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Olympic Flame Lit on Torch Made with Eco-Friendly Wood

SmartWood-certified wood carries Olympic Flame for 2004 Summer Games

August 13, 2004

On Friday, August 13th, the Olympic flame signaling the beginning of the Athens 2004 Summer Games was lit on a torch made from environmentally and socially friendly wood certified by the Rainforest Alliance’s forestry program, SmartWood. The maple beech used to construct the torch handle is a native hardwood from New Zealand, supplied by Lindsay & Dixon, a SmartWood-certified forest company managing lands on the country’s southern island.

Photo courtesy of www.olympic.org The handles of the Athens 2004 Olympic torches are made from SmartWood-certified timber from New Zealand.

The torch made of certified wood has carried the flame to all cities that have previously hosted the summer Olympic Games, as well as other cities on its trek across the continents represented by the five Olympic rings. It traveled to Africa and South America for the first time in history, aiming to carry the message of peace and hope symbolized by its Greek olive leaf design to all of its destinations. All 12,000 official Olympic torches that replicate the Olympic flame’s contain Lindsay & Dixon’s SmartWood-certified maple beech wood.

“The use of sustainable wood for the torch holding the Olympic flame sends a clear message to the world’s citizens that we have a collective responsibility to conserve the world’s forests,” says Tensie Whelan, executive director of the Rainforest Alliance. “The high profile nature of the Olympic Games and this use of SmartWood-certified wood provide an incentive for more forestry companies to engage in responsible practices and set an example for us as consumers purchasing forest products.”

SmartWood certification is accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council and ensures that timber harvesting is ecologically and silviculturally sound, as well as socially and economically beneficial to local communities. Forestry certification provides retailers and consumers with a way to evaluate the origin of forest products and consider the impact of their purchases on the world’s forests, allowing them to choose wood from sustainably-managed forests.

Lindsay & Dixon achieved the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood certification in June, as a result of managing over 27,000 acres (11,000 hectares) of beech according to environmental and social standards that protect workers and wildlife. Only one in 56 trees of a particular size, or 1.8 percent of the forest resource, are harvested each year from their New Zealand forests.

“It was a great contract to win and an honor to be involved in the creation of such a prestigious global symbol,” said Bernie Lagan, managing director of Lindsay & Dixon. “The beautiful color and fine even texture of the native maple beech, along with its excellent turning and machining properties, were exactly what the designers were looking for to create these special torch handles.”

The Olympic flame returned to Greece on July 9 and continued its travels within Greece until the official lighting at the Athens Olympic Stadium on the evening of August 13.

Learn more about SmartWood.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international nonprofit organization founded to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests through independent forest management certification and marketplace labeling of certified forest products.

FSC has operations in over forty countries worldwide and serves as formal accreditor of forest certification programs such as SmartWood, ensuring consistent performance. More than 93.9 million acres (38 million hectares) of forestlands have been certified globally according to FSC standards. Information on the FSC can be found at www.fsc.org.