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Protect Tropical Forests when Purchasing Garden Furniture

Photo of an FSC logo on a piece of paper

You can make a difference for wildlife when purchasing garden furniture.

Tropical forests are rapidly disappearing. Wildlife are pushed to extinction as habitat is fragmented and lost. Human communities are displaced when the forests are no longer available. Ongoing deforestation of tropical forests contributes an estimated one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, and sacrifices their critical role in carbon sequestration.

Tropical forests can slow global warming. Trees trap or "sequester" carbon. They are natural cleaners for our atmosphere.

The Garden Furniture Scorecard

We contacted some of the largest U.S. garden furniture retailers to ask:

  • Where did the wood in the products come from?
  • Were the products Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified or moving toward FSC certification?
  • We wrote, phoned and visited stores. We made every effort to verify responses.

    It's not a simple effort to change to FSC-certified wood. We commend all the retailers making an effort. We'll track their progress and let you know how it's going. And we need your help to ask for FSC-certified garden products.

    2009 Garden Furniture Scorecard

    (This is an Adobe PDF document, 357 Kb)

    Related Resources

    Description of the Garden Furniture Project (This is a 400 Kb PDF file - PDF Help)

    2008 Garden Furniture Score Card (This is a 3.41MB PDF file - PDF Help)

    2007 Garden Furniture Scorecard (This is a 310 Kb PDF file - PDF Help)

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