INDONESIA'S RAINFORESTS FACE 'ECOLOGICAL HOLOCAUST'
New report charts threat from pulp and paper industry
A new report* released today by the environmental
campaign, 'Down to Earth', reveals that Indonesia's
fast-vanishing rainforests face a new threat. With the
blessings of President Suharto, the country's main
industrialists now plan to make Indonesia the world's
number one producer of paper and pulp.
Already natural forests are being clearfelled and
pulped to satisfy the industry's voracious demand for
raw materials. The livelihoods and cultures of
thousands of forest people are being undermined in the
process.
"Rainforest loss in Indonesia has already
passed 1 million hectares a year. Yet, as
this report reveals, the destruction is
nothing compared to the ecological holocaust
that is now being unleashed",
said Marcus Colchester of the Penang-based World
Rainforest Movement.
International business and investors are not standing
idly by. European, North American and Japanese
companies are jumping in to snatch up new opportunities
to sell their machinery and expertise. Meanwhile,
overseas banks pour in their funds to boost the growth.
The new report sets out the anatomy of the industry,
exposing the scale of the problem, who exactly is
involved and its impact to date.
* PULPING THE RAINFOREST The rise of Indonesia's paper
and pulp industry, by Down to Earth, International
Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia, London
42 pp, L sterling 2.50 (US dollars 5.00); L sterling 1 (US dollars
2.00) extra for
airmail.
Available from Down to Earth, PO Box 213, London SE5
7LU, England
For more information contact: Down to Earth, tel: 081
771 2904 fax: + 44 81 653 0322, EMail: gn:dte
World Rainforest Movement,
tel: 060 876 691, fax: + 44 60 876 743.