Deforestation is a problem that affects us profoundly as an exotic wood retailer. MAISONS DU MONDE cannot just sit back; we have to take action.

At the beginning of 2006, we encouraged our six main Indonesian wood suppliers to group together to form a cooperative association (known as the HARA Group) in order to ensure wood traceability.

One of our employees lives in Indonesia and plays a full part in group meetings. Only teak and shorea (or Indonesian mahogany) from legal plantations are used.

Following this action, we have undertaken a responsible reforestation programme with various Indonesian partners.

• LEI (the Indonesian Ecolabel Institute)
• the members of the HARA Group
• Koperasi Wana Manunggai Lestari
• the Ecolabel working group of the Forestry Department in the Gunul Kidul District

MAISONS DU MONDE contributes 50 % of the funds needed for this reforestation programme. The project's core principle is: “when a tree is cut down, we shall re-plant ten.”

This sustainable form of forest management means that non-certified wood will gradually be phased out. On 20th December 2007, MAISONS DU MONDE signed a three year memorandum to develop a wood traceability and sustainable management programme.

At MAISONS DU MONDE we keenly aware of our civic responsibilities and our environmental duties as a company and we therefore also support an environmental NGO in Madagascar called 'L'Homme et l'environnement' [Man and the Environment]: www.madagascar-environnement.com

Its members work to preserve biodiversity in two forests (Vohimana and Vohibola) which contain an exceptional variety of fauna and flora. Vohimana alone is home to 80 different species of frog and a unique lemur population found nowhere else in the world.

The NGO fights against the deforestation that destroys these animals' natural habitat. It also encourages ecotourism and the use of medicinal plants for the production of essential oils as a commercial venture.

MAISONS DU MONDE has signed an agreement, in partnership with the 'Fond Français pour l'Environnement Mondial' [French Global Environment Fund], to officially support 'L'Homme et l'environnement' and has thereby agreed to finance their activities for the next two years.

And this is only the first step on a long road...