A new Greenpeace report released today reveals that Hachette USA is one of a number of North American and European corporations fueling the destruction of Canada’s Boreal Forest.
Great grey owls hunt in the northern forests of Finland and European Russia
There are few remaining areas of ancient forest in Europe, but most of what is left lies in the far north, in Finland, Sweden and Russia. These forests are home to tens of thousands of indigenous peoples, including the Komi, the Nenets, and the reindeer-herding Sámi. They have also ensured the survival of species such as brown bears, flying squirrels and the highly endangered eagle owl.
A traditional landowner stands amid the devastation of a deforested area in Papua New Guinea
With 80 per cent of the world's ancient forests already lost or seriously degraded, it's vital we look after what remains to maintain biodiversity, protect the way of life of local communities, and guard against climate change. But industrial logging, which is often either destructive, illegal or both, has these last areas of ancient forest under siege. So fast is the rate that an area the size of a football pitch is lost every two seconds.
Huge areas of the Amazon rainforest have been cleared for soya plantations
As the human population and our consumption of resources grow, more and more land is being turned over to agricultural production. This is at the expense of natural habitats such as mangroves, wetlands and, of course, ancient forests. In particular, it's the growing importance of soya beans and palm oil as global commodities are key drivers of deforestation.
Beijing, China - Companies supplying China with illegal timber were dealt a major blow today when the world's third largest home improvement retailer, B&Q, announced a scheme to root out illegal supplies and guarantee within three years all products will be from certified responsible forestry programmes.
Two months ago, Greenpeace revealed that many timber species commonly sold in home improvement stores across China come from countries where up to 80 per cent of the logging is illegal and destructive.(1)
Forest officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are woefully under-resourced
It's not a trick question, and the answer is simple: when a moratorium is failing to stop the problem it was originally designed to address, then it's not much of a moratorium at all. There's one in place right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is supposed to help prevent the destruction of the country's rainforest, and yet it has been repeatedly breached until the moratorium itself is practically worthless.
Stretching across central Africa, the rainforest of the Congo basin is the second largest on Earth; only the Amazon is larger. Around two-thirds of the region's intact forest is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but it also covers large areas of Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo.
Millions of people across the region depend on the forest for food, medicine and shelter, and the cultures of many communities are founded on their relationship with the forest. No less than two-thirds of the DRC's 60 million people rely on the forest in one way or another.
This report warns that the tropical hardwood species merbau (or kwila) will be extinct within 35 years or less if action is not taken to stop the destructive logging and trade of the species.
Our report uncovers endemic corruption and impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo's logging sector at a time when key decisions that will determine the future of the rainforests are about to be made by the World Bank.
Greenpeace activists from across Europe launched a dawn protest this morning at the Botnia pulp mill and the Stora Enso paper mill in the northern Finnish town of Kemi. Unfurling a banner reading "Stop ancient Forest Destruction", forty protestors blocked the main entrances to both mills, preventing deliveries of timber taken from Europe's last ancient forests in northern Lapland.
