Greenpeace activists abseiled off the top of the Crowne Plaza hotel in Port Moresby, where delegates were gathering for the start of the 42nd International Tropical Timber Organization’s (ITTO) committee meeting, and unfurled a banner which read 'ITTO Stop Forest Destruction' in an effort to make sure they stick to their goal to make all tropical timber come from sustainably managed forests by 2000. Unless something is done now to stop wholesale forest destruction there may be nothing left to save. Instead of more talk the ITTO’s members need to take action to protect the world’s last ancient forests.
Dutch climber Erik Birkhoff said, "Greenpeace wants the ITTO to
do more to stop forest destruction in the world's tropical
forests."
The protection of large expanses of rainforest has become a
global issue and was identified by the IPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) last week as one of the most
cost-effective ways to mitigate against climate change.
Greenpeace is highlighting the issue of tropical forest
destruction as representatives from governments meet at the 42nd
ITTO meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, a country with
serious illegal and destructive logging issues, to challenge the
ITTO's members to protect rather than trade away the planet's last
ancient forests. (1)
A diagnostic report on PNG by the ITTO concluded that the PNG
Forest Authority (PNGFA) is doing nothing on ensuring sustainable
forest management and is focussed "almost exclusively on
exploitation of the forest resource for the primary financial
benefit of the national government."(2)
"Greenpeace wants the ITTO to do more to stop forest destruction
in PNG," said Sam Moko, Greenpeace PNG forest campaigner and
climber. "Our Government has done nothing to protect our forests.
They and the forest industry are more interested in short term
financial gain rather than thinking about the future for our
children."
The ITTO was formed to find a balance between tropical forest
conservation and sustainable management, use and trade of tropical
forest resources. However the world's tropical forests, including
the Amazon, Congo and the Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific continue
to be logged at alarming rates.
In 1990, the ITTO set a goal, "Objective 2000", to ensure that
the trade in tropical timber comes from sustainably managed forests
by 2000. As of June 2006, according to the ITTO's own assessment,
less than 5 per cent of tropical forests were under sustainable
management.(3)
"By its own admission the ITTO is failing, in the 20 years it
has been operating forest degradation and loss due to logging has
accelerated in ITTO member countries rather than being brought
under control," said Greenpeace New Zealand Forest Campaigner Grant
Rosoman. "This is a spectacular failure and points to the
underlying aim of the ITTO members - the continued exploitation of
forests for the trade in tropical timber."
Tropical forests are some of the most bio-diverse ecosystems on
the planet and are home to millions of people who rely on them for
their subsistence and survival. They are also an essential carbon
reservoir and their continued destruction is contributing to
climate change. Up to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions come from
tropical forest clearance.(4)
Since the ITTO announced its "Objective 2000" the world's
tropical forests have come under increased pressure from illegal
and destructive logging as well as massive clearance for
agricultural crops such as soya and oil palm.
Sixty per cent of PNG's large intact ancient forests have
already been destroyed (5) and Greenpeace estimates that over 90
per cent of logging in PNG is illegal. Between August 2000 and
August 2005 the Amazon lost 12.8 million hectares of forest. (6)
Indonesia was last week confirmed as a Guinness World Record holder
for destroying its forests at the fastest rate and the Democratic
Republic of Congo risks losing up to 40 per cent of its forests by
2050.(7)
"Unless something is done now to stop wholesale forest
destruction there may be nothing left to save. Instead of more talk
the ITTO's members need to take action to protect the world's last
ancient forests," said Mr Rosoman.
"We are calling on governments of forest countries to
immediately implement moratoria on the expansion of industrial
logging and set up a network of protected forest areas. Governments
of market countries must implement legislation to ensure that their
markets are not trading in illegal and destructive timber
products."
Other contacts: In Port Moresby: GMT +10 Media Officer, Tiy Chung +675 321 5954 or +675 698 6712 (m) Campaigner, Val Philips +675 321 5954 In New Zealand: GMT +12 Campaigner, Grant Rosoman +64 3 382 5476 or +64 21 428 415 (m)
Notes: 1) The 42nd ITTC meeting runs from May 7 to 11, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The members of the ITTO include all the major countries with forests and all the major forest product consuming countries. 2) ITTO, April 2007, “Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000 and Sustainable Forest Management in Papua New Guinea: Report of the Diagnostic Mission. – Executive Summary” http://www.itto.or.jp/live/PageDisplayHandler?pageId=179&id;=3227 3) ITTO, 2005. “Status of tropical forest management 2005” http://www.itto.or.jp/live/PageDisplayHandler?pageId=270 4) Houghton, RA (2003) Revised estimates of the annual net flux of carbon to the atmosphere from changes in land use and land management 1850 – 2000. Tellus 55B: 378-90; & Houghton, RA (2005a) Tropical Deforestation as a source of greenhouse emissions. 5) Roadmap to Recovery, Greenpeace International, 2006 (www.intactforests.org) 6) INPE (Brazilian Institute on Space Research), Program for Deforestation Assessment in the Brazilian Legal Amazonia using remote sensing images and digital image processing techniques (PRODES), http://www.obt.inpe.br/prodes/prodes_1988_2005.htm 7) Greenpeace International, April 2007. ‘Carving up the Congo’. http://www.greenpeace.org/congoreport
Exp. contact date: 2008-03-07 00:00:00