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Greenpeace volunteers storm Cabinet Office

Jim Farrand | 11.04.2002 12:33

Yesterday, volunteers from the environmental group Greenpeace stormed the Cabinet Office building in London in protest at the use of illegally logged timber from ancient forests.

Greenpeace volunteers storm Cabinet Office
Greenpeace volunteers storm Cabinet Office


Greenpeace has declared the site of the Cabinet Office refurbishment an ancient forest crime scene. At around 8am yesterday, 40 volunteers stormed the building site and set about removing doors made from illegally and unsustainbly logged sepele wood and replacing them with doors made from independently certified sustainable wood.

The 500 rooms of the Cabinet Office were stickered and postered by the protesters, outside hoardings were covered in the words "Crime Scene" while climbers painted the words "Forest Crime" in giant letters down the tarpaulin covering the front of the building.

The protest remained peaceful, despite aggressive actions from security guards. One protester received minor cuts after being thrown to the ground. Riot police later made 37 arrests.

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair promised in March 2001 that the government would only purchase wood from legal and sustainable sources. In March 2002 the Cabinet Office claimed that all wood used in the refurbishment has been procured from certified sustainable sources.

However, a Greenpeace investigation discovered that this was not the case. The sepele wood used in the refurbishment was logged in Cameroon. The UK director of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent body which provides certification for sustainably logged wood stated yesterday that "There is no FSC certified timber available from Cameroon at this time." Furthermore, Drivers Jonas the project manager for the Cabinet Office refurbishment admitted to Greenpeace in a telephone call that the doors in question do not have certification.

Only 20% of the worlds ancient forests now remain. Every second an area the size of a football pitch is destroyed. These forests provide a home not only to forests peoples, but to many species which are already critically endangered. The UK is one of the largest importers of illegally logged wood. Continued inaction by the UK and other governments will result in the extinction of many of these species within our lifetime.

Jim Farrand
- e-mail: jim@farrand.net

Comments

Display the following 6 comments

  1. Addition — Jim Farrand
  2. Good at grabbing headlines !!!! — Eco Mafia
  3. What? — movement_type
  4. The Titanic could have used some attention — Joseph Eisenschmidt
  5. What have Greenpeace achieved? — Cat
  6. puuuuurrrrrrrrrrrr — mouse