Nov. 4: Protest the WTO in Front of Boise Cascade in Medford, Oregon
10/28/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Protest the WTO in Front of Boise Cascade in Medford on
Thursday November 4, 1999, Twelve Noon
Source: Wall
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 28, 1999
Byline: Jay at KSWC (541) 488-2863, lininger@efn.org
Kyle at KFA (530) 467-5405 / kyle@sisqtel.net
NORTH PACIFIC HWY 99, corner of Sage & Beall Streets
Join the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Klamath Forest
Alliance in protest against Boise Cascade Corporation as part the
International Day of Education and Action Against the World Trade
Organization (WTO). The event will begin at noon in front of the
Boise Cascade mill in Medford, Oregon, on North Pacific Highway 99 at
the corner of Sage and Beall streets.
Representatives of the 135 member countries of the WTO will meet in
Seattle Nov. 29 - Dec. 3 to write new international trade and
investment rules. One of the most contentious agreements is the
Global Free Logging Agreement which the Clinton Administration wants
ratified at the meeting. The agreement would dramatically impact the
world's remaining forests and the communities that depend on them
unless we take action now.
Logging corporations are going abroad in search of larger forest
reserves and less costly labor and environmental regulations.
Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia are nations with
significant tracts of native forests that have traditionally limited
access of foreign companies to their natural resources. WTO
investment rules would institutionalize "cut-and-run" logging
worldwide and prevent local governments from holding timber companies
accountable to the land and its inhabitants.
The Global Free Logging Agreement threatens forests and human
communities in two ways: (1) the rapid elimination of tariffs on all
wood products will increase unsustainable logging and consumption of
wood products; and (2) the elimination of non-tariff measures
threaten existing forest and labor protection laws. Vital laws that
protect endangered species, clean water, worker safety and community
rights, as well as current bans on the export of raw logs and wood
chips are all considered "non-tariff barriers" to free trade.
Boise Cascade is one of the U.S. multinational timber corporations
urging President Clinton to pass the Global Free Logging Agreement.
Boise Cascade has over-cut its corporate timberlands and thousands of
acres of public forests. The company plans to build a mega mill and
port facility in Chile to convert the rainforest to chips and
laminate board. Construction and operation of the mill and port
could endanger 114 species of rare plants, 142 species of vertebrates
and 4 species of birds. Workers and local communities would be
powerless to challenge unbridled corporate control over their natural
environment and their lives.
For more information contact: Jay at KSWC (541) 488-2863 /
lininger@efn.org --OR-- Kyle at KFA (530) 467-5405 /
kyle@sisqtel.net