Tropical Hardwoods or not?

This has been a controversial subject in the past on other fora, but I don't believe we have discussed it here.

So, should we buy tropical hardwoods?
If we do, then we are causing trees to be cut down in the tropics... and supporting the economies of those countries.
If we don't, then are those countries likely to burn them down to grow beef or cocaine?

I tend to go a bit swings and roundabouts on this, sometimes having no choice but to use it and then feeling guilty that I have.

I have just laid a subfloor in my downstairs bathroom. Its made of Malaysian/Philippine Meranti, so in a nation of forests, the one one that made available for this job has to be shipped halfway around the planet! But the job needed to be done so I put tropical plywood on my bathroom floor.

I late discovered that Meranti is actually a mixture of woods from the genus Shorea. And that one hundred and forty eight species of Shorea are currently listed on the IUCN Redlist. The majority of which are listed as being critically endangered... Major guilt here at the Sett..

I guess that the important thing is that these hardwood forests are managed sensitively and not clear cut (something that many are campaigning against here in Canada), however, I also recently read about approved forestry certificates being faked and clearcut timer being passed off as sustainable...

upshot - no idea, I think you can twist your brain in knots trying to do the right thing.