&frombrowsIn response to Rainforest Relief's Outdoor Furniture Campaign, this spring Target has changed some of their lines of wooden outdoor furniture from nyatoh to plantation eucalyptus (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

But in a case of "one step up and three steps back", not only does Target continue to sell two lines of nyatoh furniture and at least one line of kapur furniture ripped from the rainforests of Indonesia, but also sells three lines of furniture made from jatoba ("Brazilian cherry", Target's jatoba products) ripped from the Amazon rainforests of Brazil.

Don't believe Target's lie that their kapur is "cultivated in an environmentally friendly manner". Kapur is being logged from old-growth rainforests in Indonesia, mostly illegally and logging there is wiping out the last rainforests of Indonesia, home to the highly endangered orangutan and thousands of other unique species of wildlife. The trees are from 250 to 1000 years old. Target's website claims that their kapur is "Indonesian Government approved. Grown from the government reforrestation [sic] project plantation". Aside from the obvious quick addition of this quote (which wasn't on their site as of a few months ago), it just not true. Even the Indonesian government admits that 75% of the logging taking place in Indonesia is done illegally. Kapur is not being logged from plantations but instead directly from the dwindling old growth rainforests.

The UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Center has placed kapur on a preliminary list of threatened species of Sumatra: "Dryobalanops aromatica… A very large gregarious tree which provides most of the kapur timber and camphor for Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra."

The IUCN Red List of Endangered Species lists kapur (Dryobalanops aromatica) as Critically Endangered.

Regarding jatoba, or "Brazilian cherry", the government of Brazil has admitted that 80% of logging done in the Brazilian Amazon is done illegally, outside of the government's ability to control or enforce regulations. Ilegal loggers running rampant, bulldoze roads and skid trails into pristine forests hunting high-value species such as jatoba, leaving behind a mess of roads and destroyed trees. Studies have shown that estimates of deforestation in the Amazon must be doubled to include this type of logging.

Target is still carrying plenty of nyatoh (1, 2, 3, 4) ripped from the dwindling rainforests of Indonesia.

Target continues to carry their Adagio collection, which as of last year was listed as made from nyatoh but this year Target lists the Adagio collection only as "solid hardwood".

Target also sells outdoor furniture made of Western red cedar (see Target's cedar products), a wood logged from the dwindling old growth temperate rainforests of British Columbia, Canada.


What You Can Do

Send a message to Target Stores to tell them to stop destroying rainforests in Indonesia and Brazil for garden furniture.

Mr. Robert J. Ulrich, CEO
Target Corporation
1000 Nicollett Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

612/304-6073 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday)

Guest Relations: (800) 440-0680 (7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday)

Click here to send a message to Target on their website, asking them to end their sales of nyatoh, balau and jatoba furniture and all products made of wood from endangered forests.

Or, you can send a pre-written message to Target's Guest Relations at Guest.Relations@target.com