Zweitgrößter Regenwald der Welt soll gerodet werden: Weltbank gefährdet größte Urwälder Afrikas

09.07.04

Nach Angaben der Naturschutzorgansiation Pro Wildlife will die Weltbank 60 Millionen Hektar Regenwald der Demokratischen Republik Kongo für den kommerziellen Holzeinschlag öffnen. Von diesem Wald seien 35 Millionen Menschen abhängig, betont Sandra Altherr, Sprecherin von Pro Wildlife. Die Weltbank und die Interimsregierung des Kongo vereinbarten, die gesamte Waldfläche des Landes in Nutzungskategorien aufzuteilen. Dieser Prozess soll bereits im Oktober 2004 abgeschlossen sein. Bis dahin ist ein Rodungsmoratorium vereinbart...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8874

Robin Wood Initiative zeigt Erfolg

08.07.04

Auf Druck der Umweltschutzorganisation Robin Wood hat EDEKA Tropenholzmöbel aus Vietnam und Indonesien aus dem Sortiment genommen. Robin Wood hatte Kontakt mit EDEKA aufgenommen, nachdem Aktivisten in diesem Frühjahr in Filialen des Unternehmens Merantiholz-Gartenmöbel aus Vietnam gefunden hatten. Jedem Möbelstück lag ein so genanntes "ITTO-Zertifikat" bei. Das Kürzel steht für International Tropical Timber Organisation. Diese Organisation wurde zur Förderung des Tropenholzhandels gegründet und zertifiziert gar keine Produkte...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8858

July 07, 2004

Under the guise of preventing forest fires, the Bush administration is planning the biggest timber sale on public lands in modern history. The Biscuit Project would allow logging of 372 million board feet of timber across 30 square miles of southwest Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest—enough timber to fill 70,000 logging trucks. The logging would be done on wildlands of uncommon beauty and ecological diversity, far from any community that could be damaged in a fire.

"It's the biggest logging sale since World War II," says Steve Holmer, communications director with the Unified Forest Defense Campaign, a coalition of national and regional conservation organizations. "Timber companies have made huge contributions to the Bush campaign. This project is political payback."

Holmer tells BushGreenwatch that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) initially proposed a much smaller project. "When the Forest Service first started looking at the area, they planned maybe a 100 million board feet sale." That changed once Mark Rey, formerly a top lobbyist for the timber industry who is now the administration's undersecretary for natural resources and environment in the Department of Agriculture, began to work on the sale.

Conservationists will "fight tooth and nail" against sales in roadless areas and old-growth reserves, but may support some careful logging in the areas in between, called "matrix lands," says Holmer.

The Biscuit Logging Project may violate federal forest protection rules. Some areas are protected under the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule, while the huge size of the project may violate the Northwest Forest Plan, also adopted during the Clinton administration. [1] Moreover, logging will disqualify 48,000 acres of the Siskiyou from consideration as federal wilderness area.

In an unusual step, the USFS has granted "emergency exemptions" to 11 sales included in the project. These exemptions enable the USFS to allow logging to begin immediately after issuing its final plan for each sale, even though there is usually a waiting period required for public appeal.

Holmer sees politics in this rush to cut. "This is an election year. Oregon was a close state in the last election. The Bush administration is using the Biscuit Project to show they've come up with a solution to the fire issue." There is also an economic factor. "If the trees aren't cut soon, they'll rot to the point of losing economic value. If they're not logged this summer, [the timber companies] will pretty much lose their chance."

The areas encompassed by the Biscuit Project were burned in the 2002 "Biscuit Fire," the largest forest fire in Oregon's history. Fire is an intrinsic part of the ecology of western forests, and the Siskiyou has already begun to regenerate. [2] The burned trees are ecologically essential to the area's recovery, and sit on some of the Siskiyou's wildest and most fragile acres--including old-growth reserves, steep streambanks and riverbanks, and salmon spawning grounds.

In addition to being one of the largest public lands logging sales in history, the Biscuit Logging Project may be one of the most expensive to taxpayers, ultimately costing the public over $34 million.

"There are costs to preparing a sale," says Holmer. "The Forest Service has to build roads. Or if it's logging with helicopters, you've got to create landing pads, 2-acre clearcuts. Also, salvage timber sells at 25-percent of green timber. It's the same wood, same volume, at fire sale prices. The timber industry gets a huge windfall because it's a salvage project."

Holmer emphasizes the survival of the forest—a shelter for wildlife and wild rivers—is at stake.

"Under the Clinton administration, the Siskiyou was almost made a national monument. It's an area of unparalleled biological diversity, home to rare species that exist only in this region, clean water for salmon, and very important to the local tourism and recreation industry. If there was going to be a new national park on the west coast, the Siskiyou would be a prime candidate."



TAKE ACTION
You can call your US Senators at 202-224-3121 and let them know what you think of this timber sale. To find out who your Senators are you can go to: http://www.senate.gov



SOURCES:
[1] "Biscuit Salvage: Biggest Timber Sale in History," The Wilderness Society:
http://www.wilderness.org/WhereWeWork/Oregon/BiscuitSalvage.cfm
[2] Ibid.

http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000150.php

July 5, 2004

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Glen Barry, Ph.D., Forests.org

Below you will find a remarkable statement of support for the World's endangered forests from ForestEthics. They are asking that your group endorse the statement in order to demonstrate to companies that there is broad support for the protection of endangered forests. For some time I had hoped to develop a similar "forest conservation manifesto" that details an end-game for halting the loss and beginning the restoration of the world's mature natural forests. Global ecological sustainability of both species and ecosystems is utterly dependent upon forests. I encourage forest conservationists to reject incremental reform which saves a bit here and there at the expense of legitimizing continued forest loss and diminishment. The world's remaining ancient old-growth and primary forests must ALL be protected. Anything less fails to address systematic ecocide of humanity's habitat. Let us commit to protection of all remaining endangered forests - and the shifts in consumer behavior, finance and economics, and politics and society required to make this happen. Please join ForestEthics in urging corporations to make commitments to stop using, selling, and buying products that contain Endangered Forests. I am very interested in developing and implementing strategies to make this a reality - input and discussion on the topic is welcome at http://forests.org/web/
g.b.

--------

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Sign-on to for the protection of endangered forests
Source: Liz Butler, ForestEthics
Date: June 29, 2004

To sign on to the statement of support below, please send me the organization name, a contact person, a street address, a phone number and an email address. Send the info to liz@forestethics.org.

To: Organizations concerned about endangered forests
From: Liz Butler, ForestEthics
Re: Sign-on to for the protection of endangered forests

We need your organization's help to save critical endangered forests. I am writing to ask your organization to sign-on to an international statement of support for the protection of endangered forests.

Right now, endangered forests from around the globe are ending up on store shelves. They are coming from the forests of the US, the Canadian Boreal, Chile, Indonesia, and many other countries around the globe.

There are many organizations involved and working very hard to protect these forests. A majority of these groups are working at the local, regional and national level to change legislative and administrative policies that affect these endangered forests.

A set of organizations including ForestEthics have been focused on getting companies to make commitments to stop buying & selling endangered forests. This has been very successful over the last five years. Companies such as Staples, Home Depot, Kinko's, Ryland homes, and many others have agreed to stop the destruction of endangered forests.

We have been able to leverage these commitments to help save endangered forests. In a number of cases these companies have used their influence with the logging companies and governments to work towards stopping the destruction of endangered forests in British Columbia, Chile, and the US.

We need your help to continue to show companies that there is broad support for the protection of endangered forests and that organizations are paying attention to corporate actions on endangered forests. The statement of support for the protection of Endangered Forests will help them see that many organizations think that it is important for companies to make a commitment to protect endangered forests.

I hope that you will sign on your organization on to the statement of support for the protection Endangered Forests.

To sign on to the statement of support, please send me the organization name, a contact person, a street address, a phone number and an email address. Send the info to liz@forestethics.org.

I would also like ideas of other groups to contact about the statement. If you have thoughts about local, state, regional, national, or international groups that you think would sign on to the statement of support please send me the name of the group, a contact, and how to get in touch with them.

If you have questions or want more information let me know.

Liz Butler ForestEthics 301-864-3244 or liz@forestethics.org

--------

Statement of Support for the Protection of Endangered Forests

We, the undersigned organizations, representing people of conscience globally, are deeply concerned about the destruction of Endangered Forests around the globe.

Endangered Forests are the most valuable forests remaining on the Earth today. They are humanity's last chance to protect large original and old growth forests, and the planet's rapidly-disappearing biodiversity.

Endangered Forests include:
. intact forest landscapes (also known as Frontier Forests),
. restoration and remnant forest types,
. areas with exceptional biodiversity values (e.g., rare forest types, forests exhibiting high endemism or species richness), and;
. core habitat of focal conservation species.

Endangered forests in need of protection are found around the world. They include the endangered forests of US public lands, the Southern US Cumberland Plateau, the Canadian Boreal, the Amazon rainforests, British Columbia Inland rainforest, Chile's siempre verde forests, Indonesia, and others.

Endangered Forests are so rare, threatened or ecologically vulnerable, and are of such global biological importance that industrial resource extraction in Endangered Forests causes them irreparable harm.

We are alarmed that the world's Endangered Forests are being destroyed to make lumber, catalogs, office paper, packaging, windows, doors and many other products. These products, made by global corporations, end up on store shelves and in the mailboxes of people in the US and around the globe.

These corporations have customers that care about endangered forests. These customers must be educated about the products made from endangered forests, and encouraged to take actions that cause these companies to change the way they do business.

We call for the protection of Endangered Forests. We urge corporations to make commitments to stop using, selling, and buying products that contain Endangered Forests. We expect these products to be replaced with alternatives such as post consumer recycled paper and third party independently certified wood.

Humanity must act urgently to ensure that the global treasure of our Endangered Forests will be here for future generations of people and all creation.


Organization ____________________________________

Contact ____________________________

Title __________________________

Phone____________________________

email ____________________________

Address_____________________________________

City _____________________

State ________

zip _______________

website ______________________________


Liz Butler
Organizing Director/ForestEthics
301-864-3244p/202-487-4908c
liz@forestethics.org/
4208 32nd street
Mount Rainier, MD 20712
http://www.forestethics.org

Close to 6,300 emails already sent to Bauhaus AG - one of Europe's leading "Do it Yourself" retail stores operating in more than 10 countries.

Thanks to pressure from Passport holders, WWF has, for the first time, been invited by Bauhaus AG to meet with their CEO, Mr Stefan Wolsiffer.

WWF has for several years been seeking a dialogue with Bauhaus AG, to encourage them to promote good forestry practices and help combat illegal logging.

While this is a great first step, Bauhaus AG is yet to answer your critical questions - which we need to evaluate the company.

We'll update you following our meeting with Bauhaus AG in July, and announce the winner of our FSC-certified table! Read more

http://news.panda.org/cgi-bin1/flo/y/hbjl0DZ3EE0E8z0CLUb0Ax

28.06.2004

Pro REGENWALD warnt vor dem Kauf illegaler Hölzer

Pressemitteilung vom 25.06.2004

Pro REGENWALD warnt die VerbraucherInnen vor dem Kauf von Gartenmöbeln im Internet. Recherchen der Münchner Umweltorganisation ergaben, daß fast keiner der Anbieter nachweisen kann, die angebotenen Teak-Möbel aus nachhaltigen Quellen bezogen zu haben. Für die im Online-Handel üblichen Billigangebote wird in der Regel Holz aus Raubbau verwendet, das oft sogar aus illegalem Holzeinschlag und -handel stammt.

“Die Anbieter garantieren nicht dafür, daß das Holz aus nachhaltiger und legaler Produktion kommt. Sie profitieren dabei auch von der Untätigkeit der EU und der Bundesregierung, die bis heute kein gesetzliches Importverbot für illegale Hölzer erlassen haben,” sagte Pro REGENWALD-Sprecher László Maráz.

Mit einer Aktion vor einer Filiale der Drogeriemarktkette Rossmann protestierte Pro REGENWALD am Freitag gegen den Verkauf von Teakholz-Gartenmöbeln. Seit mehr als zwei Wochen ist die Firma nicht in der Lage glaubwürdige Angaben zur Herkunft der Hölzer zu machen. Die indonesischen Teakplantagen, aus denen das Holz angeblich kommt, werden seit Jahren geplündert und übernutzt, illegaler Holzeinschlag ist auch dort an der Tagesordnung.

Die Firma Rossmann ist kein Einzelfall: Im Online-Handel werden massenweise Gartenmöbel aus Hölzern wie Bangkirai, Yellow Balau, Meranti (Shorea), Iroko und Teakholz angeboten. In der Herkunftsländern Südostasiens und Afrikas geht der illegale Holzeinschlag unvermindert weiter, in Indonesien gelten über 80 Prozent des Holzeinschlages und handels als illegal!

Pro REGENWALD fordert die EU und die Bundesregierung auf, dem illegalen Treiben mit einem sofortigen gesetzlichen Importverbot zu begegnen. Dies würde nicht nur den Schutz der Regenwälder fördern, sondern auch die wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungschancen der Menschen in den Exportländern verbessern.

Weitere Informationen zu Raubbauholz und Appell für Maßnahmen gegen den Handel mit illegalen Hölzern auf http://www.wald.org/was_tun
Pro REGENWALD letzte Änderung: 28 Jun 2004

29.06.04

AktivistInnen der Umweltschutzorganisation Robin Wood protestierten am Dienstag in zahlreichen Städten vor Filialen von Galeria Kaufhof und Real gegen den Verkauf von Papier, für das Regenwälder zerstört wurden und verteilten Flugblätter an die KundInnen. Robin Wood fordert von der Metro, der Muttergesellschaft der beiden Kaufhäuser, auf den Handel mit Papier aus Urwaldzerstörung zu verzichten und alle Geschäftsbeziehungen mit Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), dem Lieferanten des Tropenwald-Papiers, sofort abzubrechen. Außerdem soll die Metro die Herkunft ihres gesamten Papiersortiments überprüfen, um sicherzustellen, dass dafür keine Urwälder zerstört werden und mehr Produkte aus Recyclingpapier anbieten...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8787

29.06.04

Der deutsch-schweizerische Holzkonzern Danzer soll Schmiergelder an Beamte in Zentralafrika und in Kamerun gezahlt haben. Das berichtet die Umweltorganisation Greenpeace. Darüber hinaus kaufe die Danzer Tochterfirma Interholco wissentlich Holz von der kamerunischen Firma MMG, die Holz unerlaubt einschlage. Greenpeace beruft sich dabei auf einen firmeninternen Bericht über eine Dienstreise zu den Partnerfirmen in Afrika, der von einem der beiden Interholco Geschäftsführer, René Giger, geschrieben sei und Greenpeace vorliege...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8777

By CHRIS KAHN
Associated Press Writer

Published June 26, 2004

JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST, Va. -- The wide net on which they'd defy the government was at least 80 feet above the forest floor, tied at the corners to sturdy trees. Several women hooted with excitement as they shinnied up ropes and took their seats.

When the loggers come, as expected sometime this year, the women and possibly a hundred more environmental activists say they'll be ready. Tree-sitting nets like this can be installed within minutes.

"Water and food can be towed up after everyone gets in," said veteran tree-sitter Inez DeLoach of Seattle, who instructed would-be protesters at a weeklong "action" camp earlier this month.

Such West Coast tactics are a rarity in this part of the country, but after losing a federal court fight against a plan to trim 618 acres in Jefferson National Forest, Southern environmentalists say it may be time to get more aggressive.

"We don't want this kind of action unless as a last resort," said Steve Brooks, spokesman for the Clinch Coalition, a group of about 40 activists in southwest Virginia that invited organizations including Earth First! to the camp. "But at some point, it's necessary."

Local groups have been trying to stop the Bark Camp timber sale since it was proposed in 1997. The mountainous region is corrugated with rivers and streams that give sanctuary to 27 federally protected aquatic species and 29 types of rare mussels.

After residents along the Clinch River blamed timber cutting for mud slides and flooding in 2001, the Forest Service agreed to reduce the harvest by a quarter. But the district ranger who supervises the area around the timber sale said the government will not bend to confrontational tactics by environmental groups.

"They're using threats to demoralize and intimidate us and other locals," said District Ranger Doug Jones, who dealt with Earth First! and others while working for the Forest Service in Utah. "I'm afraid these loggers are getting the fear of God put in them. Someone needs to stand up for them too."

This fall, the government will put the first 170 acres up for sale in the "Joel Branch" part of the forest. Forest Service spokeswoman JoBeth Brown said the logging company that wins the contract will have three years to build roads and cut trees that the Forest Service preselected to build habitat.

Meanwhile, Forest Service officers and local police will monitor the logging for protests, Brown said. "If they're breaking the law, we'll take action."

The Ruffed Grouse Society, a Pittsburgh-based conservation group that receives funding from the timber industry, supports the Forest Service plan.

"There's probably 70 species of just songbirds that require young forest habitat," said Mark Banker, a wildlife biologist who works for the group. "And the only way to create that habitat is to cut trees and let the little ones grow back."

Those arguments didn't sway any of the activists interviewed at the action camp. Logging contracts, many of them said, were simply ways for the government to subsidize the timber industry.

"There's another name for it: 'corporate welfare,"' Brooks said.

The government "could make more money from supporting recreation in the forest," 18-year-old Meghan O'Dea added while dangling from a poplar tree in her climber's harness. "Look at all the hiking trails around here."

About 100 people attended the action camp, squatting under tarps in the intermittent rain as camp leaders lectured about the history of nonviolent protests and how to delay loggers by blocking roads.

Most didn't live in the region, but instead learned about Bark Camp through Web sites and friends. Andrew George, the campaign coordinator with the National Forest Protection Alliance, said environmental groups around the country are taking notice of the Clinch Coalition's fight in the Jefferson.

"The movement is rallying around these folks," said George, of Chapel Hill, N.C. "Bark Camp is becoming one of our highest priorities."

Still, many local environmentalists aren't sure whether they'll follow through with the protest. Officially, the Clinch Coalition will probably stay out of anything illegal, Brooks said, though some members are willing.

"I'm prepared to put my body and my life on the line," said John King, a professional kayaker and coalition member who lives in Wise.

Brooks said it's likely that if a protest develops, Earth First! members would do most of the tree sitting while Clinch members helped from below.

"We can't climb a tree, but we can hug a tree," said 63-year-old Nancy Ward, a member who lives several miles from the action camp. Ward and her husband, Otis, 68, traveled to the camp every day, bringing corn bread and cabbage casserole to the weary campers.

Otis Ward, an avid hunter, blames logging for scaring away many of the wild turkeys, deer and owls from the region. He hopes that the government realizes how many citizens are against the plan.

"This is our last stand," Otis Ward said. "If they don't listen, we'll have to show them."


On the Net:

http://www.clinchcoalition.org/
http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/

End ADV for June 26-27

Copyright ©2004 The Daily Press

http://tinyurl.com/2ydfo



Informant: Deane T. Rimerman

Stand: 24.06.2004

Aktion - Handelt die Drogeriemarktkette Rossmann mit Raubbauholz?

23.06.2004

Die bisherige Kundeninformationen der Drogeriemarktkette Rossmann zur Herkunft der angebotenen Tropenholzmöbel ist mehr Augenwischerei als Beleg für eine nachhaltig bewirtschaftete Holzproduktion.

http://www.pro-regenwald.de/index2.php?p=new_ross.php