Press release - 16 February, 2004
The Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, today announced the discovery of several barges loaded with hundreds of logs soon to be exported from Indonesia. The logs come from a region that includes the Tanjung Puting National Park and are suspected to have been extracted illegally. Four activists from the UK, the Philippines, the USA and Papua New Guinea displayed a banner with the message "Stop Forest Crime" on one of the log barges in central Kalimantan.
Greenpeace identifies suspected illegal logs on a barge off the coast of central Kalimantan in Indonesia. These logs came from an area including the Tanjung Puting National Park -- home of dwindling numbers of orang-utans where logging is forbidden.
Greenpeace is now on patrol off the coast of Kalimantan
documenting the continuing destruction of the region's forests,
while governments discuss 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 International, 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 % of Indonesia's timber exports are illegal. Important
markets such as China, the EU and the USA import illegal rainforest
timber. Producer countries 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.
Greenpeace is 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 . Greenpeace is urging governments to protect life
in all its diversity, indigenous people's rights and cultural
variety by providing money for protection of life on land and sea.
World governments must also ban large-scale industrial activity in
all sensitive areas and establish a network of land and marine
protected areas with effective law enforcement and management.
VVPR info: John Novis, Photo Desk, +31 653 81 91 21 Michael Nagasaka, Video Production, +31 646 166 309
Notes: Ancient forests are home to up to 80% of the world's terrestrial diversity of plant and animal species. Millions of indigenous peoples and traditional forest dwellers depend on these forests for their livelihoods and culture. But ancient forests do not only provide goods and services to local people. They provide freshwater for millions of people living in cities far away from these forests. Forests also regulate and maintain hydrological and atmospheric cycles on a global level. Many international pharmaceutical products are based on genetic resources and species from ancient forests.