Greenpeace Hails Chilean Decision to Block US Logging

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE HAILS CHILEAN DECISION TO BLOCK U.S. LOGGING
 
SEATTLE, MARCH 21 -(GP)- Ruling against foreign resource
exploitation, Chile's Supreme Court Wednesday struck down a plan
to log in one of the world's most significant coastal temperate
rainforests.  The project, proposed by the Trillium Corporation
of Bellingham, WA, was denied for failing to provide proof that
the project would be environmentally sound. The court stated
that Chilean people have a right to live in an environment "free
of contamination."
 
The court found that CONAMA, the Chilean equivalent of the
Environmental Protection Agency, had acted "illegally and
arbitrarily" in approving the plan to commercially exploit the
ancient forest of Tierra del Fuego. Trillium's Rio Condor
project held the rights to 625,000 acres of land, 317,00 acres
of which is forested and 125,000 acres of which is considered
"old-growth."   
Logging is the principle threat to Chile's temperate
rainforests, which are 25% of remaining rainforest worldwide. In
a recent report, the World Resources Institute called Chile's
rainforests  one of the most important remaining intact native
forest large enough to support viable plant and animal species.
Four-fifths of the world's forests have already been destroyed
or severely degraded.
 
A broad coalition of Chilean and international groups, including
catholic churches in Tierra del Fuego, have called for logging
in the region to meet the following criteria:
* strict conservation of pristine and primary forest areas; *
independently certified ecoforestry in second-growth forest; *
citizen participation in drafting of all timber harvest
plans and laws dictating resource extraction in the region.  
CONTACT:
Maria Luisa Robleto, Greenpeace Chile: 011.56.2.777.3203
(Spanish only; during weekend - 011.56.2.223.3414)

Tom Platt, Greenpeace Forest Campaign (206) 632-4326, ext 119
Mark Floegel, Greenpeace Media (206) 632-4326, ext 111
 
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