VICTORY!

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Brazil Suspends New Industrial Logging in the Amazonas State

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

1/31/98

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

In a major victory, the Amazonas state government has put on hold

investment projects totaling millions of dollars put forward by

logging companies from China and Malaysia. This outcome reflects

demands put forward in March/April 1997 by the Action Alert that I

wrote for the Rainforest Action Network (http://www.ran.org/ran/

info_center/aa/aa127.html )--5,000 letters alone were faxed from RAN's

website.

The dismal state of forest management practiced by the companies in

question, and the ludicrous suggestion that they should be entrusted

with the fate of the world's remaining tropical wildernesses has been

heard and acted upon. While other threats such as clearing for cattle

ranching remains the primary threat to the Amazon (at least 12.5% has

been deforested since 1978); the scale of proposed and past

operations, and the speed with which Malaysian and Chinese companies

have been gearing up to log the Amazon, clearly indicated that overly

intensive industrial logging was poised to become the primary threat

to the Amazon's survival. At least for the time being, there is a

reprieve. A hearty congratulations to those who wrote letters (3000+

groups/people receive this information) and acted upon this

information we and others have been providing! Check out

http://forests.org/forests/brazil.html for several hundred articles

detailing the long forest advocacy road that has lead to this victory.

Following is a press release on the matter by the Rainforest Action

Network.

With love for the forests,

Glen Barry

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: AMAZONAS SUSPENDS NEW LOGGING PROJECTS

Source: Rainforest Action Network

Status: Distribute freely properly accredited

Date: January 30, 1998

RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK

For immediate release, January 30, 1998

Press contacts:

Mark Westlund -- ranmedia@ran.org

Beto Borges -- brazilpro@ran.org

BRAZILIAN STATE OF AMAZONAS SUSPENDS NEW RAINFOREST LOGGING PROJECTS

The government of the Brazilian state of Amazonas has put a hold on

investment projects totaling millions of dollars put forward by

logging companies from China and Malaysia. Major players include the

WTK Group, Samling, Mingo, and Rimbunan Hijau. These operations were

the focus of a Rainforest Action Network letter-writing campaign -

over 5,000 letters were sent via RAN's interactive web page alone

(www.ran.org).

Over the past several months RAN's Brazil Program Director Beto Borges

has been working closely with Jose Lutzenberger, formerly Brazil's

Secretary of the Environment and currently special consultant to the

Government of Amazonas, to develop a strategic response to escalating

rainforest destruction.

In particular, the role of Asian logging companies in Brazil's Amazon

region has come under fire. Late last year, a federal Congressional

committee issued a report highlighting the continuing destruction of

the rainforest by these companies. Earlier this week, the Brazilian

government released figures showing that the Amazon rainforest is

being destroyed at record rates. Brazil's Environment Minister

Gustavo Krause commented that although no figures have been prepared

to document the specific impact of the Asian logging companies, they

were fined in excess of $1 million for illegal logging last year.

Last September RAN's Beto Borges testified before the congressional

committee investigating the East Asian logging companies.

"The same companies now cutting trees in the Amazon," Mr. Borges

warned, "worked with such rapacious speed in Sarawak, Malaysia, that

they devastated the region's forests within a decade." Mr. Borges

also cautioned Brazil not to repeat the U.S. model of industrial

logging that has left standing a scant 4 percent of its original

forests.

The congressional report alleged that regional functionaries were

offering incentives for these companies to set up in the region. The

authorities in Amazonas deny this, and have announced that they will

put new projects on hold on the grounds that Asian companies already

operating in Amazonas are failing to comply with forestry laws, and

are refusing to pay fines.

RAN works closely with environmental groups in Brazil, and was aware

from ground reports that deforestation was rampant. The figures

released this week by Brazil's government confirm what environmental

and human rights organizations have long held to be true. Between

1978 and 1996, more than 12.5 percent of the vast, irreplaceable

rainforest has been destroyed, according to the report.

These figures are particularly embarrassing to Brazil, and elements of

the government stonewalled releasing the data.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

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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