At 8am this morning Greenpeace volunteers entered the Cabinet Office in Whitehall and declared it an ancient forest crime scene - following an investigation which revealed the government was about to install hundreds of new doors and windows made of wood from Africa's last rainforests (1).
Forty volunteers entered the building, which is currently undergoing a £22.6 million refurbishment(2), to remove doors made of African rainforest wood and replace them with doors made of environmentally friendly wood(3). Other volunteers cordoned off the area outside the Cabinet Office with 'forest crime scene' tape, while climbers attached themselves to scaffolding surrounding the cabinet office and hung a banner saying 'Dear Tony - Stop Ancient Forest Destruction'.
Greenpeace Forests Campaigner John Sauven said, "Nearly two years ago Tony Blair pledged to source all Government timber from 'legal and sustainable' sources, today's expose shows he's totally failed to turn his words into action (4).
"Trashing African rainforests for the Government's doors and windows threatens gorillas and chimps with extinction. Blair must act now to make good his promises to stop buying ancient forest destruction and only use wood from environmentally friendly sources."
The government themselves are in a spin about what standards contractors Balfour Beatty are applying for the Cabinet Office refurbishment. In a response to a written question from Joan Whalley MP, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, which will be housed in the new Cabinet Office building, stated that the wood used in the project was from 'legal and sustainable sources purchased under certified logging schemes'(5).
However Greenpeace can reveal that this information is incorrect. Research confirmed that the wood used to make the Cabinet Office doors and windows comes mainly from the forests of the Congo basin in Africa - none of which is independently certified or from sustainably managed forests.
This was confirmed in a phone conversation with the company who project manage the site. When asked to confirm that the project would only use certified timber the company admitted that none of the doors were certified (6).
The Congo forests once stretched across Africa from Senegal to Uganda - but around 85 per cent of this ancient forest has been destroyed and illegal logging by international companies threatens most of what remains.
Greenpeace research found that the timber traders who supplied the wood to the contractors are themselves supplied by international logging companies in Africa who are notorious for illegal logging, falsifying trade documents and corruption. They include one directly linked to the bushmeat trade by a recent BBC documentary and one found guilty of bulldozing part of a Baka 'pygmy' village and ancestral graveyards (7).
Samuel Nguiffo, director of the Centre for Environmental Development in Cameroon explained the problem his country faces. "You sit in your country in the North and you say, 'We are so sorry the forest is destroyed in Africa, the wildlife is destroyed, the great apes are disappearing.' I think this is hypocritical - the people saying it don't link the destruction to their own way of life. You need to look at the origin of the timber you are buying, the origin of the doors and windows that you put in your office and link that to the destruction of the great apes."
The UK is currently the biggest importer of illegally logged tropical forest timber in Europe and the government one of the top buyers of timber in Britain.
A report issued last week by the World Resources Institute, an independent centre for policy research in the US, predicted that in 10-20 years time over 40 per cent of the world's remaining intact ancient forests will be destroyed unless there is a radical change in the direction of international policy.
Today's action is part of 'Save or Delete', Greenpeace's global campaign to save the world's remaining ancient forests. During the campaign Greenpeace volunteers around the world have blocked ships carrying illegally and destructively logged ancient forest timber from offloading their cargoes.
Greenpeace is calling on governments to clean up the timber trade and to agree international measures to protect the remaining ancient forests at the 'Ancient Forests Summit' taking place in The Hague between 8th and 20th April 2002.
Notes for editors:
Photos and film from the action and of the devastation of Africa's forests are available call the Greenpeace Press Office. For images of gorillas and chimpanzees killed by the bushmeat trade contact Still Pictures on 020 8858 8307.
The cabinet office is based at 22 Whitehall, London SW1. Details of the refurbishment are in the background briefing.
- 200 sapele doors were ordered for the project - source: letter from Peter Dickins to Greenpeace. Sapele is sourced mainly from Cameroon and is on the World Conservation Union's red list of threatened species.
- The £22.6 million refurbishment is being undertaken by Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd. Work began in mid-January.
- The replacement doors are made from wood approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
- At the WWF conference 'Rio + 10 - words are not enough' Tony Blair said, We have already promised that as a government we will purchase timber only from legal and sustainable sources'.
- From a response to written question from Joan Whalley, Labour MP for Stoke on Trent North 14th February 2002.
- From a telephone conversation with Dave Green Project manager for Drivers Jonas who are the company employed by the cabinet office as the Project Managers for the refurbishment project.
- Full details in Greenpeace briefing 'Forest crime files: UK Government fuelling the destruction of the forests of the Congo basin.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
