VICTORY!
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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Brazil
Shuts Down Illegal Mahogany Trade
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
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12/8/01
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
In a
major victory for environmentalists, the Brazilian government
has
announced widespread cancellation of mahogany logging operations
in the
Amazon. The initiative comes in the
wake of a series of
Greenpeace
exposes on illegal mahogany logging and trade in the
Amazon. Based on the information provided by
Greenpeace, Ibama
conducted
an inspection of areas of illegal logging, forest
management
plans and sawmills. The trade in
mahogany - which is now
found
only in very remote, old growth tropical forests - has been the
subject
of environmental campaigns for more than a decade. Our
network
has contributed through action alerts and information
networking,
and we all have participated in some small way in this
victory. Greenpeace's informational intervention is
yet another
example
of how credible information that is networked widely can
result
in forest conservation victories.
Networking of information
may
well be one cure for the global illegal logging epidemic.
g.b.
P.S. If
you have not yet made a donation to Forests.org's forest
conservation
networking project, please do so soon at
http://forests.org/donate/
. The future of the most successful
Internet
forest information network depends upon you doing so.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Title: Brazil Shuts Down Illegal Mahogany
TradeNews
Source: Copyright 2001 OneWorld US
Date: December 6, 2001
Byline: Jim Lobe, OneWorld US
In a
major victory for environmentalists, the Brazilian government
Wednesday
announced the cancellation of all but two mahogany logging
operations
in the Amazon.
The
announcement followed dramatic government raids in late October
on two
illegal operations that had been exposed in a report by the
environmental
movement Greenpeace.
Greenpeace
hailed Wednesday's decision by Brazil's national
environmental
agency, IBAMA, as a "historic announcement [that]
brings
an end to the illegal mahogany industry in Brazil."
"The
illegal mahogany industry has for years been driving the
destruction
of the Amazon," said Paulo Adario, coordinator of the
Greenpeace
Amazon Campaign, who had received death threats over his
role in
preparing the report. "Mahogany is responsible for thousands
of
miles of illegal roads opening areas of pristine forest to
degradation."
The
trade in mahogany--which today is found only in very remote, old-
growth
tropical forests--has been the subject of environmental and
human
rights campaigns for more than a decade in the United States
and
Europe,
especially Britain.
The
value of the hardwood--used mostly in the construction of yachts,
expensive
furniture, musical instruments, and coffins--has long
attracted
loggers deep into virgin forests. Their construction of
logging
roads has in turn spurred settlers to move into regions which
are
home to native peoples.
The
result has been not only the destruction of the forests, but also
the
spread of disease to indigenous populations with little if any
resistance,
and often violent collisions of very different cultures.
Christopher
Hatch, executive director of the Rainforest Action
Network
(RAN) called the Brazilian government's decision "very bold
and
very
courageous."
"This is a really large-scale intervention and much
bigger
than the U.S. has ever tried to protect its forests," he
added.
The
government's October raids targeted two major operators who
control
most of the illegal trade in Para State. The raids netted
more
than one million cubic feet of illegal mahogany with an
estimated
value of some US$30 million. It was the largest seizure in
Brazilian
history.
Using
forged documents to make it appear that the logs were harvested
legally,
they exported logs to overseas buyers, mainly in the United
States,
Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany, according to the
Greenpeace
report which named U.S. companies Ethan Allen Stickley,
Henredon,
and Georgia Pacific as among the buyers.
Brazil
enacted a moratorium on mahogany logging in the mid-1990s, but
it was
only loosely enforced. After the October raids, President
Fernando
Henrique Cardoso announced an immediate suspension of all
logging,
transport, and export of Brazilian mahogany until IBAMA
could
complete an investigation of the industry.
Wednesday's
announcement makes Cardoso's October order against all
illegal
operations permanent. IBAMA said it will permit two logging
operations
that are in the process of being independently certified
as
well-managed projects to continue and will in the future require
certification
for all management plans that affect or border Indian
lands
and conservation
"Of
course, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating," said
RAN's
Hatch, but "at least this will make illegal logging easier to
track."
ITEM #2
Title: GREENPEACE INVESTIGATIONS IN AMAZON LEADS TO
HISTORIC
DECISION
BY BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT
Source: Greenpeace
Date: December 6, 2001
Amsterdam/Brazil
- Today Greenpeace welcomed the unprecedented Decree
(1) by
the Brazilian government to suspend all mahogany forest
management
plans in the Amazon and take measures to protect Indian
Lands
and conservation areas. The decision, announced by the
President
of the Brazilian environmental agency Ibama, Hamilton
Casara,
comes in the wake of a series of Greenpeace expos‚s on
illegal
mahogany logging and trade in the Amazon.
Between
September and October Greenpeace exposed rampant illegalities
in the
mahogany industry on Indian lands in the Amazon. A report,
Partners
in Mahogany Crime, was delivered to the Federal Prosecutor
and the
environmental authorities. The report revealed the existence
of a
mahogany mafia and its links with the international timber
trade.
Based
on the information provided by Greenpeace, Ibama conducted an
inspection
of areas of illegal logging, forest management plans and
sawmills.
In a joint operation with Greenpeace, Ibama seized the
largest
volume of illegal mahogany logs in Brazil's history (2).
"The
illegal mahogany industry has for years been driving the
destruction
of the Amazon. Mahogany is responsible for thousands of
kilometres
of illegal roads opening areas of pristine forest to
degradation,"
said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon coordinator.
"Today's
historic announcement in effect means an end to the illegal
mahogany
industry in Brazil."
The
Brazilian government excluded those mahogany management plans,
which
are in the process of being independently certified as coming
from
well managed forest operations. In addition, the government made
certification
mandatory for all management plans which surround
Indian
lands and conservation areas.
"This
sends a clear message to the Amazon logging sector and the
market
place, that they stop illegal logging and go to certification
or they
are out of business," said Adario.
This
work is part of an international campaign by Greenpeace to
protect
the world's remaining ancient forests. Some 80 percent of
these
forests have already been degraded or destroyed, and time is
running
out for the last 20 percent.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
For
more information contact:
Paulo
Adario, Greenpeace Amazon Campaigner +31 629 001142
Natalia
Truchi, Greenpeace International Press Officer, + 31 621
296908
Recent
Photos available + 31 629 001162
Video
available + 31 653504721
Notes:
(1)
Article 1§ to suspend all the forest management plans of
mahogany,
approved by IBAMA, in the States of Par , Mato Grosso and
Acre,
excluding the management plans in the course of certification
or in a
conclusive phase of certification.
(2) In
October, a joint operation between government officials and
Greenpeace
seized a total of 7,165 cubic metres of illegal mahogany
worth
almost US$7 million on the international market. In total, the
government
seized approximately 30,000 cubic metres of illegal
mahogany,
11 logging trucks, five bulldozers and fined loggers and
companies
several million dollars."
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