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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Appeal
to Stop Unsustainable Woodchipping in Western Australia
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
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Conservation Archives
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Conservation
1/23/99
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by EE
The
Western Australian Forest Alliance highlights concerns over timber
and
woodchip production from the old growth (primary) forests of
south-west
Western Australia (WA). They illustrate
the slippery slope
of
conflicting forest certification standards, and false
characterizations
of sustainability, by pointing out the clearly
ecologically
unsustainable nature of clearfelling 20,000 ha a year of
highly
unique old-growth--mostly for low-value products. Contacts are
given
for web sites and organizations to get involved in the campaign.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Stop the international trade in
unsustainable timber and
woodchips from Western Australia
Source: Western Australian Forest Alliance
Status: Distribute freely with credit given to
source
Date: January 19, 1999
/*
Written 9:27 AM Jan 19, 1999 by
conswa@iinet.net.au in en.alerts
*/
/*
---------- "International timber trade alert" ---------- */
From:
Western Australian Forest Alliance <conswa@iinet.net.au>
(by way of Anthony Whitworth)
January
1999
URGENT
UPDATE
To all
concerned with forests or forest products
Read
this online @
http://wafa.org.au/alert2.html
Stop the international trade in
unsustainable
timber and woodchips from Western
Australia
We wish
to alert you to important new developments concerning timber
and
woodchip production from the old growth (primary) jarrah-marri and
karri-marri
forests of south-west Western Australia (WA).
These
forests, which occupy only 1% of the area of the state, are
unique
to this part of the world. Dominated by
tall native eucalypts,
jarrah
(Eucalyptus marginata), karri (E. diversicolor), and marri (E.
calophylla),
they are rich in endemic species of plants and animals.
The
forests are majestic and very beautiful and a major attraction for
WA's
rapidly expanding tourism industry.
According
to the government forest management agency, the Department
of
Conservation and Land Management (CALM), WA now has less than 10%
of its
pre-colonisation forest remaining as old growth forest. Yet,
like
forests around the world, WA's old-growth jarrah-marri and karri-
marri
forests are being destroyed for the short-term profits of big
corporations.
We need
the help of the international community to preserve what is
left of
these forests.
REPORT
OF WA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AUTHORITY
The
Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is WA's independent
statutory
authority responsible for providing advice to government and
the
community on environmental matters. In
December 1998, it released
a
report confirming that current forest management for log production
in WA's
native forests is not sustainable. 1
Note: This important report is currently missing
from the Department
of
Environmental Protection website: www.environ.wa.gov.au because of
lack of
resources.
This
EPA report is the latest in a series of official reports and
inquiries
that have made similar or even more damning findings in
relation
to the unsustainability of forest management in Western
Australia.
2
EXPORTING
OUR HERITAGE
Western
Australia's old growth forests are currently being clearfelled
at the
rate of about 20,000 hectares per year to produce jarrah and
karri
sawntimber, and large volumes of low-grade karri and marri
woodchips
for export to Japan.
The
jarrah and karri sawntimber is increasingly intended for export
markets,
especially in the USA and Europe. Some may be exported as
lengths
of timber and some as products such as garden furniture. Some
karri
sawntimber is believed to be exported for uses such as mine
stays
in South Africa, and some was under consideration for use as
canal
lining in the Netherlands. This latter
use was ruled out by the
Dutch
Ministry of Public Works, which, after a long and detailed
examination
of karri forest management, remained unconvinced that it
was
sustainable. 3
On top
of all this, it appears that trial shipments of jarrah
woodchips
for use as industrial charcoal are underway or planned. It
is
believed Saudi Arabia may be one market for these woodchips.
UNSUSTAINABLE
FOREST PRODUCTS FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Timber
Exports
In
recent years the WA company Wesfarmers Limited, through its wholly
owned
subsidiary Bunnings Forest Products, has been engaged in
intensive
efforts to develop international markets for the sale of old
growth
jarrah and karri sawntimber products.
Wesfarmers Bunnings and
other
companies are attempting to market the old growth timber as
"sustainable",
"from sustainably managed forests" and "from a
renewable
resource". The EPA report contradicts these claims. Some
companies
may advertise the products as "from plantations", which is
also
false.
Woodchip
Exports
Wesfarmers
Bunnings sells up to 900,000 tonnes of old growth karri and
marri
woodchips annually to Marubeni Corporation, which in turn sells
them to
three Japanese pulp companies: Hoketsu Paper Mills, Nippon
Paper
Industries, and Nagoya Pulp Company (a subsidiary of Daio Paper
Corporation). According to Wesfarmers Bunnings' internal
reports, the
Japanese
pulp companies consider Western Australia's old growth
woodchips
to be very low grade, and the companies would probably
cancel
or renegotiate their supply contracts if they were given the
opportunity.
Since
it has now been officially confirmed that the logging of Western
Australia's
old growth forests is not sustainable, the Japanese pulp
companies
should now stop buying old growth woodchips from WA because
it
conflicts with their own stated environmental policies. 4 We ask
them to
do so. Such a step would be strongly
supported by the WA
public,
which overwhelmingly opposes the woodchipping of Western
Australia's
old growth forest.
CONFLICT
OF INTEREST WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND LAND
MANAGEMENT
The WA
Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM), which
conducts
the logging of our forests while also having a legal
obligation
to conserve them, has lent its name and authority to the
global
marketing campaign. The EPA report
referred to is highly
critical
of CALM, highlighting major shortcomings in its forest
management
and pointing out that its responsibilities and structure
leave
it open to "the perception of a conflict of interest". Most of
CALM's
annual income comes from the sale of logs from Western
Australia's
old growth forests.
CALM
has denied the EPA findings of mismanagement and
unsustainability.
FALSE
CERTIFICATION
The
Western Australian timber industry and CALM are attempting to gain
environmental
certification in order to boost their international
timber
sales. They are exploring certification
under the Montreal
Process
and the ISO 14001 system. The timber
industry is also
examining
the development of an "Australian Forestry Standard". These
systems
have little or no credibility in the global timber trade.
CALM
and industry ignore the more credible Forest Stewardship Council
system
which unlike the ISO system is widely accepted in Europe. The
EPA
report provides further evidence that any environmental
certification
based on current forest management practices and CALM
input
would not be credible.
CONCLUSION
Until a
sustainable timber industry comes into existence in Western
Australia,
we wish to advise consumer groups, corporate buyers,
environment
organisations and governments that jarrah and karri timber
production
and karri, marri and jarrah woodchip production are based
on the
destruction of unique old growth forests, and are not
sustainable. Consequently jarrah, karri and marri
products should not
be
traded, bought or endorsed in any way.
As well
as not buying or endorsing these products, we ask you to pass
on this
message to other organisations, and to advise us if you are
aware,
or become aware, of any particular examples of the marketing of
jarrah
and karri timber.
There
is widespread support in WA for a sustainable timber industry.
Such an
industry would be based on a combination of plantation
resources,
of which WA has a large amount, and the sustainable logging
of
regrowth native forests for the production of high value timber
products
like furniture.
Thank
you for your assistance in stamping out this trade in
unsustainable
forest products.
For
further information explore the Western Australian Forest Alliance
website:
http://wafa.org.au/
and The
Wilderness Society forests pages:
http://www.green.net.au/twswa/forests.html
Please
give us feedback to the Western Australian Forest Alliance,
conswa@iinet.net.au
Notes
1. EPA report (1998). Progress report on the
environmental
performance
and mid-term report on compliance: Forest Management Plans
1994-2003. Bulletin 912. Perth, Western Australia.
2. a) Report of the Technical Advisory Panel
(1992). Environmental
Protection
Authority. Bulletin 652.
b) Report to Hon Jim McGinty, MLA,
Minister for the Environment by
Tos
Barnett as Appeals Committee (1992).
c) Report of the Legislative Council
Standing Committee on
Ecologically
Sustainable Development (1998).
3. Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works
and Water Management
Report
(1996).
4. Marubeni says, "We strive to minimize
the impact of our activities
on the
environment." Nippon Paper Industries' Environmental Charter
covers
"preserving and cultivating resources, using energy
efficiently,
maintaining the earth's environment, and developing
products
from an environmentally sound perspective."
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