Historically, Britain has been profligate with its own natural forestry resources. It is only relatively recently that we started to romanticise woodland as a vital part of the landscape, a totem of our heritage to be protected.

Meanwhile, our appetite for timber in the building trade, in furniture for homes and gardens and for pulp in paper is undiminished. Reluctant to chop down any more of our own precious trees, we solve the problem – as do many countries – by chopping down other people's.

A report in today's Observer reveals the devastating impact this trade is having on Indonesian Borneo. Demand for logs, combined with land clearance to make way for palm oil plantations, is stripping away rainforest and laying waste to a fragile ecosystem. Although the trade is supposed to be regulated, illicit "timber mafias" operate relatively freely by a combination of corruption and intimidation. Local communities do not share in the economic bounty as their natural resource wealth is exported, while uncontrolled deforestation increases the risk of flooding and soil erosion.

Meanwhile, the loss of peat swamp and forest cover reduces absorption of carbon dioxide and contributes to climate change.

Although global economic forces are at work, consumers are not powerless to effect change. A campaign by the international charity WWF is encouraging shoppers to buy only products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. It is possible for retailers to stock wood and paper products sourced from sustainably logged timber. A few already do, but it takes consumer demand to push the rest.

British retailers are increasingly aware of the hidden costs of cruel and unsustainable practices in food and clothing industries. Conscientious shoppers have driven those changes. The same pressure must be applied to wood and paper products. No one claims these battles are won on the high street alone, but that is where they must begin.