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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Rainforest Destruction Report Covered Up

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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05/30/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

A damning report about the destruction of tropical forests by multinational companies has been suppressed for three years. The peer reviewed report by noted forestry experts found that "remaining virgin primary forests in the Caribbean rim, Central Africa and Pacific will be lost within five to 10 years, due to the expansion of unsustainable logging operations." The authors described the effects of a new surge of overly intensive industrial logging into many of the World's remaining rainforests. The situation was determined to be so bad that they recommended a temporary halt to all further logging in 11 countries. The backers of the report were concerned that the litigious logging companies and their governments would take offense and seek retribution. They had justifiable reasons to be concerned.

We should all be afraid of the tropical timber mafia. Besides gagging critics, their activities threaten our existence. A small group of multi-national loggers is threatening the final destruction of the World's large rainforests. They and their government apologists aggressively assert their right to continue doing so, bullying those that object into silence or self-censorship. So ecological advocates live in fear, afraid to tell the truth, afraid that we may be hurt, that we will be sued; that speaking up and bearing witness will jeopardize our families and ourselves. We do what we can, but too often we fail to say the total truth.

The fact remains that a handful of individuals and companies threaten millions of years of evolutionary brilliance and global planetary sustainability for relatively paltry economic returns that are not equitably distributed. Asian logging companies, primarily from Malaysia and Indonesia, have perfected the art of tropical deforestation and diminishment (they had a long and continuing history of European and American examples to follow), and are moving into virtually all remaining sizeable rainforests. We will lose the last remaining tropical wildernesses and their constituent species and emergent ecological processes unless we challenge and stop those that are industrially clearing the World's rainforest heritage.

g.b.

P.S. This may be a good time to recall the terms under which this information is provided:

http://forests.org/forests/disclaim.html

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ITEM #1

Title: Forest corruption report covered up

Governments, big business, World Bank and IMF named in

investigation

Source: Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000

Date: May 29, 2000

Byline: Paul Brown, Environment correspondent

A devastating report about the destruction of tropical forests by multinational companies has been suppressed for three years by the European commission and World Wide Fund for Nature.

The report named companies prepared to bribe and bully their way to lucrative logging concessions. It also blamed the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for inducing countries to sell their forests for a quick cash return to pay off debts to western countries.

The European commission, which paid the researchers nearly £200,000 for the work, was fearful of the repercussions if they named names and asked for a second version with the names taken out - but even this version was watered down.

A third version still makes clear that EU funds being poured into developing countries to ensure forests are carefully managed are frequently being wasted. Forest laws were enacted but no action taken.

The well-respected authors from the World Resources Institute and WWF said they were so disturbed by what they found that they recommended a moratorium on all further logging in 11 countries - Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa; Belize, Surinam and Guyana in the Caribbean rim; and Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific rim. This should last until bribery scandals had been investigated and proper environmental standards enforced, they said.

They also recommended an end to EU aid until these issues were addressed - but no action has been taken. The report says: "The new investments [by Asian multinational companies] have been concentrated in countries with generally weak or outdated environmental and social laws and little enforcement capacity. The governments of these countries are easy pickings to foreign investors as they have weak forest services, poor monitoring capacity, inefficient tax collection and auditing capacity, and in some cases widespread bribery and corruption.

"Many of the countries are suffering severe economic difficulties with large foreign debts, high inflation and unemployment. In the majority of countries studied, decision making is controlled by a small group of powerful people or clans within the government that look at primary forests of their country as a short-term source of personal revenue, not as a productive ecosystem which can generate social, economic and ecological benefits on the long term for the entire country and its people."

Corruption

The Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon and Belize were all named as suffering large-scale corruption.

"In some countries administrative procedures facilitate widespread corruption. Senior officials in countries such as Papua New Guinea have been shown to be taking decisions to award logging rights in exchange for bribes."

The report says although European companies have in the past indulged in bad practices the scale of the new incursions was much larger and that: "The logging itself is often very careless, with high collateral damage to the surrounding forest. The roads built to extract the timber often hundreds of kilometres long create access to frontier areas that facilitate the entry of commercial hunts, farmers, miners and others who cause further environmental damage." The companies frequently end up in violent clashes with local people and native tribes.

It blames the main donors to these countries - the World Bank, Japan, the EU, France, Germany, the UK and the US - for failing to enforce their own rules to promote forest conservation and responsible management. In fact the World Bank and IMF make things worse by imposing monetary reform on the countries, the report says. These countries are urged to allow in multinational companies and governments are urged to sell their forests for cash to pay back debts.

The report says if substantial action is not taken soon by governments, donor agencies and investors, as well as environmental and social pressure groups, much of the remaining virgin primary forests in the Caribbean rim, Central Africa and Pacific will be lost within five to 10 years, due to the expansion of unsustainable logging operations.

The original report was completed in 1997 and the EU cleared a twice-revised version for publication, printing 5,000 copies. Its press launch in July last year was blocked by the WWF, some of whose employees had carried out the research. The organisation feared that some of the governments concerned, particularly Malaysia, would close down WWF offices.

A weaker version of the report has now been prepared and, because the European commission refused to foot the bill, the WWF pulped the original 5,000 copies and has paid to print 2,000 of the latest version. The organisation claimed in a statement to the Guardian that it had to correct some "inaccuracies" and hopes this new version will be published in July.

Expert authors

The Guardian has seen the first three versions of the report - including the original draft that details the names of companies and individuals involved in bribery scandals. The main authors of the report are Nigel Sizer, an expert for the World Resources Institute in Washington and Dominiek Plouvier, a forestry consultant who works for WWF in Belgium. All their work was peer-reviewed in the countries concerned and by other forestry experts before being submitted.

Mr Sizer said: "Of course I was deeply disappointed that the report was not published. A few things were corrected in the peer review process. We were very careful about the conclusions we drew in the report. The commission was concerned and asked some of the names to be removed but I stand by everything that appeared in the drafts. My reputation and that of the Institute depends on getting things right. Lack of accuracy was not the reason the report was withheld."

A commission spokesman said: "We asked originally for some of the names to be removed and for some revisions but were satisfied with the later versions of the report. It was WWF that intervened to prevent publication last year. The new version of the report has now been delivered by them and will be distributed to interested parties when a list had been drawn up." Officials of the commission would now consider the report's findings.

WWF's senior forest officer, Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, said WWF had been anxious to name names but was concerned that many of the companies were Asian and the organisation did not want to appear to be Asian-bashing. After the Asian financial crisis the report was held up for updating.

Papua New Guinea

If the forests were sustainably managed and harvested, it is estimated that the annual income to the country could be as much as £2bn. However massive corruption in the issue of timber permits, failure to monitor exports, and low royalties and taxes have reduced government returns. Environmental and social impacts have been serious and well documented.

ITEM #2

Title: Forest report 'sanitised by WWF'

Source: BBC News Online

Date: May 29, 2000

Byline: environment correspondent Alex Kirby

The World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Commission have demanded drastic changes to a report on the destruction of tropical forests, for fear of upsetting its perpetrators.

The report was written for WWF and the EC, but both refused to allow the original version, completed in 1997, to be published.

They were concerned that the multinational companies identified as the destroyers of the forests would take offence, and that governments accused of bribery and corruption would act against them.

A final, inoffensive version of the report is being distributed, and is due to be published in July.

LITIGATION FEARS

A senior WWF source told BBC News Online: "Our main worry is that a number of the companies we were going to name are extremely litigious. They have dragged other environmental organisations through the courts.

"So names have had to be taken out, and things we might have liked to include have had to be omitted from the final draft."

The report was written by Nigel Sizer, of the World Resources Institute in Washington DC, and Dominiek Plouvier, of WWF-Belgium, and was peer-reviewed before being submitted for publication.

It is highly critical of forestry companies, governments and aid donors, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Union, the US and the United Kingdom.

The authors said the situation they found was so bad that they recommended a temporary halt to all further logging in 11 countries.

'PERSONAL REVENUE'

These are Cameroon, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Belize, Surinam, Guyana, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.

They said the moratorium should remain in force until bribery allegations had been investigated and proper environmental standards enforced.

Decision-making is controlled by a small group that look at primary forests of their country as a short-term source of personal revenue

Without substantial and rapid action, they said, much of the remaining virgin primary forests in these countries would have gone within five to 10 years.

In most of the countries, the authors said, "decision-making is controlled by a small group of powerful people or clans within the government that look at primary forests of their country as a short-term source of personal revenue".

They said the logging itself was often very careless, and it opened the forests to exploitation by hunters, miners and farmers.

Violent clashes with local people were often the result.

THREE YEARS LATER

The original report was completed in 1997, but after two revisions its press launch in July 1999 was blocked by WWF, afraid that some of the governments named, especially Malaysia, would close its offices in their countries.

WWF told the Guardian newspaper of London, which details the report's suppression, that it had had to correct some inaccuracies.

But Mr Sizer said he stood by everything that had appeared in the drafts.

"My reputation and that of the World Resources Institute depends on getting things right.

"Lack of accuracy was not the reason the report was withheld," he said.

An EC spokesman said it had asked for some revisions to the first draft, and for the removal of some names, but added: "It was WWF that intervened to prevent publication last year."

Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, WWF's senior forest officer, said the organisation had wanted to name names, but was concerned that many of the companies were Asian.

It did not want to appear to be Asian-bashing, he said.

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