Letter: Forest management

Sir: David Robinson (letter, 2 October) is right to say that we should look nearer to home for ways of preventing the sort of ecological disaster that has struck the Indonesian forests, but wrong to call for a boycott of tropical hardwood products.

Tropical hardwood is a renewable resource, which provides an important and legitimate source of income for many equatorial countries. Making window frames from tropical timber does less damage to the environment than making them from aluminium or PVC.

The important thing is to ensure that the hardwood is harvested under conditions that allow the natural regeneration of the forests. It is for us as consumers to insist that any products we buy are produced from properly managed forests.

BILL QUANTRILL

Bradford-on-Avon,

Wiltshire