-------- Taiga Rescue Network International Coordination Centre --------
----------------- Ajtte--Svenskt Fjaell- Och Samemuseum ----------------
------------------- Box 116, S-962 23 Jokkmokk, Sweden -----------------
--- Tel: +46-971-17037 Fax: +46-971-12057 E-mail: kldahl@nn.apc.org --
For Immediate Release
Beware Of The "Taiga Terminators" - International Forest
Network Targets Companies Involved In Boreal Timber Trade
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Jokkmokk, Sweden--Today, Feb 22, 1995, publishers, magazines and trading
companies operating in Russia, Japan, Europe and North America will be
confronted by environmentalists, urging them to clean up their suppliers.
This is the start of an international campaign targeting sellers and
buyers of products contributing to the destruction of boreal forests. "Be
aware--most paper is contaminated with endangered species and loss of
their habitats. It may also be stolen goods--traditional lands of
indigenous peoples," reads a warning from the Taiga Rescue Network (see
note 1).
A main objective of the campaign is to reveal the "Taiga Terminators"--
the companies linking the expanding clearcuts in the north with the
ordinary newspaper reader. Information on a number of such connections is
included in a report (see note 2) on the production, consumption and trade
of boreal wood products, released today. The report stresses that the
driving force behind boreal forest exploitation is an ever increasing
paper consumption. According to industry experts, paper consumption will
continue to grow by another 70 percent over the next 15 years. The global
search for cheap raw materials keeps increasing the pressure on the
forests of the north.
One example is the Japanese Siberian Forest Development Project, involving
giants such as Mitsubishi and Marubeni, aimed at increasing Japan's
imports of clearcut timber from the Russian far East. "This is not a
responsible way to act when bans and restrictions limit the imports from
traditional suppliers, such as Indonesia and USA. We are just moving the
destruction to other parts of the world. Instead, Japanese companies
should direct their attention to efficient recycling programs and the
actual reduction of consumption", says Paul Careless of the Japan
Environmental Exchange who have been part of a demonstration in Tokyo this
morning.
"The conversion of Russia into a raw material colony for the multinational
timber corporations proceeds", says forestry expert Alexei Grigoriev from
the Socio-Ecological Union in Russia, launching the TRN campaign in
Washington D.C. One recent example is the U.S- Russian memorandum of
understanding, signed last summer. The deal supports the export of US$ 4
billion worth of Russian timber over the next five years. One of the areas
most likely to be targeted for logging is the remains of the unique Ussuri
Taiga in the Russian Far East.
"U.S. environmentalists are committed to ensuring that foreign companies
operating in Russia follow strict ecological guidelines. This means no
clearcutting, and no raw log exports," says David Gordon, co-director of
the Siberian Forest Protection Project, Pacific Environment and Resources
Center, California. London based Women's Environmental Network
demonstrates outside the Finnish Trade Center today: "If Finnish
Veitsiluoto do not stop buying old growth timber from Kuusamo and other
old growth forests, we will urge the publishing house IPC to cancel their
contracts," says Rowan Tilly. Greenpeace Germany has recently sent letters
to the four biggest magazine publishers, Springer, Burda, Gruener & Jahr
and Bauer: "The publishers must finally let deeds follow their prodigious
announcements," demands Greenpeace's forest expert Christoph Thies,
releasing the campaign in Hamburg. "The publishers must have their paper
suppliers guarantee that in the future they will not use any timber or
pulp from clearcuts. Otherwise they must cancel their contracts with these
paper manufacturers." "We want the world to know that the last old growth
forests in Scandinavia are being logged", says Sylvia Borg of Friends of
the Earth Netherlands. "Our message to Norske Skog and SCA, two main
suppliers, is to stop old growth forest logging. We will negotiate with
Dutch publishers and consumers until they do!" Gray Jones, Western Canada
Wilderness Committee, launching the Taiga Terminators campaign in Edmonton,
Canada, today says: "We stand behind the Lubicon Cree in their struggle
to defend their forest from Daishowa. We also turn our eyes towards the
largest on-line pulp mill in the world, the Al-Pac mill in Northern
Alberta. This mill is the flagship of Mitsubishi forest operations around
the world. In our opinion, it is the king of the Taiga Terminators."
Note 1: Taiga Rescue Network (TRN) is an international network of NGOs and
Indigenous Peoples and Nations working for the protection and sustainable
us of the Boreal Forests. It was founded 1992 at an international
conference in Jokkmokk , Northern Sweden. 130 organisations , primarily in
the boreal countries (Canada, Russia, Alaska/U.S., Scandinavia) and main
consumer countries (Germany, U.K., the Netherlands, U.S., Japan) are
formal participants of the network today. TRN has one international
Coordination Center located in Jokkkmokk, Sweden.
Note 2: "The Taiga Trade - a report on the production, consumption and
trade of boreal wood products" and the pamphlet "The Taiga Terminators"
can be requested from the TRN Coordination Center For more information:
Taiga Rescue Network: Karin Lindahl, international co-ordinator, TRN
Coordination Centre, Jokkmokk Sweden, Tel: +46-971-17039
Canada: Gray Jones, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Edmonton, Tel:
+1-403-433-5323.
England: Rowan Tilly, Womens Environmental Network, London, Tel:
+44-71-3548823
Finland: Sari Kuvaja, Greenpeace Finland, Tel: +358-0-661992
Germany: Christoph Thies, Greenpeace Germany, Hamburg, Tel:
+49-40-31186175, Rudolf Fenner, Robin Wood, Hamburg, Tel: +49-40-3909556
Japan: Paul Careless, Japan Environmental Exchange, Tokyo, Tel:
+81-3-34492498
Norway: Gjermund Andersen, Norwegian Society for Nature Conservation, Oslo,
Tel: +47-22383520
Russia: Alexei Grigoriev, Hotel Lombardy, Washington, Tel: +1-202-828-2600
Sweden: Jonas Rudberg, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm,
Tel:+46-8-7026513
The Netherlands: Sylvia Borg, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Amsterdam,
Tel : +31-20-6221366
U.S.: David Gordon, Pacific Environment and Resources Center, San
Francisco, +1-415-332-8200
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