Less than a hundred years ago, the Vuling classes ventured into the African jungle to shoot wild animals at point blank range. On one famous expedition in 1909, ex-US President Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit shot a grand total of 1100 animals, including 11 elephants, 20 rhinos, 17 lions, 20 zebra, seven hippos, seven giraffes and six buffalo. A big hunt indeed. We are now living in a more enlightened age. Today's equivalent of a big game hunter is a quantity surveyor from Oxford called Guy Austin. Last month he trekked deep into the East African jungle, not to bag an elephant, but to source sustainable hardwood timber for the new High Commission building in Kampala, Uganda, due to be completed in February 2005. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office stipulates that all timber specified for its buildings be legal and sustainably sourced. The criteria proved problematic for Austin, a partner at construction consultant Ridge, as international conservation organisations claim that no sustainable timber exists in Uganda. This had cost implications for Austin as the local builder Cementers' quote for the contract had priced the timber on the assumption that it would be sourced locally.
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