ACTION ALERT
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
http://www.RainforestPortal.org/ July 28, 2007
TAKE ACTION Support for "certified" ancient rainforest logging crumbles further due to string of inappropriate and illegal certifications, most recently in Peru; and as Norway rejects FSC and all primary rainforest logging certification schemes
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=peru_fsc
An ancient rainforest logging operation in Peru recently certified by Rainforest Alliance SmartWood under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme has been implicated in massive cross-border illegal logging. Workers from the Peruvian company Venao Forestal have been crossing into Brazil and building an extensive road network to illegally fell CITES-listed mahogany. The FSC certifier SmartWood has turned a blind eye to serious illegalities in logging companies it has certified under FSC as providing "responsible forest management". This illustrates yet again that a FSC seal is no guarantee of either ecological sustainability or legality. Global ecological sustainability including addressing climate change critically depends upon ending all industrial scaled ancient forest logging. The situation is rapidly emerging as a major international incident; for which WWF, Greenpeace, FSC and SmartWood are responsible... Peru is now added to a list of countries that already includes Guyana, Congo, Russia, and Indonesia, where WWF has helped massage highly controversial and sometimes illegal companies through the FSC certification process, as Greenpeace sits mute in charge of FSC's board. SmartWood has conclusively shown that they are unfit to remain as an FSC accredited certifier... Meanwhile the Norwegian government has decided that it cannot rely on any certification system including FSC to help implement its newly announced ethical procurement policy.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=peru_fsc
DISCUSS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2007/07/alert_fsc_and_big_green_ancien.asp
--------
PRESS RELEASE "Certified" Ancient Rainforest Logging Tragedy Worsens E-Protest calls for Greenpeace and WWF to withdraw from Forest Stewardship Council and work to end ancient forest logging
July 31, 2007 By Rainforest Portal,
http://www.RainforestPortal.org/ Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org
An ancient rainforest logging operation in Peru recently certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme by Rainforest Alliance SmartWood has been implicated in massive cross-border illegal logging. Workers from the Peruvian company Venao Forestal are reported to have been crossing into Brazil and building an extensive road network to illegally fell CITES- listed mahogany. FSC and big green logging apologists including Greenpeace and WWF are facing tough questions following this and other inappropriate and illegal certifications.
Support for FSC's "certified" ancient rainforest logging continues to crumble, as calls to protect all remaining ancient forests for climate and biodiversity values intensify. Peru is now added to a list of countries that already includes Guyana, Congo, Russia, and Indonesia, where WWF has helped massage highly controversial and sometimes illegal companies through the FSC certification process, as Greenpeace sits mute in charge of FSC's board. Meanwhile Norway has rejected FSC and all primary rainforest logging certification schemes in public construction
(for more information see
http://www.fsc-watch.org/ ).
Global ecological sustainability including addressing climate change depends critically upon ending all industrial scaled ancient forest logging. Ecological Internet, provider of the world's largest environmental portals and environmental action network, has intensified their protests against Greenpeace and WWF for supporting industrial scaled ancient forest logging. A few hundred thousand protest emails have been.
Dr. Glen Barry, President of Ecological Internet, explains "the litany of failed FSC ancient forest logging certifications in recent months illustrates yet again that a FSC seal is no guarantee of either ecological sustainability or legality. Many of us were excited about the idea of sustainable, equitable and just logging in the early 1990s. We envisioned community based eco-forestry management plans that tied small and medium scaled logging to strict protection of surrounding lands. Sadly, 'certified forestry' has been usurped by existing commercial loggers and their environmental apologists."
"FSC has had fifteen years to prove that industrial scale logging can be responsible and ecologically beneficial. Now with the huge list of bad certifications, it is clear it has failed. Greenpeace and WWF may have honestly believed industrial logging of ancient rainforests in an environmentally responsible manner was possible, but they have been conclusively proven wrong."
The response from Greenpeace and WWF in this David versus Goliath effort to protect all ancient forests -- including payment for avoided deforestation -- has thus far been one of stonewalling and vilifying the protestors. WWF has accused in a mocking manner the hundreds of thousands of protestors from over 100 countries of sending "spam", and are blocking many of the messages. Greenpeace replied with a terse brief response dodging the main questions of why they support ancient forest logging. Neither has responded substantively and defended their policies.
"This is a protest", explains Dr. Barry. "I am sure these environmental bureaucracies are not keen on being called out on their forest policy. But the survival of the Earth depends upon doing so. Greenpeace in particular can now feel what disruption caused by a protest feels like. I encourage all people concerned with global ecological sustainability to take action at
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=peru_fsc and to cancel their Greenpeace and WWF memberships until they withdraw from FSC and work to end ancient forest logging."
Dr. Glen Barry
President Ecological Internet, Inc. P.O. Box 433 Denmark, WI 54208
USA
GlenBarry @EcologicalInternet.org
+1 920 776 1075 phone
Ecological Internet's projects include: EcoEarth.Info --
http://www.EcoEarth.Info/ Climate Ark --
http://www.climateark.org/ Forests.org --
http://forests.org/ Water Conserve --
http://www.waterconserve.org/ Rainforest Portal --
http://www.rainforestportal.org/ Ocean Conserve --
http://www.oceanconserve.org/ My.EcoEarth.Info --
http://My.EcoEarth.info/
--------
Plant trees, lots of them, you can never plant enough!
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3515163/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=logging
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glen+Barry
