GREENPEACE BROADENS STRUGGLE TO PROTECT CANADIAN RAINFOREST

Blockade on Log Barge Continues, Actions at European Consulates, First Nations and Enviros in Court

Port Hardy, British Columbia 25 June 1997

Five Greenpeace activists continue their two day occupation of one of the world's largest log barges to protest the destruction of The Great Bear inforest. A further 24 activists, representing members of the Nuxalk First Nation, Greenpeace and three other environmental groups will appear in a Vancouver court this morning. Their charges relate to a 19 day blockade in which they stopped all clearcut logging on King Island on British Columbia's mid-coast.

Meanwhile, in Europe Greenpeace activists protested at the Canadian embassies in Bonn and the Canadian High Commission in London, closing both offices for several hours. A 20-foot inflatable grizzly bear and 20 people in bear costumes were part of the demonstration in London. Both sites had dozens of activists holding banners reading "Stop Clearcutting Canada's Rainforest" and "Save the Spirit ear" (a reference to the rare white bear that lives only in B.C.'s rainforest). Meetings occurred at both sites, as well as in Brussels, with Canadian officials demanding that no clearcut ancient rainforest products be brought into each respective country.

Canada's destruction of its temperate rainforests also came under intense scrutiny yesterday at the United Nations Special General Assembly Meeting on the Environment in New York. "How can we ask azil to stop the illegal logging and clearing in Amazonia when two of the world's wealthiest nations, Canada and the U.S., are, as I speak, logging their last remaining rainforests into extinction, said Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode in his address to the U.N. late yesterday.

Satellite mapping shows that half the world's temperate rainforests have been destroyed and one-quarter of what remains in British Columbia. While representing less than 1% of Canada's landbase, it interior and coastal rainforests are estimated to contain almost half of Canada's species. On the coast, 3 companies - MacMillian Bloedel, Interfor and Doman/Western Forest Products - are allowed to log half of all the timber coming from BC's public lands. About 600 acres of old-growth BC rainforest are clearcut daily by all companies

The barge occupied by the Greenpeace activists, the Seaspan Rigger, carries the equivalent of 400 truckloads of timber covering an area equal to 56 football fields. The trees were cut by Interfor. across the top of the barge, the activists have unfurled a banner reading "Rainforest Destruction Don't Buy It."

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Marc Evans, Greenpeace Vancouver, +1 604-253-7701

Dr. Matthew Bramley occupying the Seaspan Rigger: +1 604-341-5665;

Steve Shallhorn aboard the MV Arctic Sunrise: +1 416-451-9354

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