14 November 2001

Greenpeace exposes scandal of African rainforest destruction and demands governments to act now

Amsterdam - Greenpeace took action in the port of Amsterdam today to raise the alarm on the current crisis facing the world's ancient forests. More than 60 activists targeted logs and sawn timber known to come from companies plundering the rainforests of West Africa. In the mass demonstration hundreds of logs and stacks of timber were painted red with the message "Stop Ancient Forest Crime".

Undercover investigations by Greenpeace have discovered that wood products coming from logging companies operating in a destructive and illegal way in West Africa are flooding European ports. These investigations have recently uncovered logs and timber from two companies in particular, which have some of the worst environmental and human rights records of any logging company in the world.

These two companies, the Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC) and Société Forestère Hazim (SFH), are actively logging in Liberia and Cameroon respectively. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently reported OTC's involvement in illegal arms-smuggling to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in neighbouring war-torn Sierra Leone. SFH has been found guilty for repeatedly logging outside legally defined areas by the Cameroon government, and has been involved in serious social conflicts with forest dwelling communities there. Both companies have repeatedly operated with flagrant disregard for national forestry law, and for the social and environmental impact of their operations.

Logs and timber from these and other notorious companies have been found in recent weeks in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and China. China is the largest importer of timber from OTC.

In the light of compelling evidence on numerous companies like OTC and SFH which operate illegally around the world, Greenpeace is demanding that the world's governments take immediate action to stop importing wood from the destruction of the world's remaining ancient forests and force the global logging industry to clean up its act.

The action in Amsterdam comes in the wake of a series of protests worldwide over the failure of world governments to halt worldwide ancient forest destruction since the Rio Earth Summit almost 10 years ago. Following recent exposés on illegal and destructive logging in Brazil, Russia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, Greenpeace released fresh evidence of the crisis facing ancient forests, this time in Africa.

This new evidence reveals that in Cameroon, most of the country's forests have now been either allocated to logging companies or are designated for allocation.

This poses an enormous threat to the survival of plants and animals living in these forests, and to numerous human populations dependent on these forests for their homes, livelihoods, and cultural and spiritual needs.

" If the public wants to know why gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants are heading towards extinction, then the logs and timber in the Amsterdam port and many other ports around the world is the answer. Governments are aiding the destruction of the world's remaining ancient forests by doing nothing and letting these products of ancient forest destruction enter their countries every single day. Now is the time to act otherwise it will be too late," said Greenpeace forest campaigner, Tim Birch.

Today's action was supported by additional actions in Switzerland and France and was timed to highlight a vital meeting taking place this week in Montreal. This is the final preparatory meeting leading up to the Ancient Forest Summit, the 6th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which will take place in the Hague, the Netherlands in April 2002. Government representatives and scientific experts from around the world will decide the future of the world's Ancient Forests.

"Two days have already passed without results. Governments now only have three days left here in
Montreal to decide on an action programme for the Ancient Forest Summit," said Birch.

"What Greenpeace has discovered in Amsterdam is a damning indictment that governments are doing nothing to protect the world's last ancient forests. This will be a severe embarrassment to a country that is hosting the Ancient Forest Summit next year," said Birch.

Take action: If world governments choose now to SAVE the ancient forests, there is a last chance to protect these forests and the life they support. Send a message to your govenment and the United Nations to take action now to SAVE the world's remaining ancient forests.

For additional information download:
Maps of Cameroon's loggings concessions
Forest Destruction Fuels Regional Conflicts:
Environmental and social impacts of the Liberian timber
industry

The Greenpeace report Save or Delete: a last chance to save the world's ancient forests is available as a pdf in english, french and spanish.