Deforestation under the Christmas tree? The case he’s been exposed by WWF Germany: coloring and activities book, that sold in big amounts for Christmas, are printed on paper coming form rain forest distraction in Southeast Asia. WWF tested 37 tested paper samples from postcards, letter paper and coloring books sold by the publisher Depesche, and found that 13 of them contain tropical timber. The paper test were carried out in the labors at the University of Darmstadt and at the independent fibres IPS Testing lab (Integrated Paper Service).

Product targeting small girls, such as “Supergirl”, “Horses Dreams” or “Create your TopModel” and sold in supermarkets or department stores. “It was no surprise that we also had hits at the colored books of Depesche - says Johannes Zahnen of WWF - But that we detect tropical timber in nearly one third of all samples was also for us a shock.” The terrible result is due to the fact, that many products like “Diddl-Maus” and others are printed in large quantity in China. In this country, tropical timber coming from Southeast Asian tropical rainforest is still used in large amounts for paper production.

The responsibility also lies at the retailers, according to WWF. “Paper linked to rainforest destruction should find no place in supermarkets. Retailers shall take their responsibility and discontinue these paper products” added Zahnen. “To assure that Christmas presents are not coming from illegal logging or deforestation they should only sell certified products, carrying the FSC or the Blue AngelEurope,  logo”.