central africa

THE PLAYFAIR PROJECT in Edinburgh and the North Edinburgh Arts Centre were today declared 'Forest Crime Scenes' by Greenpeace for using timber from the endangered rainforests of South East Asia and Africa in recent construction work, which was funded with over £10million of National Lottery money.

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.