July 15, 2008 - Wal-Mart has joined WWF's Global Forest & Trade Network, pledging to phase out illegally harvested timber from its supply chain and buy more wood products from credibly certified sources.

Wal-Mart’'s commitment includes the importation and sale of all wood-based products, with an initial focus on wood-based furniture.

Wal-Mart currently sources furniture from the Amazon, the Russian Far East, northern China, Indonesia, and the Mekong region of southeast Asia, some of the most biologically diverse - and therefore ecologically vulnerable - places on Earth.

The retail giant is working to undo the reputational damage done by an undercover report, released last December, which charged that the company's wood-sourcing policy "prizes low-price above all," to the detriment of protected forests."