***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

World Governments Slammed Over Logging

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

8/22/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

European green groups are critical of World governments for failing to

control unsustainable logging, particularly in the tropics. They call

for an international program to dismantle the tropical logging

industry, calling sustainable forestry there a myth.

g.b

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Green Groups Slam World Governments Over Logging

Source: Reuters

Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint

Date: August 22, 1999

LONDON (Reuters) - Environmental groups criticised governments around

the world Monday for failing to control commercial timber logging

which they said devastated precious rainforests and wildlife.

``Government inertia and hollow promises made by the timber industry

have failed to control unsustainable logging, and without radical

changes there are limited prospects that they will do so,'' the

groups said in a report.

Seven years after world leaders pledged at the U.N. Earth Summit in

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to protect the global environment, the report

said logging:

-- threatens the survival of species including the gorilla,

chimpanzee, the jaguar, ocelot and many already rare birds, such as

the toco toucan and the hyacinth macaw;

-- destroys forest communities from Brazil to the Solomon Islands;

-- causes flooding, soil erosion and fire;

-- exacerbates the threat of climate change.

``Governments show no political will to regulate the industry

effectively,'' said the coalition of Friends of the Earth,

Greenpeace International, Environmental Defense Fund, Rainforest

Foundation UK and Retten den Regenwald (Save the Rainforest).

The groups said their report challenged the ``myth'' that limited

logging could help save primary rainforests. They said even selective

logging caused damage and left forests more susceptible to fire.

``Seven years of inter-government discussion on forests since the

Earth Summit have completely failed to address the devastating impact

of commercial logging on tropical rainforests,'' said Simon Counsell,

director of Rainforest Foundation UK.

Counsell said international agencies like the World Bank would have to

support the rapid dismantling of tropical logging operations if much

of the planet's biodiversity was to survive.

``The scientific evidence now clearly suggests that unless loggers can

be brought under control the fate of vast areas of rainforest will be

irrevocably sealed in the coming few years,'' he said.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-

commercial 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