31 July 2001
PROMISES, PROMISES…BUT WHERE'S THE ACTION?
Greenpeace exposes UK Prime Minister Blair's inaction on Amazon timber procurement

Sao Paulo - Greenpeace delivered a large section of illegally logged samauma timber (1) to United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair on his arrival in Brazil.

Ten Greenpeace activists intercepted Prime Minister Blair at the Sao Paulo Botanical garden to deliever a message: "Stop buying Amazon destruction!"

This symbol of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest is a timely reminder of Blair's failure to act on promises made at last year's G8 Summit in Japan to stop buying wood that comes from the destruction of the world's remaining ancient forest wilderness.(2) In an accompanying letter, Greenpeace asked Blair to ensure that the UK stops importing unsustainable wood products from the Amazon.

In July 2000, the UK Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, announced that the UK government would 'ensure its own house is in order' by 'actively seeking to buy timber and timber products from sustainable and legal sources, for example, those identified under independent certification schemes such as that operated by the Forestry Stewardship Council'.(3)

Tony Blair highlighted that commitment in his environment speech delivered on March 6 this year, and promised that he would discuss the problem with Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Days after his speech, Blair sent a letter to Greenpeace confirming his intention to fight illegal logging.(4)

However, official export data compiled and analyzed by Greenpeace shows that between January and April 2001, UK companies imported more than 5,000 cubic metres of uncertified wood from Pará State alone in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2000 as a whole, Pará State exported more than 13,000 cubic metres of timber to the UK. None of this timber came from environmentally and socially responsible certified sources.(5)

"The Amazon Rainforest is the most ecologically diverse forest in the world," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Coordinator.
"It is also the home of 20 million people whose quality of life depends upon the protection of this ancient forest wilderness. Yet this global treasure is rapidly being logged out to make cheap plywood and lumber."

"The fact that, despite their fine promises, rich governments such as the UK continue to fuel this destruction through their timber imports is an international scandal," said Adario. "If Tony Blair is serious about saving one of the most important and fragile regions of ancient forest wilderness left on Earth, he's got to deliver more than a lot of elegant rhetoric."

"Saving the world's ancient forest wilderness and all the diverse and wonderful life and human culture that depends upon it takes action not words. Tony Blair should start by living up to his promise not to buy ancient forest destruction. He should also use his influence to get world leaders in producer and consumer countries to adopt a policy of protection backed with concrete measures and a commitment to come up with the money necessary to implement and enforce them," said Adario.

Nearly 80 percent of the world's ancient forest wilderness has already been destroyed or degraded. The remainder is disappearing at the rate of 16 million hectares every year, according to the World Resources Institute - that's an area the size of a football pitch that goes under the axe every second. Illegal and predatory logging plays a central role in the destruction of the Amazon. The industry has grown out of control in the region (there are 7,595 companies registered in the Amazon), threatening the way of life of the peoples and species that live in and depend on the forest.

The region, that supplied some 12 percent of the Brazilian log production in 1970, today produces more than 30 million cubic metres of logs a year, some 90 percent of Brazil's total tropical timber production. Amazon deforestation grew from one to 15 percent in the same period.

An area of 589,000 km2, larger than France, has disappeared in the last 30 years. Satellite data has shown that deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon last year (19,532 km2) was greater than at any time since 1995.

"If Tony Blair thinks that all it takes to protect the future of the world's ancient forest wilderness is words, he needs to think again," said John Sauven, Greenpeace UK campaign director. "Without concrete measures and serious financial commitment from world leaders, the only future for the forest's animals, such as the jaguar, is the zoo. Trees such as the samauma, the queen of the forest, will only exist as specimens in botanical gardens such as the one the Prime Minister visited today. Is this the world Blair wants to leave for his grandchildren?" said Sauven. "Now is the time to stop the destruction of the world's remaining ancient forest wilderness. Not through words and promises, but through concrete actions."

Notes:
(1) The Samauma tree is known in the Amazon as the 'Queen of the forest' because of its great height. The section of timber delivered to the UK Prime Minister was part of a large illegal log-raft discovered by Greenpeace last year in the Juruá River. Greenpeace informed the Brazilian environment agency, Ibama, of the illegal timber, which was then seized by officials. Samauma is used for plywood production, which is destined for external markets. The UK is one of the largest consumers of Amazon plywood and the second largest consumer of tropical timber in Europe, after France.

(2) Unfortunately addressing the direct relation between UK timber imports and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest does not seem to be on the top of Blair's agenda during his visit to Brazil. On the contrary, both countries are seeking to increase economic relations without prioritizing the environmental consequences.

(3) The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization based in Oaxaca, Mexico, whose membership is comprised of forest sector companies, and environmental and social entities. FSC is the only international body with a product labeling system that can guarantee consumers wood products have been harvested from environmentally and socially responsible forest management. Recently two timber companies operating in Pará have received FSC certification. But official data shows that Para has 2,000 logging companies.

(4) In a letter to Greenpeace dated 26 May 2000, Tony Blair said, 'As you know, a report on the implementation of the G8 Action Programme on Forests will be considered in July. The UK will continue its efforts to tackle illegal logging, domestically, bilaterally and multilaterally and will encourage our G8 partners to do the same.' This letter is available from the Greenpeace Press Office.

(5) According to official data, the majority of timber exploited in the Amazon comes from illegal sources and from ancient forest destruction. Studies from Brazilian institutions such as Imazon and the governmental agency Embrapa show that even the 'Forest Management Plans' defined by the Brazilian legislation as the way of ensuring the production of 'sustainable timber' are used to provide paperwork which covers the bringing of illegally logged timber to the market.