***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Chilean
Court Halts U.S. Company's Forestry Project
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
5/10/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
Here is
a brief follow-up to an early report of the U.S. Company's
plan to
log ancient beech forests in southern Chile.
A petition
from
local environmentalists has resulted in the Chilean court
ordering
a halt to the project, for the time being at least.
Enforceable
international forestry regulations could potentially
aid in
taking the pressure off remaining virgin forests, as could
support
of local community management activities.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Chile
court halts U.S. company's forestry project
5/9/96
Copyright
1996 by Reuters
SANTIAGO,
Chile (Reuter) - A Chilean court has halted work on a
controversial
U.S.-owned forestry project to log ancient beech
trees
in southern Chile after a petition from environmentalists,
the
newspaper El Mercurio reported Thursday.
Local
ecologists claimed the decision by the Regional
Environmental
Commission (Corema) to approve the scheme to exploit
the
woodlands on the remote island of Tierra del Fuego was
"illegal
and arbitrary."
"We
asked the court for an injunction and to order Corema's
resolution
void as it is shameful to the country," said
Congressman
Guido Girardi, who supported the petition.
Corema
officials approved the plan this year after overruling
their
own technical committee, which recommended that the project
should
not be allowed to go ahead.
Environmentalists
say the plan by Trillium, based in Bellingham,
Washington,
will cause irreparable damage to the forest, one of
the few
untouched native woodlands left in Chile.
Trillium
insists it will cull only mature trees and says its
project
guarantees the forest's future growth.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
campaign
use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and
forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely
pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL=
http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html
Networked
by:
Ecological
Enterprises
Email
(best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org
Phone->(608)
233-2194 || Fax->(608) 231-2312 (Pls., no junk faxes)