*NEWS*SLICE OF PARADISE ARRIVES IN JAPAN

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Date: Thursday May 11, 2006 11:24:00 am
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    Slice of paradise arrives in Japan

    Campaigners Hapsoro and Yuka Ozaki bear witness as the MV Ardhianto 
unloads its cargo of plywood from the Paradise Forests. The company 
involved in this protest, Kayu Lapis Indonesia’s KLI, is being 
investigated by the Indonesian government for sourcing illegally 
logged timber and for breaking forestry regulationseight=

    Campaigners Hapsoro and Yuka Ozaki bear witness as
    the MV Ardhianto unloads its cargo of plywood from the Paradise
    Forests. The company involved in this protest, Kayu Lapis Indonesia’s
    (KLI), is being investigated by the Indonesian government for sourcing
    illegally logged timber and for breaking forestry regulations.

    Tokyo, Japan
    — First we intercepted the MV Ardhianto when it was loading a thousand
    cubic metres of destructively logged plywood in Sorong harbour, Papua.
    Today, as the ship prepared to unload a slice of the Paradise Forests
    in Yokohama harbour, Japan, our activists were there to again demand a
    ban on the trade in illegal timber.

    The activists unfurled a
    banner, which read “Is This Timber Legal?” Of course, it’s a rhetorical
    question. Ironically, Japan is one of the countries that has vowed to
    tackle illegal logging, via platforms such as the G8 summit.

    Papua
    is home to one of the largest pristine forest areas left in the Asia
    Pacific region. Timber companies are destructively logging this amazing
    ecosystem so fast that it will disappear in 20 years – or less.

    The
    company involved in this protest, Kayu Lapis Indonesia’s (KLI), is
    being investigated by the Indonesian government for sourcing illegally
    logged timber and for breaking forestry regulations.

    KLI’s
    Henrison Iriana mill in Sorong, where this timber shipment came from,
    is known to source timber from dubious and potentially illegal sources.
    Not just some of its timber is suspect, either. Greenpeace has
    discovered that these questionable sources supplied 53% of the mill’s
    timber in 2002, 74% in 2003 and 70% in 2004

    Forest campaigner,
    Yuka Ozaki, says allowing timber from a company currently under
    investigation to unload products in Japan is totally unacceptable. “By
    allowing such shipments into the country, Japan is buying ancient
    forest destruction.”

    Japan is the world’s largest importer of
    Indonesian plywood.  Much of this plywood is used in construction and
    is thrown away once it is used.  

    Major buyers of KLI in Japan
    are Sojitz group, Toyo Materia co. and Sumisyo & Mitsuibussan
    Kenzai Co.  Greenpeace is calling on these companies to only purchase
    timber and timber products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
    (FSC).

    Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner, Hapsoro, followed
    the MV Ardhianto from Sarong to Yokohama. He says companies like KLI
    are “unscrupulously selling out Indonesia’s natural heritage”.

    “Great
    forests and their biodiversity are being destroyed as are the local
    communities they support, in order to satisfy the global appetite for
    cheap throwaway wood.”

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