illegal

Honfleur, France/Amsterdam, 29 July - Six Greenpeace activists preventing the offloading of criminal Amazon timber from two multinational companies, Lepeyre and WTK, wre arrested by the French special police in the port of Honfleur in France this morning. Despite the removal of the activists, the Aquitania was unable to prolong its stay in the port, and was forced to leave Honfleur without offloading its criminal cargo.

Government set to shun dodgy forest products

The Government announced today a major change in policy over the official procurement of timber and a crackdown against the use of illegaly obtained wood in Government projects. The policy shift comes after sustained pressure from environmentalists including direct action by Greenpeace throughout Europe, the USA and Japan over the past six weeks and at the G8 Summit in Okinawa.

Okinawa, 21 July 2000. The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior attempted to deliver 8 logs from Russian forests today to G-8 leaders to highlight the elevated rate of illegal and destructive logging that continues to occur throughout the world's last remaining ancient forests. The logs of oak and ash are from Russia's Primorsky region where according to regional government statistics 80% of logging is illegal.

Today in Kobe Harbour, Japan, four Greenpeace activists from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior boarded and occupied the ship 'Manzanillo'. The ship is carrying 11 containers of plywood from the Amazon rainforest exported by the Japanese wood-products giant Eidai Inc. The activists raised banners in Japanese and English saying "Eidai, don't buy illegally logged timber", and "G-8: Stop Illegal logging."

Greenpeace has written to timber company WTK and its subsidiary Amaplac expressing serious concern over the company's failure to recognize their involvement in the illegal timber trade in the Brazilian Amazon.

The letter from Greenpeace was responding to claims by Amaplac that it has 'nevr purchased from unauthorised and illegal logging operations' (PTF release 5th July). This is clearly not correct. From 1998 to 1999, five of Amaplac's seven third party suppliers were fined for dealing in illegal timber and Amaplac itself has been fined three times.

July 5, Toyama, Japan. Following three days of dramatic high - seas actions and an overnight occupation of a ship laden with Russian logs, six Greenpeace activists decided to relase their chains and return to their action ship, the Rainbow Warrior. The activists stated that they had succeeded in pointing a spotlight on an ignored international crisis and were now going to take their protest to a higher level - the Ministers and Heads of State of the G8 countries.

Tuesday 4 June. Eight Greenpeace activists entered Aarhus harbour to reveal the import of 112 pallets of Amazonian plywood to Denmark. The activists stamped the plywood with a message 'Protect the Amazon - Stop Criminal Timber Imports' to highlight the fact that Denmark imports Amazonian wood from companies involved in illegal logging.

At 5.20am this morning 30 Greenpeace volunteers entered London's Tilbury Docks and painted a warning for UK buyers on pallets of criminal timber from the Amazon rainforest.

The Amazonian plywood came from the MV Enif, which Greenpeace volunteers occupied for more than 75 hours a fortnight ago, to prevent it unloading at Tilbury Docks.

27 June 4am, Final Outcome. At 4am the German police removed the last climber from the MV Enif. No arrests were made and everyone was released.
The seven 40ft containers (112 pallets) of Amaplac plywood are not destined for the German market and is due to be transporte to a small town in Denmark.

Hamburg 26 June 2000 - Greenpeace volunteers have for the second time stopped a shipment of Amazon timber on board the MV Enif.