Greenpeace activists climb onboard the timber transport vessel TRADCO in Ravenna harbour, Italy.
The timber on board comes from the rainforests of the Congo
Basin in
Central Africa. The Congo Basin forms the last big intact
forests of
Africa, a region of very high ecological value upon which many
forest dwelling communities depend.
Italy is a major importer of timber coming from African
rainforest
destruction. Industrial logging in Africa is often carried out
in a
highly destructive way and illegal logging is rampant in the
entire
region. Logging often creates major social conflicts and it is
the
driving factor for the commercial bushmeat trade in the region,
which is now rapidly wiping out endangered animals such as forest
elephants, chimpanzees and lowland gorillas. Italy is doing very
little to prevent such imports, especially from companies involved
in this deliberate destruction.
"Now that Italy will soon have the EU presidency - they should
use
this important opportunity to clean up the timber trade.
European
governments should only use timber coming from sustainably
managed
forests and introduce new EU legislation to ban the trade in
illegally harvested timber," said Sergio Baffoni, Greenpeace
Forests Campaigner.
Today's activity in Italy is the latest in a series of actions
currently taking place all over Europe to stop the trade in timber
from ancient forest destruction and to call for a ban on the
European trade in illegally harvested timber.
"As crazy as it may seem, European governments currently have no
legal tools whatsoever to prevent timber that has been logged
illegally, from entering our market," stated Baffoni.
The destruction of the world's last ancient forests robs local
peoples of the resources needed for their survival. Greenpeace is
campaigning to protect the world's remaining ancient forests by
promoting ecologically sustainable and social responsible forest
use and the establishment of protected areas. Protected forest
areas are dedicated to the conservation of their biological
diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and
are established and managed respecting traditional land rights -
particularly those of indigenous peoples. They are protected from
road building and industrial activities.
VVPR info: Video available on +31 629 00 11 35Photographs available on +31 629 00 11 62