Greenpeace report reveals Hachette is buying Boreal Forest destruction

A new Greenpeace report released today reveals that Hachette USA is one of a number of North American and European corporations fueling the destruction of Canada’s Boreal Forest.

The report, 'Consuming Canada’s Boreal Forest: The chain of destruction from logging companies to consumers', details the environmentally destructive and socially unjust logging practices of Abitibi-Consolidated, Bowater and Kruger. It reveals that more than 68 per cent of the Boreal Forest under the collective management of these companies has already been degraded or fragmented – an area totalling nearly 200,000 km2 - 100 times the size of London. Hachette’s US book arm uses 'alternative book cream' paper manufactured by Abitibi consolidated, which uses pulp from intact Boreal forest areas and Caribou habitat.

Greenpeace UK Forest Campaigner, Mariana Paoli said: "The Hachette Book Group USA is contributing to the destruction of the Canadian Boreal Forest, the largest ancient forest in North America. The company must suspend its contract with Abitibi as a matter of urgency until action is taken on the ground to protect the forest and end destructive logging."

She continued, "In the UK Greenpeace is urging Hachette to follow progressive publishers in the industry and commit to phasing out all paper from dubious sources and move towards ancient forest friendly papers instead."

While other parts of the book industry are making real progress in sourcing ancient forest friendly papers, Hachette has consistently failed to act.

In the UK alone, over 40 per cent of the book industry has adopted good environmental policies – including Random House, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury and Egmont - as part of the Greenpeace Book Campaign. (1) These companies are now well on their way to phasing out fibre from ancient forest destruction and printing their books on recycled paper and paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). (2) Similar progress is being made by publishers in Canada, North America and Europe. Meanwhile, Hachette, which controls 17 per cent of the UK market alone, continues to source ancient forest fibre and has not made any similar commitment to go ancient forest friendly.

Canada’s Boreal Forest contains a quarter of the world’s remaining intact ancient forests and stores 47.5 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and trees. It is the largest ancient forest in North America and provides habitat for threatened and endangered species such as woodland caribou, lynx, grizzly bear and wolverines. The forest is also home to nearly a million aboriginal peoples.

The report can be downloaded online.

Broadcast quality video and photos available upon request.

For more information, please contact the Greenpeace Press office on 0207 865 8255

NOTES TO EDITORS:

(1). The Greenpeace Book Campaign encourages book publishers to stop printing their paper linked to ancient forest destruction and instead to print their books on ‘ancient forest friendly’ paper. Such paper maximises post consumer recycled content with any virgin fibre coming Forest Stewardship Council certified sources.

(2) The Forest Stewardship Council certification scheme is the best way to ensure that the virgin fibre you use comes from forests that have been managed in an environmentally and socially responsible way.