Feature story - April 12, 2006
Our ships, the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise, were making waves this winter in the Southern Ocean confronting Japanese whalers. Now, all eyes are on the third member of our fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, as it takes on a company responsible for forest destruction.
Indonesia's forests are being destroyed faster than any other on Earth and at least 76 percent of the logging is illegal. Our research has shown that one of Indonesia's largest logging companies, Kayu Lapis Indonesia (KLI), is responsible for much of the illegal logging.
For weeks, the Rainbow Warrior has been on "Forest Crime Patrol" in Indonesia's waters. Today our activists sprang into action - unfurling a banner in front of the ship Ardhianto. The Ardhianto is carrying plywood equivalent of up to 4,500 trees - logged from KLI's Henrison Iriana mill in Sorong. We know that this mill received timber from dubious and potentially illegal sources in recent years.
"KLI and a handful of other logging companies have already wiped out much of the Paradise Forests. If they carry on logging at these rates, they will destroy all of Indonesia's large intact forests within 20 years," said Greenpeace forests campaigner, Hapsoro. "To protect these and other ancient forests from companies like this, governments of countries that produce timber must work together with countries that import wood products, to ban the trade in illegal and destructively logged timber."
We're asking KLI for proof that all timber entering its mills is from legal, well-managed sources and to provide documents that show exactly where each tree was cut to make sure they are from responsible logging operations and not from pristine forest areas.
Take Action!
Although this destruction seems a world away, the illegal wood is being sold right here in America. Contact Argo Fine Imports - the largest U.S. importer of KLI's plywood and use your power as a consumer to demand that Argo sever its relationship with the illegal loggers NOW.