AS G-8 FOREIGN MINISTERS TALK, GREENPEACE CONTINUES TO TAKE ACTION

12 July 2000 TOKYO/LEIXOES, PORTUGAL

Greenpeace activists continue their protests in Kobe, Japan and Leixoes, Portugal as the G-8 Foreign Ministers begin a two-day meeting in Miyazaki, Japan. Greenpeace contends that the G-8 have done very little to fulfil their commitments to save the rapidly disappearing ancient forests.

While four Greenpeace activists in the Portuguese port of Leixoes continue to chained to the crane of the MV Aegis, a vessel transporting timber from Africa, another four activists remain chained to containers filled with Amazonian plywood in Japan. Although both scenes began on Tuesday, albeit in different time zones, the message is clear that illegal logging is rampant throughout the world.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has learned that the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) announced that a subsidiary of Osaka based Japanese transnational wood products firm Eidai Inc. will be fined the equivalent of 1.88 million dollars for violating various environmental laws related to the protection of Brazil's vanishing rainforest.

The illegal activities by Eidai were initially discovered after Greenpeace conducted an investigation utilising ulta-violet paint to track logs from illegal suppliers to Eidai do Brasil. Greenpeace exposed the violations to IBAMA and asked that the government investigate the account books of Eidai to determine how widespread the practice was. IBAMA accomplished this and found repeated violations of a serious nature.

It has also been reported that the Government of Portugal together with the University of Porto will carryout an investigation based on Greenpeace's allegations that the origin of the logs being imported is illegal. The Portuguese authorities seized the uploaded timber. Greenpeace demands the investigations to be handled as an issue of illegality of logging activities in Cameroon and suggests the confiscating of the total amount of timber onboard the Aegis.

"While the Governments of Brazil and Cameroon have begun their research into illegal logging activities in their precious forests, the governments of the G-8 have not kept their part of the bargain to tackle the international illegal timber trade," said Martin Kaiser of Greenpeace. "As major importers of timber from the world's forests, it is up to consumer countries to put a stop to the destruction."

Greenpeace is demanding to meet with the Head's of Eidai in Japan, but have as yet received no reply to their requests. The G-8 Foreign Ministers are meeting today and Thursday and are expected to discuss the issue of illegal logging at some point during this meeting. However, environmentalists are sceptic about the results of these discussions. According to a scorecard presented by the activists evaluating the performance of G-8 governments on forestry issues, no country received top ranking.

Greenpeace demands an independent international monitoring body on illegal logging world-wide to stop the destruction of the last remaining ancient forests.