UK forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher said the talks had so far produced a positive feedback from publishers.

Fletcher said UK publishers were being asked to switch their paper stock to either Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper, or recycled paper containing post consumer waste.

A number of UK authors are supporting the initiative, including JK Rowling, Helen Fielding and Ian Rankin.

The talks came to light as 14 Dutch publishers pledged to switch their paper supply to recycled and FSC certified paper.

The announcement by the Dutch publishers follows a similar pledge by 67 Canadian publishers last year, including Random House Canada, to phase out the use of ancient forest fibre material from their books (PrintWeek, 9 October 2003).

Around 4.5m Canadian books have been printed on ancient forest friendly paper, including the Canadian edition of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The Dutch publishers, who include Archipel, Arena and Querido, represent approximately 75% of the Dutch fiction book market.

Fletcher said the Dutch move had set a precedent for other countries in Europe to follow.

Greenpeace claimed that the majority of book paper in the Netherlands is sourced from Scandinavian countries, which contain some of the last fragments of old growth forests in Europe.