Monday 21st July 2003

GREENPEACE VOLUNTEERS INFILTRATE TILBURY DOCKS AND BRAND ILLEGAL RAINFOREST TIMBER.

LONDON DOCKS IMPLICATED IN 'WORLD'S WORST
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER'

At 5.30 this morning (21/7/03) 60 Greenpeace volunteers infiltrated the warehouses at Tilbury Docks outside London and began branding thousands of pallets of Indonesian rainforest plywood with the message 'Stop Illegal Timber'. The action is being taken to expose the fact that there are currently no laws in place to stop trade in illegally logged timber.

The action follows Greenpeace's two-day occupation last month of the new Home Office HQ site in Westminster (1), after investigation showed that contractors were using illegal and destructively logged plywood from Indonesia's rainforests, imported through Tilbury Docks.

The occupation and launch of an associated Greenpeace report - 'Partners in crime: a Greenpeace investigation of the links between the UK and Indonesia's timber barons' - led to a Government enquiry. This highlighted the fact that the Indonesian timber contravened Government policy on using only legal and sustainably produced timber such as that independently certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Following publication of the report, builders merchants Jewson and Travis Perkins announced that they will stop importing Indonesian rainforest plywood at this time.

A recent BBC report described the destruction of Indonesia's last remaining rainforest as 'the world's worst environmental disaster'. Indonesia is suffering the highest rate of forest destruction in the world, driven by demand from countries such as the UK for cheap timber and paper products. The country now has more species threatened with extinction than anywhere else on Earth, including the orang-utan, whose numbers have halved in the last ten years. The World Bank has estimated that if the current rate of forest destruction continues, most of Indonesia's rainforests will be logged out by 2010. Nearly 50% of UK tropical plywood currently comes from Indonesia's rainforests.

John Sauven, Greenpeace forests campaigner, said:

"Greenpeace is branding this timber to ensure the timber trade know that if they buy it they are fuelling the destruction of Indonesia's last rainforests. There is no need for anyone to buy illegally logged rainforest plywood, when FSC certified alternatives, guaranteed to come from legal and sustainable sources, are readily available."

"If the UK Government is serious about saving the world's remaining ancient forests, they must take immediate action to ban the import of illegally logged timber."

The 'Partners in crime' report documents the crisis unfolding in Indonesia's rainforests. It traces the trade in illegal and destructively logged timber from Indonesia's rainforests through ports like Tilbury to end users such as the UK Government and builders merchants across the country (2).

The report describes the high level of corruption within the Indonesian logging industry and reveals that approximately 88% of all timber from Indonesia's remaining rainforests is set to come from illegal sources this year. Indeed, a recent assessment by the World Bank and WWF concluded: 'Probably no log in Indonesia is produced in a way that is not characterised by the breaking or manipulation of some regulation.'

Illegal logging is also having a serious economic impact on Indonesia. According to World Bank estimates, the Indonesian government is losing a staggering US$6,700 every minute due to illegal logging - over the course of a year, that is equivalent to the annual income of eight million Indonesians. Indonesia's own Forest and Environment Ministers have urged consumer countries like the UK to stop fuelling the illegal logging trade (3).

ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information, please contact the Greenpeace press officer on site on 07950 204 268.

For photos or film of the action, or for background images of the devastation of Indonesia's rainforests, contact Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.

The Greenpeace report, 'Partners in crime: a Greenpeace investigation of the links between the UK and Indonesia's timber barons', which includes full references for source material and a summary media briefing, is available from the Greenpeace press office or at  http://www.saveordelete.com.

In May of this year, the EU Commission put forward an action plan to tackle the trade in illegal timber. This failed to include legislation making it illegal to import illegal timber.

(1) The occupation of the new Home Office site began 4 June 2003 and ended on 5 June. For more information visit : //www.saveordelete.com
(2) Companies that continue to import Indonesian rainforest plywood include Finnforest, Montague Meyer, James Latham and Caledonian Plywood. They supply rainforest plywood to builders' merchants across the country.
(3)"Allowing the import and trade of illegal timber products could be considered as an act to assist or even conduct forest crime" Muhammed Prakosa, Indonesian Forest Minister, 26 January 2003
"Since we apparently cannot stop the supply, it has become clear that Indonesia will not overcome illegal logging without stemming the foreign demand for Indonesian logs and forestry products. By buying timber sourced from Indonesia, you are facilitating the detstruction of our rainforests and national parks." Nabil Makarim, Indonesian Minister for the Environment, September 2002