Wonderful news from the front lines!
1000 Penan in Long Ajeng (site of the 5 1/2 month blockade) with
support of Murut and Kenyahs from the area have gathered to
discuss their land boundaries. The number of people gathered for
this indicates that many would have walked for weeks to attend.
The very fact that the blockade has strengthened from the 300 who
began in July, despite continuous pressure from the authorities
and harrassment from the timber company, is an inspiring confir
mation of their intent.
Though details are sketchy and I am waiting for further confirma
tion on this - it seems that the company is beginning to move out
of the area.
Meanwhile tribal people all over Sarawak continue to protect
their land - there are continuing actions in 10 different areas.
7 of the 8 Iban who were imprisoned for 6 months are due for
release in December. The battle to protect the remaining forest
areas of Sarawak is far from over, but this is perhaps the first
real sign that the "last stand for the Penan" will succeed.
Our movement to ban the import of tropical timber needs another
thrust since the trade delagation headed by John Button is assur
ing Malaysia that there will be a continuing market for the
purchase of their timber. It is hard to believe that Australia is
blatantly ignoring human rights and global evironmental impact by
continuing to trade in a commodity that was shown to be complete
ly unsustainable by a most conservative body like the Interna
tional Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) after their mission to
Sarawak in 1989. The head of this mission, Lord Cranbrook, was
shocked by the fact that the Malaysian's, despite promising a
reduction in logging, actually increased their production, just
one month after these promises had been made.
Funds are still requested for ongoing actions and various other
projects.
Contact: Anja Light RIC PO box 368 Lismore, 2480, ph: (066) 218
505, fax (066) 222 339
}GE FROM GERMANY
**************************************************************** I
have here an other piece of important information and I would be
very greatful if you could edit it in proper English and put it
onto conferences: Thanks a lot Reinhard
German timber trade against Sarawak
In the first half of 1991 the German import of tropical timber has
dropped by 25 percent. Although the timber importers organised in
the Verein Deutscher Holzeinfuhrhauser (VDH) have started a 700
000 German Mark propaganda campaign with leaflets advertising etc
in 1990 they have not been able to influence public opinion. "The
wind blows sharply into the face of the timber importers" they
wrote in an internal paper in spring. And then they complain about
the press: "public opinion is overwhelmed by a quarternary number
of emotional, one sided and essentially wrong publications".
The biggest problem for the timber import is probably the boycott
by city councils and counties. Virtually all big cities from
Cologne to Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bremen, and Munich and an unknown
but steadily growing number of smaller communities have decided
not to use tropical timber in public buildings etc. Munich is even
producing a leaflet with the rainforest group "Pro Regenwald" in
which the city asks private investors not to use tropical timber.
The only level on which the importers are successful is the
government administration in Bonn. The government still hopes to
introduce some sort of sustainable forestry via international
agreements and refutes the timber boycott.
In this difficult situation for the timber trade the Timber and
Plastic Processing Industries (Hauptverband der Deutschen Holz-
und Kunststoffe verarbeitenden Industrie) and the Trade Union
Plastic and Timber (Gewerkschaft Holz und Kunststoff) prepared a
Joint Declaration on Tropical Timber. In order not to be left out
the timber importers from VDH decided to join the initiative. The
10 page declaration has not yet been published, but a copy has
slipped into the hands of the rainforest organisation RETTET DEN
REGENWALD in Hamburg.
The main points are a statement that the parties involved will ask
for a fast move to sustainable forestry practice along the ITTO
guidelines. Details on country bases shall be worked out together
with scientists, policy makers and environmentalists. A timetable
proposes that the timber trade and the timber import will ask the
member companies to 1993 on and within years the sustainability
must be proven by each exporting company.
Given all the problems associated with a shift to sustainable
timber production (if it is at all possible in tropical forests)
RETTET DEN REGENWALD believes that the Joint Declaration may well
end up as only one further propaganda move with little practical
consequences. Internal papers from the timber importers that again
have slipped into the hands of RETTET DEN REGENWALD say that there
is "a lot of hot air" in the joint declaration.
Nevertheless the declaration contains a passage on Sarawak which
has already caused great concern among the international timber
trade and has raised protests from the timber traders in The
Netherlands and Denmark. The translation reads as follows:
3M3
"The augmentation of felling rate in Sarawak in the year 1990
contradicts the obligations accepted by Sarwak for a reduction in
felling. GHK (Trade Union Plastic and Timber), HDH (Timber and
Plastic Processing Industries) and the VDH (Timber Importer
Organisation) request the government of Sarawak to take immediate
messures to comply with the international obligations it has
entered. In case of the continuation of the forest practise shown
in 1990 all three organisations out of ecological responsibility
regard it as undefendable (unvertretbar) to import or process
timber from this region."
This information was compiled by the independent German rainforest
organisation RETTET DEN REGENWALD (Save the Rainforest)
Poseldorfer Weg 17 2000 Hamburg 13 Tel.: (40) 4103804 Fax (40)
450144