Jersey City, New Jersey Passes Resolution Barring Future Use of Uncertified Rainforest Woods

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Wednesday night, the City Council of Jersey City, NJ passed unanimously an ordinance that will end the use of uncertified tropical hardwoods and temperate rainforest wood by the city.

In the last few years, Jersey City, like so many other towns and cities across the US, has been using tropical hardwoods — notably for sidewalk and park benches — logged from the world's dwindling rainforests. In this case, the wood used in the city's benches is ipê, exported from the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, where 80% of logging has been shown to be illegal and where species are rapidly being driven to extinction.

Councilman Steven Fulop introduced the measure two weeks ago following the suggestion of Rainforest Relief, after the organization ascertained the city was using ipê for benches and will soon be renovating a large pier on the river.

Tim Keating, Rainforest Relief's Executive Director, spoke at the council meeting, telling councilmembers of accelerating levels of deforestation, illegal logging, conflicts with indigenous people, and detailing the trail of timber from the illegal operations in the Amazon to the sidewalks of b>New Jersey. The audience applauded as Keating finished.

Council President Mariano Vega thanked Keating for bringing the issue to the attention of the Council and said, "this is how we think globally and act locally."

Jersey City is the most recent of over a dozen waterfront towns and cities to pass similar regulations. Together, these measures have curtailed the impending or proposed use of over 11 million board feet of unsustainable tropical wood.

Work with Rainforest Relief and help pass a resolution in your town.