---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 15:08:24 +0900
From: James Albert <albert at nms.ac.jp>
To: nia-net at inpa.gov.br
Subject: [nia-net] BIOD: Indonesian Forest Crisis
10/3/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY
Following is additional coverage concerning the unprecedented crisis in
Indonesian forestry, where intensive rainforest destruction has contributed
to the current ecological collapse. Remaining virgin forests worldwide are
threatened with similar consequences as intensive forest harvests continue
without pause. Paulo Petry reports that smoke from similar fires has
engulfed Manaus in a dense smog this past month. With 22% of the world's
old-
growth forests remaining, there is no reason to buy old-growth forest
products. The following is a Rainforest Action Network press release.
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Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 16:15:33 -0800
To: RAGS-RAP at ran.org
From: Mark Westlund <ranmedia at ran.org>
Subject: Borneo Crisis Over Old Growth
MASSIVE FIRES IN BORNEO RAINFOREST ILLUSTRATE NEED TO STOP OLD GROWTH LOGGING
"People are dying, South-East Asia is on fire, and America's natural
heritage is all but lost - and all this for cheap lumber and pulp." --
Randall Hayes
SAN FRANCISCO - Rainforest Action Network founder Randall Hayes is
calling for consumers to stop purchasing products made of old growth
trees. "There is no reason to support the environmentally
destructive commercial logging of old growth forests," said Hayes,
"especially when there are so many alternatives already on the
market."
The recent fires in Borneo underscore the need to take drastic
action. The Indonesian Government has admitted that the fires are
burning on commercial logging sites. Rainforests - once brimming
with life - are chopped down, the stumps burned, the native forests
replaced by tree farms. Last Friday an Indonesian airbus crashed,
visibility hampered by dense smoke from the forest fires, killing all
234 people on board.
Around the world, old growth forests are falling at an alarming rate.
Reports indicate that burning in the Amazon rainforest has increased
28 percent since 1996. In the ancient temperate rainforests of
British Columbia, a timber industry spokesman recently indicated that
more than 85 percent of the trees cut down are old growth.
Only 22 percent of the world's old growth forests remain intact; in
the United States, less than 4 percent of the old growth forests are
still standing.
Old growth forest products include plywood made of tropical hardwood,
most mahogany and teak products, and the majority of lumber coming
from British Columbia; pulped old growth forests go into toilet paper
and cellulose products, including rayon, camera film and cigarette
filters.
In response to Rainforest Action Network's Old Growth Wood Campaign,
hundreds of building industry professionals and home improvement
centers have begun to stop selling old growth products. Descriptive
labeling would further help consumers identify old growth products.
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This document is for educational, personal and non-commercial use
only. All efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all information rests
with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest
Conservation Archives at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked by Ecological Enterprises, grbarry at students.wisc.edu
James Albert
Department of Anatomy
Nippon Medical School
Tokyo, Japan