Feature story - 16 February, 2004
The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior discovered barges loaded with hundreds of logs soon to be exported from Indonesia and suspected to have been extracted illegally. The logs come from a region that includes the Tanjung Puting National Park -- home of dwindling numbers of orang-utans where logging is forbidden. Four activists from the UK, the Philippines, the US and Papua New Guinea displayed a banner with the message "Stop Forest Crime" on one of the log barges in central Kalimantan.
A Greenpeace campaigner watches as plywood is loaded on to a Maltese bulk carrier, The Greveno, anchored near the mouth of Lamandau River, on the west side of Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan
We have two ships now on patrol -- the Arctic Sunrise
in Chile and the Rainbow
Warrior off the coast of Kalimantan in Indonesia. Both are
documenting the continuing destruction of Ancient Forests, while
governments talk, and talk, and talk about the future of Life on
Earth at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
"We're doing the job that governments are failing to do," said
Stephen Campbell of Greenpeace, speaking from the Rainbow Warrior.
"The world's oceans and forests are in crisis but the international
community has failed to take serious steps in the 12 years since
the Rio summit to really protect life on earth."
The second week of the UN meeting of the Convention of
Biological Diversity starts today. Governments have not yet agreed
on concrete actions that will protect the Earth's biodiversity and
stop the ongoing destruction of ancient forests from illegal
logging.
About
80 percent of Indonesia's timber exports are illegal. Important
markets such as China, the EU and the USA import illegal rainforest
timber. Producer countries such as Papua New Guinea and Indonesia
are being logged illegally because of the demand for timber and the
lack of proper enforcement of Forestry legislation.
We are highlighting the plight of the world's last remaining
ancient forests and the depletion of the oceans during the summit
for life on Earth-the UN meeting of the Convention for Biological
Diversity- which is currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Governments have a responsibility to protect life in all its
diversity, indigenous people's rights and cultural variety. World
governments must invest in protection and ban large-scale
industrial activity in all sensitive areas, establishing a network
of land and marine protected areas with effective law enforcement
and management.
More information
See Video of this action in
Quicktime,
Windows Media, or
Real format.
Check out the live
weblog from the Rainbow Warrior, on forest patrol in
Indonesia.
Check out the live weblog
from the Arctic Sunrise, on forest patrol in Patagonia.
Take Action
Become a Forest
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