SKEPHI NGO NETWORK FOR FOREST CONSERVATION IN INDONESIA THE EUROPEAN SUPPORT OFFICE AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS IFAW INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE THE TROPICAL RAINFOREST PROGRAM BRUSSELS, BELGIUM ------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ------------------------------------------------------------------ TO NATIONAL, FOREIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS DESTRUCTIVE INDONESIAN OVERSEAS LOGGING REVEALED BRUSSELS, May 9, Destructive Indonesian logging in Surinam is being exposed in a report today, after more than three years of social and environmental anxiety both in the country itself and within the international community concerning the fate of a part of the pristine forests in the Guyana Shield. The Report: Asian Forestry Incursions, Report on N.V. MUSA Indo- Surinam is a joint-action by SKEPHI, an Indonesian environmental NGO and The Tropical Rainforest Program of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The brochure is also a formal report by SKEPHI to the Indonesian government. Through the publication of the findings both organizations seek attention both from national governments and the international community on the current trend of logging in the world by Asian companies. For some years now, Malaysian and Indonesian companies have been making investment manouvers in order to obtain extensive logging concessions in many economically vulnerable countries, which are in desperate need of some foreign exchange. The report focuses on the activities of MUSA, the Indonesian logging company, an example of the Asian-styled logging currently seen in many countries in Africa, Central and South America, Mainland Southeast Asia, South Pacific and even in eastern Europe. While natural forests in SE Asia have decreased to a critical state, the timber industry (plywood, pulp and paper) in Malaysia and Indonesia is ever ambitioning market expansion. The report contains startling facts, making its reader wonder how such forestry activity is still possible today in an era in which many international meetings, agreements and organizations have been called on and established to deal with the rapid destruction of the world's forests. MUSA, at every stage of its works to obtain forest concessions in Surinam, has been full of greed, deceit and bluffs, e.g.: - Attempting to obtain approximately 9 million hectares of concessions out of Surinam’s entire 14 million hectare land area, by declaring to invest US $ 1,5 billion. - Attempting to bypass Surinam's parliamentary approval, it has designed and registered no less than sixty nine "phantom companies" with the aim of obtaining logging rights of 150.000 hectares each. - MUSA's own documents and statements have disclosed the involvement of prominent Surinamese and Indonesian public figures, such as the former Surinam Minister of Social Affairs, military rulers and the former Indonesian Ambassador to Surinam. - Suggesting to the Surinam government that its investment conforms to the concerns of the Indonesian Head of State and that it will help Surinam to develop. - Illegal logging, commissioned by MUSA has been taking place in scientific and forestry experimental plots, known as "CELOS" plots. Between 1993 and 1996, the case of Surinam’s rainforests has not only caught ample attention from the international media and many non-governmental organizations, but also from many governments such as the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, as well as from international institutions: the European Union and Inter-American Development Bank. As the authors of the report note, both Surinam and Indonesia, as members of the Non-Alignment Movement, strongly emphasize brotherhood, solidarity and non-exploitative principles in their relationship. Both countries have been seen consolidating their diplomatic relation. Statements of intentions regarding development co-operation between these countries - made after MUSA has set foot in Surinam- , may remain empty rhetoric, even cynical, if such acitivities by MUSA are allowed to continue. SKEPHI's report makes a number of concrete recommendations. It has appealed to both the Indonesian and Surinam government to put an end to MUSA’s forestry acivities. For more information, contact the SKEPHI Support Office in Europe tel/fax: 31-20-6147972 or by E-mail: skephieu@xs4all.nl
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