GREENPEACE EXPOSES INTERNATIONAL TIMBER CRIMINALS IN FRENCH PORT: Activists board ship with Amazon cargo from multinationals Lapeyre and WTK

28 July 2000

HONFLEUR, FRANCE -- Today an international team of 16 Greenpeace activists from the MV Greenpeace boarded the vessel MV Aquitania in the port of Honfleur, France to stop the unloading of Amazon rainforest plywood and sawn timber. Activists boarded the vessel from the sea and from the land and occupied the offloading cranes on the ship and on the quayside. They have also chained themselves to containers on the boat containing timber from the Amazon rainforest. The MV Greenpeace pulled up alongside the MV Aquitania and is preventing the ship from leaving its berth.

The cargo of the Aquitania was exported from Brazil by the multinationals Lapeyre and WTK that have recently been exposed for possession of illegal timber. The Brazilian Government estimates that around 80 percent of all logging activity in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal. Greenpeace is demanding that the criminal cargo from the two companies is returned to Brazil. Eldorado is owned by the French joinery giant Lapeyre, part of the Saint Gobain Group. The company is wholly dependent on third party suppliers for Amazon rainforest timber. Between 1998 and 1999 nearly half of the company's 159 suppliers were fined for the illegal production, transport and storage of logs. Of 45 of these companies so far investigated by Greenpeace, 14 were not even registered with IBAMA (Brazilian Environmental Agency) - a basic legal regulatory requirement (1).

Amaplac is part of the Malaysian group WTK, owning sawmills and 313,798 ha of forest lands in Amazonas State - including lands claimed by Deni indigenous peoples as their traditional territory. Amaplac, a plywood producer, was fined twice in 1996 and once in 1999 for possession of illegal timber. Five of its seven third party suppliers were fined between 1998 and 1999 according to IBAMA (2). Amaplac is also currently under investigation by the Federal Prosecutor in Amazonas State (3).

"Lapeyre and WTK must reject wood that comes from illegal and destructive logging practices," said Phil Aikman, Greenpeace International Amazon markets campaigner. "If we are to protect the Amazon rainforest, these companies must commit to buy only from legal and sustainable sources, such as those certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards (4)."

The action in Honfleur follows sustained campaigning in recent months against the import of wood resulting from illegal and destructive logging in the world's remaining ancient forests - particularly into G-8 countries and the European Union. It follows earlier actions against Amaplac in the UK, Germany and Denmark, and a four-month campaign against Lapeyre, which has included protests at the company's retail outlets in France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland, and the release of Greenpeace's alternative Lapeyre catalogue and website www.lapeyre.org/destruction at the company's AGM in May this year.

Illegal logging and the international timber trade was raised as an important issue by the G8 leaders in Okinawa, Japan last week (5). "The level of illegal logging in the Amazon is arguably one of the greatest threats facing this unique rainforest. Words alone will not save the Amazon," said Flavio Montiel, Greenpeace International political campaigner in Brazil. "The governments of France, USA, Italy, Japan, Russia, Germany, Canada and UK must live up to their promise to eliminate the illegal timber trade and act. Now!"

Notes to editors:

(1) See Against the Law: the G8 and the illegal timber trade. Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, www.greenpeace.org/~forests/resources/index.htm.

(2) see above.

(3) During the official hearings, Amaplac representatives confirmed they are totally dependent on third party log suppliers. They also confessed that the company has never visited any the forest holdings of their suppliers who log the Amazon rainforest.

(4) The FSC is the only independent certification system that meets international ecological standards, incorporates the interests of social, economic and environmental groups, and has a widely recognised label. This system assures the chain of custody from the extraction of the wood, through processing to the final consumer. Unless independently certified at least according to ecological standards of the FSC, it is not possible to guarantee that logging practices are legal and do not lead to ancient forest destruction.

(5) G-8 Communiqué: Okinawa, July 23, 2000: "67. We fully endorse the conclusions of our Foreign Ministers regarding sustainable forest management. In this regard, we attach particular importance to projects that help indigenous and local communities practice sustainable forest management. We will also examine how best we can combat illegal logging, including export and procurement practices."