ACTION
ALERT
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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Citigroup
Funding Deforestation in Indonesia
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TAKE
ACTION:
Citigroup
Funding Deforestation in Indonesia
http://www.ran.org/info_center/aa/aa154_citi2.html
07/30/01
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
Rainforest
Action Network and others have launched a major campaign
against
Citigroup - the largest U.S. financial institution.
Citigroup
is an international leader in the financing of destructive
oil and
gas, mining, and commercial logging operations. In
Indonesia,
Citigroup has been a major funder of companies engaged in
oil
palm and paper pulp production, leading to massive deforestation
of
these globally critical rainforest ecosystems.
If the World's
rainforests
are to be conserved it is important that rainforest
activists
go beyond railing against globalization in general, and
hold
corporations responsible for such specific instances of
ecological
misdeeds. Holding Citigroup, Boise
Cascade, ExxonMobil
(Esso)
and others responsible for activities that threaten the
world's
forests, climate and other ecosystems is an excellent eco-
activist
strategy. See RAN's Citigroup campaign
page at
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/
for more information on
this
exciting new rainforest campaign. To
help launch this campaign,
that is
sure to grow until Citigroup yields to the will of the people
and
stops funding industrial ecocide, participate in the action alert
below
(or at http://www.ran.org/info_center/aa/aa154_citi2.html).
Forests.org
has gotten this alert to 5000+ forest conservation
entities
worldwide, but maximum efficacy depends upon you forwarding
this
alert widely and encouraging your friends and colleagues to
sign-up
for this free forest conservation email news at
http://forests.org/forms/signlist.htm.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Citigroup Funding Deforestation in
Indonesia
Source: Rainforest Action Network,
http://www.ran.org/
Date: July 2001
AS THE
FIRE SEASON in Southeast Asia approaches, international
activists
are increasingly concerned about the fate of Indonesia's
rainforests.
Of particular concern is the role of Citigroup (Citi),
North
America's largest financial institution, in fueling
deforestation
in the region. Citi is a key financial backer of some
of the
most environmentally egregious projects in Indonesia,
including
projects that have caused extensive rainforest destruction
and
pose an ongoing threat to the country's remaining old growth
rainforests. Additional background information is
included below.
What
You Can Do:
Demand
that Citi funds not be used in Indonesia or anywhere else to
fund
the destruction of forests, communities, and wildlife. You can
send
the email directly from RAN's web page at:
http://www.ran.org/info_center/aa/aa154_citi2.html
Or here
is a sample letter that can be edited and sent to Citigroup
at
investorrelations@citi.com:
Stop
funding the destruction of the rainforests!
Sandy
Weill
CEO
Citigroup
Center
153
East 53rd Street
New
York, NY 10043
USA
investorrelations@citi.com
Dear
Mr. Weill,
I am outraged
to learn that Citigroup is financing forest destruction
in
Indonesia at the expense of indigenous peoples and endangered
species.
As a key creditor of this devastating industry, you have the
opportunity-and
the influence-to halt further forest destruction in
Indonesia.
Almost
80 percent of the world's old growth forests have been
destroyed
or degraded. Indonesia houses 10 percent of what remains. I
urge
you to stop funding the destruction of old growth forests and to
promote
sustainable development in Indonesia and around the world. As
one of
the world's largest banks, Citi must set the standard for an
ecologically
sane, democratic, and just economy.
Please
let me know where you stand on this critical issue.
Thank
you,
*****************
Background
Information
One of
Citi's top business partners in the region is Indonesia's most
infamous
palm oil company, London Sumatra (Lon Sum). Lon Sum has been
implicated
in illegal logging and human rights violations, and is
suspected
of being among the palm plantation companies that
deliberately
and illegally set fires in Indonesia in 1997. The
devastating
fires destroyed vast areas of rainforest, which the
government
then allocated to forest corporations. Many of these
companies
sought the increased operating area in order to pay off
debt to
foreign investors, such as Citi. Overall, palm oil
plantations
have claimed nearly eight million acres of native forest
in
Indonesia, and every year close to one million additional acres of
forest
are targeted for conversion.
Pulp
and paper operations are another key factor in the decimation of
Indonesia's
forests. Citi is a top investor in Asia Pulp and Paper
(APP),
one of Indonesia's largest pulp and paper operators. Since the
late
1980s, foreign investment in Indonesia's pulp and paper sector
has
grown by 700 percent. The increase in pulp and paper processing
has far
outpaced the development of sustainably managed pulpwood
plantations,
resulting in the widespread destruction of natural
forests.
APP has reportedly expanded its processing operations in
order
to resolve outstanding debts with foreign creditors.
Indonesia
harbors 10 percent of the world's remaining old growth
forests.
An estimated 72 percent of the country's original frontier
forest
has already been destroyed. Today, the destruction continues
unabated,
posing an increasing threat to the country's indigenous
peoples,
who face displacement from their traditional forest
territories.
The
forestry sector also poses a grave danger to Indonesia's
wildlife,
including tigers, elephants, rhinos, and the endangered
orangutan,
which is found only in the remaining intact forests of
Borneo
and Sumatra. The orangutan population has declined by 50
percent
in the last decade, primarily due to destruction of its
forest
habitat, up to 80 percent of which has been lost in the past
twenty
years. Less than twenty-five thousand orangutans now remain in
the
wild. Both Lon Sum's and APP's operations threaten habitat that
is
critical to the orangutan's survival.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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