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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
The
Challenge of Global Security and Illegal Logging in Indonesia
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation
Portal
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Conservation Links
09/16/01
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
Forests.org
is deeply distressed by the barbaric terrorist attack
against
America. Our condolences go out to
those that have been hurt
and
continue to suffer. Forests.org
supports an aggressive US
response
to the tragedy that respects innocent lives and protects the
civil
liberties of all people. Many
non-traditional threats to
global
security are emerging - terrorism being only one highly
visible
recent example. Collapsing ecosystems -
including habitat
loss,
desertification, climate change and lack of clean drinking
water;
over-population, abject poverty, crushing foreign debt and
concentrated
corporate power all contribute to an environment of
extreme
hopelessness that spawns terrorists and their violent acts.
Efforts
to stop terrorism and establish a secure, just and equitable
future
must go beyond military solutions. Abject
poverty, economic
inequity,
environmental decline and resultant hopelessness are at the
core of
the terrorism problem. Establishment of
a secure, peaceful,
equitable,
just and environmentally sustainable World requires
pursuit
of a holistic program that includes massive development aid
in
support of ecologically sustainable development and environmental
protection
throughout the World's poor but peaceful nations. After
postponing
our regular commentary out of respect for the suffering of
innocent
victims, Forests.org will now resume our forest conservation
news
coverage, commentary and campaigns. The
story below illustrates
how
illegal logging threatens Indonesia's, and the World's, security
by
destroying critical ecosystems upon which all life depends. God
bless
America, and all peaceful nations and peoples of the World.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environmental watchdog warns of rampant
illegal logging in
Indonesia
Source: Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
Date: September 11, 2001
Illegal
logging in Indonesia is destroying at least 700,000 hectares
(1.7
million acres) of tropical forest a year, an environmental
watchdog
said Tuesday.
"The
international trade in illegal logs is really out of control. We
have
witnessed the ruining of Indonesian forests by illegal logging
encouraged
by the international market," said Hapsoro (eds:one name)
from
the Telapak Indonesia.
He said
that according to estimates of Telapak, a private
environmental
group based in Bogor, West Java, more than 70 percent
of the
timber circulating in Indonesia came from illegal logging.
Telapak
activists have also seen Indonesian illegally-felled logs and
timber
smuggled to Malaysia from where they are processed for export
to the
US, Japan, Europe and China.
"It
is estimated that five million cubic metres of timber flows into
Malaysia
every year or the equivalent of 700,000 hectares of tropical
rain
forest," Hapsoro said.
In a
joint report prepared by Telapak and the Environmental
Investigation
Agency, the two groups unveiled how international
market
demand for tropical wood has led to the destruction of various
protected
forests in Indonesia.
The
report said wood from the Ramin (Gonystylus) tree prevalent in
marshy
areas was most popular among illegal loggers.
"We
call for regional cooperation in Southeast Asia to fight illegal
logging
and campaign for a new regulation in consumer countries so
that in
the future, trade in wood from illegal sources be classified
as an
illegal activity that is punishable," Hapsoro said.
"Serious
action should be taken to immediately halt the illegal
logging,"
he added.
Indonesia
has around 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical
rain
forest but environmental watchdogs have said that logging --
official
or illegal -- is fast depleting it.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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