An international report published today (4/10/99) names the major 150 companies involved in the logging of ancient forests around the world. The report - 'Buying Destruction' - compiled by Greenpeace, profiles major logging and wood trading companies active in the ancient forests of Brazil, Guyana, Chile and Suriname, Cameroon and Gabon, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Canada and Russia. Ancient forests, which have been largely shaped by natural events and not human activities, are some of the planet's richest areas in biological and cultural diversity and the last refuges for many endangered species of plants and animals.
Greenpeace research in the UK has also uncovered examples of British companies selling timber products from logging companies active in the rainforests of the Amazon, Cameroon and Canada as well as high profile investment funds which invest in Amazon rainforest destruction [see Appendix 1]. The report also reveals that:
- Only one fifth of the world's original forest remains as large tracts of ancient forest, and much of what does remain is threatened by logging and other activities.
- An estimated 10 million hectares of ancient forest are degraded or destroyed each year - an area the size of a soccer pitch every two seconds.
- Logging represents the single most important threat to the world's remaining ancient forests. Many logging operations around the world are illegal eg: eighty percent of logging in the Amazon rainforest is illegal.
- The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) anticipates significant increases in demand for forest products in the coming decades. Unless ancient forests are properly protected and managed many more areas will be lost.
- Independent forest certification is needed urgently - it is the only way that customers can avoid wood from ancient forests.
Greenpeace is calling on wood product consumers and investors to end their role in ancient forest destruction. A share analysis of just one of the logging companies 'Jaya Tiasa Holdings' reveals share holdings by such investors as HSBC and Legal and General. Jaya Tiasa has recently invested in timber companies in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon which have been involved with illegal logging over the past two and a half years. An initial investigation by Greenpeace of timber dealers and retailers in the UK also reveals many household-name businesses that are selling products originating from companies that are destroying the world's ancient forests.
Patrick Anderson, Forests Campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "Greenpeace is calling on all companies using wood and paper products to find out where their wood comes from and to end their role in ancient forest destruction. Investment funds should avoid investing in this reckless vandalism. Now that we have compiled the information there can be no excuse for participating in this catastrophic trade."
