La Pallice, France - Greenpeace stopped unloading activities onboard the Teal Arrow in the port of La Pallice. The ship is transporting timber from Interfor, the largest Canadian destroyer of temperate rainforests in the world.

The certified rainforest destruction (1) is being imported by French manufacturers and retailers, with the French joinery company, Lapeyre, being one of the largest customers. The Teal Arrow was intercepted by the MV Greenpeace on its arrival into the French port of La Pallice.

Eight activists attached themselves to the cranes preventing the Interfor timber from being unloaded. Other activists unfurled banners reading "SAY NO TO CANADA'S ANCIENT FOREST DESTRUCTION - STOP IT" and "DESTRUCTION OF CANADA'S ANCIENT FORESTS, LAPEYRE & CO.: STOP IT."

Ninety five per cent of Interfor's (International Forest Products) operations include large scale clearcutting of the last ancient forests of Canada, such as the Great Bear Rainforest. Last May, Interfor, together with another logging company, West Fraser, walked away from landmark negotiations for protecting the Great Bear Rainforest.(2)

"Interfor is not respecting the moratorium in the Great Bear Rainforest and continue to blast new logging roads into critical rainforest areas for clearcut logging," said Ludovic Frere, Greenpeace forests campaigner in France.

The Great Bear Rainforest is home to many threatened species. A unique habitat for black tailed deer, grey wolves, grizzly bears and a rare snow-white variation of the black bear called the Kermode or "Spirit" bear. Thanks to licences sold decades ago for just a few dollars, a small number of logging companies are destroying one of the most extensive areas of rainforest remaining in the world.

"Interfor continues to destroy the Great Bear Rainforest, selling their destruction to French companies under the guise of certification.(3) French companies, like Lapeyre, should not be deceived, must reject timber from Interfor and support those companies with a genuine commitment to ancient forest conservation," added Frere.

The protest in France is part of Greenpeace's campaign around the globe to save the world's last remaining ancient forests. In recent weeks, Greenpeace has carried out non-violent, direct actions in Hong Kong, Italy, USA, and the Netherlands.

Notes to Editors:

1) Interfor has recently adopted unreliable certifications systems that certify the destruction of Canada's rainforest.
(see note 3)

2) In 2000 a number of BC forestry companies, grouped under the 'Coast Forest Conservation Initiative' (CFCI) began discussions with Greenpeace and others environmental organisations, and agreed a "truce" period in the conflict over forestry on BC's coast and in that framework began a negotiation on the future of forest practices.

3) INTERFOR: CERTIFIED DESTRUCTION - A Greenpeace briefing on Interfor's operations in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest.

Recent clearcut from Surf Inlet, into a pristine area on the northeast of Princess Royal Island in the Great Bear Rainforest. The island is home to the rare spirit bear, a white bear found nowhere else on earth. © Greenpeace 2001 For more recent clearcut images, visit the BC photo library.

For more information about Greenpeace's ancient forests campaign, email: guestforest@ams.greenpeace.org