood products and to introduce a legally binding mechanism under the convention to combat illegal and destructive logging. We welcome that move and in light of that we welcome this bill and we support it to go through to the select committee to allow all of that discussion to proceed. Kia ora tatou.