Green Media Advisory

Protest against "blood furniture" trade

Mana Green Party members will hold a protest at the front entrance of Harvey Norman's megastore at Porirua on Easter Saturday calling on the store to commit to not stocking "blood furniture" from illegally and unsustainably logged tropical kwila timber.

The protest from 10am to noon focuses on human rights abuses and destruction of ecosystems caused by the trade.

“The World Bank has reported 70 to 80 percent of kwila logging is illegal and there are many reports it involves villagers being forced off their lands, tortured, and detained by corrupt military officers to allow logging,” says Dr. Russel Norman, Green Co-leader.

“Ecosystems in Papua New Guinea and Indonesian-run Papua, containing wildlife such as rare tree kangaroos and birds of paradise, are being wiped out. Deforestation is believed by United Nations climate change officials to contribute about 20 percent of human-made carbon emissions world-wide and the loss of tropical rainforests is particularly tragic as they contain more than half the Earth's plant and animal species. Australia and New Zealand take around 60 percent of the sawn kwila produced.

“Harvey Norman is one of the few big retail chains which is still committed to importing kwila outdoor furniture. The firm is rated ‘D-should know better’ in Greenpeace's recent ‘Guide to Forest Friendly Outdoor Furniture Retailers’.

The Green Party wrote to Harvey Norman's head office last year and to the Porirua store - which is believed to have one of the biggest stocks of kwila furniture in the country - on January 19 this year. The letters - copies of which were handed personally to senior staff - asked for any certification in respect to legality and sustainability of kwila used in Harvey Norman’s outdoor furniture. Harvey Norman has not replied.

What – Protest against blood furniture trade

When – Easter Saturday 10am to noon

Where – Harvey Norman;s megastore at Porirua

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