Greenpeace Welcomes 'Historic' Ban on Mahogany Logging
Copyright 2001 The Press Association
December 6, 2001
By Amanda Brown, Environment Correspondent, PA News
A ban on mahogany logging has been agreed by the Brazilian Government - as a direct result of a two-year inquiry by Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group claimed today.
The move by the President of the Brazilian environmental agency, Mr Hamilton Casara, came after the group exposed the extent of the illegal mahogany logging trade. Brenda Ramsey, Greenpeace UK Forest Campaigner, said: "Illegal mahogany logging in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has been out of control for years, and has been responsible for the devastation of huge areas of pristine rainforest.
"This scandalous trade has led to large-scale corruption, death threats and even murder.
"It has threatened to destroy the habitat on which creatures such as the Amazon jaguar depend, and threatened the future of many Indian cultures that rely upon the forest for their way of life.
"Thankfully, today's historic announcement is effectively an end to the illegal mahogany industry in Brazil."
The destruction is caused not just through the mahogany logging itself, but also by the thousands of miles of illegal roads the loggers build, which open up the forest to even further logging and devastation.
Greenpeace investigations have traced the supply of this illegal mahogany to the UK market.
The environmental group is now urging the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to support the Brazilian Government in its efforts to stamp out illegal logging by seizing all uncertified Brazilian mahogany destined for the UK.
Since October 60 MPs have joined the campaign for UK government action.
Brenda Ramsey added: "We call on the Prime Minister to act now. At this year's
Labour Party conference he stated that we can have trade without deforestation. Now is the time for him to back up these words with urgent action."