***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Chilean
Beech Forest Harvest Plan Overruled
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
3/20/97
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
The
Chilean Supreme Court has ruled against a U.S. company's plan to
harvest
some 741,300 acres of woodlands comprised largely of ancient
beech
forests. The area is one of the last
temperate wildernesses in
Latin
America and is located on Tierra del Fuego island, which is
shared
between Argentina and Chile. U.S. based
Trillium has announced
they
will continue with the project despite the court's ruling. The
pernicious
and relentless attack by multi-national timber company's on
remaining
forest wildernesses worldwide begs for an urgent response--
no more
industrial logging in remaining forest wildernesses.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Chile
ecologists hail U.S. forestry project ruling
Copyright
1997 by Reuters
3/20/97
SANTIAGO,
Chile (Reuter) - Chilean ecologists celebrated Thursday a
Supreme
Court decision to overrule the government's approval of a
controversial
forestry scheme by a U.S. company in Chile's far south.
"The
court's ruling shows very clearly that the Rio Condor project is
not
(environmentally) sustainable," Nicolo Gligo from the Alliance for
Chilean
Forests told a news conference.
The
court voted 3-2 Wednesday against plans by Trillium Corp., based
in
Bellingham, Washington, to log vast tracts of ancient beech forests
growing
on the southern slopes of the island of Tierra del Fuego.
The
project was given the go-ahead last year by local environment
authorities
who accepted Trillium's environmental impact study,
against
the advice of their own experts.
Trillium
officials said their plans will not be halted by the ruling
since
preparing the environment study is still only voluntary under
Chilean
law. "In my judgment, the project will not be affected and can
go
forward," the company's lawyer, Hernan Bosselin, told La Tercera
newspaper.
Trillium
owns some 741,300 acres of woodlands on Tierra del Fuego,
which
is shared between Argentina and Chile. The forests are made up
mainly
of two species of beech known as lenga and coigue.
The
company says the $200 million scheme is a model of sustainable
development
as loggers will selectively cull mature trees, not clear-
cut
them. But the project has sparked vociferous protests from
environmentalists
who say the forests are among the last temperate
wildernesses
left in Latin America.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational and personal use only.
Recipients
should seek permission from the source for reprinting. 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.org/
Networked
by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org