***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Indonesian
Forest Crisis Over Old-Growth
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
10/3/97
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Following
is additional coverage concerning the unprecedented crisis
in
Indonesian forestry, where intensive rainforest destruction has
contributed
to ecological collapse. With 22% of the
world's old-
growth
forests remaining, there is no reason to buy old-growth forest
products. Remaining virgin forests are threatened with
similar
consequences
should over intensive forest harvest continue.
The
following
is a Rainforest Action Network press release.
LIST
NOTE:
Apologies
for long absence. I have been in Papua
New Guinea working
on a
major new forest and conservation project with the World Bank.
There
should not be another long break in news coverage. I will be
passing
along more information on the Indonesian forest crisis
shortly.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Date:
Wed, 1 Oct 1997 16:15:33 -0800
To:
RAGS-RAP@ran.org
From:
Mark Westlund <ranmedia@ran.org>
Subject:
Borneo Crisis Over Old Growth
RAINFOREST
ACTION NETWORK
For
immediate release, September 30, 1997
Press
contact: Mark Westlund - 415/398-4404
MASSIVE
FIRES IN BORNEO RAINFOREST
ILLUSTRATE
NEED TO STOP OLD GROWTH LOGGING
RANDALL
HAYES ASKS CONSUMERS NOT TO PURCHASE OLD GROWTH FOREST
PRODUCTS
"People
are dying, South-East Asia is on fire, and America's natural
heritage
is all but lost - and all this for cheap lumber and pulp." -
-
Randall
Hayes
SAN
FRANCISCO - Rainforest Action Network founder Randall Hayes is
calling
for consumers to stop purchasing products made of old growth
trees. "There is no reason to support the
environmentally
destructive
commercial logging of old growth forests," said Hayes,
"especially
when there are so many alternatives already on the
market."
The
recent fires in Borneo underscore the need to take drastic
action.
The Indonesian Government has admitted that the fires are
burning
on commercial logging sites.
Rainforests - once brimming
with
life - are chopped down, the stumps burned, the native forests
replaced
by tree farms. Last Friday an
Indonesian airbus crashed,
visibility
hampered by dense smoke from the forest fires, killing all
234
people on board.
Around
the world, old growth forests are falling at an alarming rate.
Reports
indicate that burning in the Amazon rainforest has increased
28
percent since 1996. In the ancient
temperate rainforests of
British
Columbia, a timber industry spokesman recently indicated that
more
than 85 percent of the trees cut down are old growth.
Only 22
percent of the world's old growth forests remain intact; in
the
United States, less than 4 percent of the old growth forests are
still
standing.
Old
growth forest products include plywood made of tropical hardwood,
most
mahogany and teak products, and the majority of lumber coming
from
British Columbia; pulped old growth forests go into toilet paper
and
cellulose products, including rayon, camera film and cigarette
filters.
In
response to Rainforest Action Network's Old Growth Wood Campaign,
hundreds
of building industry professionals and home improvement
centers
have begun to stop selling old growth products. Descriptive
labeling
would further help consumers identify old growth products.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is for educational, personal and non-commercial use
only. 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