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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Canada:
Alberta Activists Declare 'State of Emergency'
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
6/13/95
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Following
is Rainforest Action Networks June Action Alert. Once
again
the hypocrisy of Northern countries condemnation of
developing
countries deforestation is made apparent; this time in
Alberta,
Canada, where virtually all non-protected wilderness is
being
turned over to once off paper chipping.
The line must be
drawn--no
more loss of forest wildernesses for paper and other
forest
products that could come from more sustainable sources such
as
plantations, recycling, and kenaf and other alternative fibers.
Temperate
forests may contain fewer species than tropical forests,
but are
still an irreplaceable evolutionary and ecological
resource. Take the time to email the addresses
provided to
protest
the recent intensification of forest leveling in Alberta,
Canada. This item was taken from Rainforest Action
Network's
excellent
World Wide Web home page at:
http://www.ran.org/ran/
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Rainforest
Action Network
Action
Alert 109
June,
1995
Alberta
activists declare 'State of Emergency'
Activists
from Alberta's Forest Coalition and Canada's Future
Forest
Alliance declared a state of emergency in the province's
forests
April 27. The provincial Government has already turned
over
all of Alberta's publicly owned boreal forests to feed some
of the
world's largest pulp mills. Now it is extending the
clearcut
devastation to private lands.
"It
is an absolute disgrace," said activist Colleen McCrory, "that
the
[Canadian] federal and provincial governments are allowing
this
large-scale, high-grade logging of private lands in the
buffer
zones surrounding the National Parks, without any thought
to the
loss of plant and animal species. Clearcut logging up to
the
border of Banff and Jasper will turn our National Parks into
mere
islands in a sea of extinction."
McCrory
is chair of the Valhalla Society and co-founder of
Canada's
Future Forest Alliance, a network representing about half
a
million people.
The
World Wildlife Fund of Canada gave Alberta's provincial
government
an 'F' for its environmental record. "How bad is an
'F'?"
asked RAN's Boycott-Mitsubishi coordinator Michael Marx.
"Well,
British Columbia got an 'A-minus' despite the tragedy in
Clayoquot
Sound, so that gives you some idea of just how bad
Alberta's
policies are." Alberta's forests are under assault:
* Since
1989, the province has allowed more than $5 billion
construction
in pulp mills without proper environmental
assessment.
*
Alberta Pacific, Mitsubishi Corporation's mega-mill, is breaking
records
in pulp production, processing more than 300 truckloads of
logs a
day.
*
Papermaker Diashowa-Marubeni is suing the Toronto Friends of the
Lubicon
for their boycott, a clear attack on free speech and a
legal
strategy to begin logging Lubicon Cree territories.
* Oil
giant Unocal is also attacking Lubicon territorial rights,
brazenly
building a sour- gas plant next to a Lubicon village
site.
*
Louisiana Pacific has taken over the Sunpine forest management
area in
the Rocky Mountain wilderness close to Jasper and Banff
National
Forests, building roads that open the wilderness to
hunters
seeking bighorn sheep, wolves, elk, and grizzlies.
Adding
insult to injury, the Alberta government recently announced
that
all areas previously set aside as "special places" are now
open to
economic development. In other words, conservation areas
and
provincial parks no longer get special protection in Alberta.
The
entire province is clearly for sale--and not even to the
highest
bidders, since the province itself is underwriting several
of
these operations with loans and infrastructure improvements.
What
you can do:
* July
1 is Canada Day, which celebrates the nation's founding.
Act now
to show the government of Alberta it can't get away with
giving
its citizens' forests away to huge multinational
corporations.
*
Participate in a demonstration on RAN's International Day of
Action
June 29. To find the demo nearest you, check the listing in
our
Boycott Mitsubishi section.
* Also,
please email a letter to Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta.
Here's
a sample letter. You can send it as is, or edit it to your
liking.
Don't
forget to sign your name. A copy should be sent to the
opposition
Alberta Liberal Party.
Hon.
Ralph Klein
Premier
of Alberta
307
Legislature Building
Edmonton,
Alberta
T5K
2B6, CANADA
Fax: 403-427-1349
Email: AltaTalk@censsw.gov.ab.ca
Copy
to:
Hon.
Grant Mitchell, Leader
Alberta
Liberal Opposition
601
Legislature Annex
Edmonton,
Alberta
T5K
1E4, CANADA
Fax: 403-427-3697
Email:
liberalc@freenet.calgary.ab.ca
U.S.
Postage: 40c up to one ounce
Dear
Mr. Klein:
I want
to take the opportunity of Canada Day to urge you to
reconsider
the course your administration has chosen for Alberta.
People
outside of Canada are aware of your deplorable
environmental
record. No other recent North American government
has given
away more of its birthright so abruptly.
In the
name of creating jobs, you support a mill that boasts how
few
people it needs to employ. Your support for industrial
encroachment
on the Lubicon Cree illustrates your disrespect for
native
cultures. Finally, your decision to open all of Alberta's
"special
places" to economic development makes a mockery of the
designation.
Millions
of birds fly from Alberta's forests, across U.S. forests,
to
tropical forests in Central and South America. Your actions
affect
us all, as well as future generations.
You
have no ethical right to liquidate the peoples' forests to
enrich
a few. I urge you to meet with environmental groups in your
province
to reform forest policies immediately.
I will
take every action in my power to help Alberta forest
activists.
If they call for a tourism boycott, I will stay away.
If they
ask for money, I will send it.
Sincerely,
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