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Action Alert: Protect Moscow’s Khimki Forest from Rampant Corruption
Moscow’s Khimki Forest is 2,600 acres of public conservation land that is an urban refuge for people and wildlife, particularly important now during Russia's record heatwave. Despite laws that prohibit road building and logging, Khimki forest is being bulldozed and cleared. Environmentalists working to protect this forest are defending the trees with their bodies while they and journalists are being attacked by thugs and arrested by police. Allegedly protesters - or more likely provocateurs - have responded by vandalizing regional administrative buildings. Moscow and Russia in general are undergoing severe drought, climate change and wildfires precisely because too many natural terrestrial ecosystems have been lost or diminished. Urban forests must be protected and restored ecologically.
By
Forests.org, a project of Ecological Internet
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July 30, 2010
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Background
Sample Email Sent
Continue to fund forest clearance in Russia and you are exacerbating climate change, drought & wildfires
European Investment Bank and European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
Dear President Maystadt and President Mirow,
I am writing regarding your banks' support for the unlawful
Moscow - St. Petersburg motorway project that will log and
build a road through the Khimki Forest near Moscow, Russia.
Urban forests such as the Khimki provide important
ecosystem services including water retention and cooling,
both important as the area increasingly faces climate
change intensified heatwaves.
Moscow and Russia in general are undergoing severe drought,
climate change and wildfires precisely because too many
natural terrestrial ecosystems have been lost or
diminished. Urban forests must be protected and restored
ecologically.
Activist's protests against this corrupt and illegal
project have been met with beatings by thugs and arrests. I
demand your banks announce you will not be funding this
deforestation. Further, I urge both banks to condemn
publicly illegal acts of deforestation and violence against
forest activists.
With grave concern,
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