Greenpeace climbers pass 72 hour landmark in vigil on criminal timber ship
Three Greenpeace volunteers were arrested today when police boarded the Greenpeace vessel Beluga as it lay alongside the criminal timber ship MV Enif. Ironically, one volunteer was arrested for criminal damage for daubing a small amount of white paint on the side of the MV Enif despite the fact that the ship contains 1700 tonnes of criminal timber from the Amazon. Greenpeace was attempting to rename the ship 'Amazon Crime'
Meanwhile, the four Greenpeace volunteers occupying the crane of the MV Enif have now completed a landmark 72 hours making their vigil one of the longest in Greenpeace history in the UK. The occupation is part of a global campaing to stop the traffic in criminal timber from the Amazon rainforest. The volunteers are demanding that the ship's cargo of criminal rainforest plywood be returned to Brazil.
Greenpeace Campaign Director, John Sauven, said: "It's laughable that a Greenpeace volunteer should be arrested for criminal damage when the MV Enif contains 1700 tonnes of criminal timber taken from the Amazon - this criminal timber trade is destroying one of the finest rainforests in the world. It's obvious who is really guilty of criminal damage in this case, and it isn't one volunteer with a paintbrush."
Since the action started on Tuesday morning, Greenpeace has been in correspondence with the 22 timber companies in the UK known to be buyers of plywood from Amaplac, a subsidiary of the Malaysian logging company WTK which is behind the imports. Several of the timber companies have already supported Greenpeace's demands to stop buying timber from WTK's logging operations in the Amazon.
Among the companies who have responded to Greenpeace's demands is International Plywood, who said, "... we have been made aware of the trading policies of Amaplac and have since refused to negotiate any further business...we consider that most of the country's plywood manufacturing capability is being sustained by illegal sources...we alone cannot police this and if you are aware of any other plywood producers conducting business using illegally felled logs, we would be pleased to know their names." (1)
Another company, Premier Forest Products Ltd, said "We were informed last week...of the Amaplac situation and obviously made the decision to suspend any future enquiries at that stage."(2)
Also, Taylor Maxwell Timber Limited informed Greenpeace that they became aware "of the situation from the News on the 20 th . Our situation is that we will not be purchasing Amaplac Plywood until further notice."(3)
Greenpeace has also been in correspondence with the Prime Minister who recently thanked Greenpeace for "the important role Greenpeace is playing in tackling illegal logging"(4). But Greenpeace is still awaiting a response from Tony Blair as to what action he will take against criminal timber imports from the Amazon rainforest regularly arriving at Tilbury.
Every month hundreds of tonnes of plywood from the Amazon comes into the UK. The Brazilian Government has said that 80% of all wood logged in the Amazon is taken illegally. WTK, the Malaysian multinational behind these timber imports is one of the world's biggest rainforest destroyers. The company has convictions, along with its third party log suppliers, for trading in illegal logs from the Amazon. WTK is also threatening to log on land belonging to Amazon Indians.
Notes for editors:
(1) Fax from International Plywood to Greenpeace (20/6/2000)
(2) Fax from Premier Forest Products Ltd (20/6/2000)
(3) Fax from Taylor Maxwell Limited (21/6/2000)
(4) Letter from Tony Blair to Greenpeace (26/5/2000)
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
