TAKING DIRECT ACTION TO SAVE PARADISE

[Anonymous]

Taking Direct Action to Save Paradise

Our ships, the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise,
were making waves this winter in the Southern Ocean confronting
Japanese whalers.  Now, all eyes are on the third member of our fleet,
the Rainbow Warrior, as it takes on a company responsible for forest destruction.

Indonesia’s
forests are being destroyed faster than any other on Earth and at least
76 percent of the logging is illegal.  Our research has shown that one
of Indonesia’s largest logging companies, Kayu Lapis Indonesia (KLI),
is responsible for much of the illegal logging.  

For weeks, the Rainbow Warrior
has been on “Forest Crime Patrol” in Indonesia’s waters.  Today our
activists sprang into action – unfurling a banner in front of the ship Ardhianto.  The Ardhianto is
carrying plywood equivalent of up to 4,500 trees – logged from KLI’s
Henrison Iriana mill in Sorong.  We know that this mill received timber
from dubious and potentially illegal sources in recent years.

“KLI
and a handful of other logging companies have already wiped out much of
the Paradise Forests. If they carry on logging at these rates, they
will destroy all of Indonesia’s large intact forests within 20 years,”
said Greenpeace forests campaigner, Hapsoro. “To protect these and
other ancient forests from companies like this, governments of
countries that produce timber must work together with countries that
import wood products, to ban the trade in illegal and destructively
logged timber.”

We’re asking KLI for proof that all timber
entering its mills is from legal, well-managed sources and to provide
documents that show exactly where each tree was cut to make sure they
are from responsible logging operations and not from pristine forest
areas.

Take Action!

Although this destruction seems a world away, the illegal wood is being sold right here in America.  Contact Argo Fine Imports
– the largest U.S. importer of KLI’s plywood and use your power as a
consumer to demand that Argo sever its relationship with the illegal
loggers NOW.

[Author]

May 18, 2006 at 10:56 AM