At 11am today, five Greenpeace climbers boarded the MV Roxane Delmas to stop wood from Central Africa's threatened "great ape" rainforest coming into the UK. The climbers have attached themselves to the stern door of the ship in the Thames Estuary, north of Sheerness, to prevent it from unloading its cargo at London's Tilbury Docks.
Greenpeace is demanding that this timber, from the destruction of one of the world's remaining ancient forests, is returned to Cameroon. Investigations by Greenpeace indicate that the timber on board this ship includes sapele, identical to that used in the doors and windows at the Government's Cabinet Office in Whitehall (1). Other rainforest timber from the region is also onboard.Greenpeace is calling on the UK Government to end all imports of illegally and destructively logged wood from ancient forests. If the world's ancient forests, home to most of the world's plants and animals are to be saved, then all wood imports must come from environmentally friendly sources.
The African Forest of the Great Apes is being decimated by the logging industry, threatening the gorillas and chimpanzees that rely on the forests with extinction. Corruption and illegality is rife in the logging sector throughout the region. The situation is exacerbated by bushmeat hunters, using roads opened up by loggers for the slaughter of gorillas, chimpanzees and other mammals to sell as meat on the illegal market (2).
This ship came from Cameroon which is now one of the world's top six tropical timber exporters, with more than 50% being imported into Europe. (3) There is no recognised forestry certification in the country. (4)
Commenting on the action Greenpeace Forests Campaigner Andy Tait said : "Tony Blair has promised that the UK will lead international action to protect the world's ancient forests. But while he makes these promises ships like this one appear almost daily in the Thames and at other UK ports, flooding the UK market with illegal and destructively logged timber from what's left of the worlds ancient forests."
Tait continued: "Unless the UK and other European Governments take action to stop imports like this one then the last rainforests of Africa, and the gorillas and chimpanzees that rely on them, will be wiped out in our lifetime."
Ancient forest destruction is driven by demand for wood in the UK and elsewhere. Last week during Prime Minister's Questions Tony Blair claimed that all the African rainforest wood being used in the Cabinet Office was certified. Greenpeace has been leaked documents that show that this is untrue, and prove that much of the timber comes from Vicwood-Thanry, one of the most notorious loggers in the region, whose timber is believed to be aboard this ship (5).
As the Cameroonian Government themselves said about Vicwood-Thanry: "Logging as practised by this company puts in jeopardy the whole forestry policy and the sustainable management of our resources." Since March 2000, Vicwood-Thanry companies have been fined well over one billion Central African Francs (US$1.3m) for illegal activities. Evidence of bushmeat poaching has also recently been found on logging concessions operated by this company. (6)
Nearly 80 % of the world's ancient forest has already been destroyed or degraded. The remainder is disappearing at the rate of 10 million hectares every year - that's an area the size of a football pitch every two seconds.
Michael Meacher, the UK Environment Secretary, will this week attend the Convention on Biological Diversity summit in The Hague, the Netherlands. Greenpeace is demanding that at this conference Governments must -
(1) stop the destruction of the world's remaining ancient forests
(2) clean up the timber trade by ensuring that timber is produced and traded in a legal and ecologically responsible way and by refusing to trade with companies known to be operating illegally or destructively.
(3) provide funds to help pay for forest conservation and sustainable development
Notes to editors:
Photos and film from the action and of the devastation of Africa's forests are available call the Greenpeace Press Office as above. For images of gorillas and chimpanzees killed by the bushmeat trade contact Still Pictures on 0208 858 8307
(1) NHG timber is the main UK agent for Vicwood-Thanry. According to documents passed to Greenpeace NHG supplied sapele timber from Vicwood-Thanry to East brothers, who then supplied £60,000 of this sapele for the Cabinet Office windows.
(2) More information on the bushmeat trade from - www.ukbushmeatcampaign.org.uk. A BBC documentary "The Ape hunters" recently showed bushmeat operations on logging concessions in Cameroon.
(3) Greenpeace has tracked nearly 30 shipments of African rainforest timber arriving in the UK so far this year. More details on EU imports from Friends of Earth briefing, European league tables of illegal timber imports.
(4) According to the Director of FSC UK "There is no FSC certified timber available from Cameroon at this time. Neither am I aware of any other independently certified timber under any other systems available from Cameroon."
(5) Documentation available from the Greenpeace press office.
(6) Documented by World Society for Protection of Animals and the German Development agency GTZ. More details on bushmeat and illegality from Greenpeace briefing on Vicwood-Thanry.
Further information:
Contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255/6/7/8
