PRESS RELEASE
GREENPEACE DOCUMENTS RUTHLESS EXPLOITATION OF BURMESE TROPICAL
FORESTS
VIENNA March 4, 1992 (GP) The tropical rainforests of Burma
(Myanmar) face systematic destruction, according to a Greenpeace
report released here today.
And if the current pace of logging continues, the last teak
forests of Burma will be cut down completely within the next five
years, the report says. This destruction of natural resources
goes hand in hand with blatant violations of human rights.
Approximately 8,000 square kilometres of rainforest
are destroyed in Burma each year. While in 1960, 57 percent of
the country was covered with forest, in 1992, forest cover is
down to just 36 per cent. The ruthless exploitation of teak and
other timber has taken the place of a once sustainable forestry.
U Khin Maung Yin, a member of the exiled Burma Project in Berlin,
has described the political and economical relations of the
rainforest destruction: "In 1988 a severe economic crisis forced
the Burmese military government to open up the borders that were
kept closed since 1962. To counter acute financial problems,
licenses for logging in the vast rainforests and fisheries were
distributed."
According to the report:
* 40 per cent of Burmese export revenues come from timber sales;
* Some 80 per cent of the teak sold in international markets
originates in Burma;
* The timber industry in Burma is strictly controlled by the
Timber Corporation which is under strong influence of the
military. Licenses have been given to national and international
(mainly Thai) timber companies;
* Much of the foreign currency made through timber sales is used
for the purchase of weapons for the military regime.
"Claims that foreign currency from the timber exports is used as
aid for the country and its population are simply nonsense", said
U Khin Maung Yin. "My people do not profit at all from the
exploitation of our forests. The timber companies operate on the
territory of our ethnic minorities. The indigenous population is
being driven from its land, so that the timber can be cut down.
"Forest roads are being set up strategically, so that they can be
used by the military to penetrate once inaccessible areas of the
ethnic minorities opposing the Burmese government."
In 1991, the total value of Burmese timber exports was around
$US150 million. In addition, vast amounts of timber are smuggled
secretly across the borders. Thailand alone received illegally
smuggled tropical timber worth around $US60 million last year.
"A ban on all imports of tropical timber from Burma is an
environmental and political necessity", said Greenpeace
rainforest campaigner Martin Frimmel. "Without such a ban, there
will be no halt to the destruction of the last Burmese
rainforests. The environmental consequences of that deforestation
will be enormous."
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for further information:
Martin Frimmel, Florian Faber
Greenpeace Austria
Tel: +43-1-7130061-0
Notes to the Editor:
* Burma ranks third in rainforest destruction, after Brazil and
Indonesia. Some 36 percent of its 678,000 square kilometres are
still covered with rainforests (1960: 57 percent). Each year
around 8,000 square kilometres (3.3 per cent of the total
forest area) are being cleared. Burma exports 80 percent of all
teak currently sold on the international market. Large areas
of teak forests can only be found along the Thai border.
* After the coup d'etat by General Ne Win in 1962, Burma
practically cut off all international relations. Economic
crisis and an acute lack of foreign currency forced the
military government in 1988 to open up the border for foreign
investments. Since then, the World Bank, the Asian Development
Bank, FAO and UNDP support especially forestry projects in
Burma.
* On April 24, 1990, the US Senate agreed on a ban of all timber
imports to the USA, with a vote of 90:2.