Demand End of Certification of Rainforest Destruction.

(New York, New York) – Thursday the New York Climate Action Group (NYCAG) joins other environmental organizations denouncing Rainforest Alliance for profiting financially from the destruction of rainforests.

NYCAG is demanding a permanent end to the industrial logging of old-growth forests worldwide. Dressed as creatures from the rainforests of the world, environmentalists from New York City will participate in a festive rally to greet and inform the participants at a Rainforest Alliance cocktail party.

Scientific studies have shown that industrial logging in old-growth rainforests is never sustainable and leads to their permanent destruction by ranchers, mining operations, and industrial agricultural interests. Rainforest Alliance receives 30% of its funding by certifying industrial logging through their “Smartwood” program. They are the largest such certifier in the world. “Smartwood” certification follows Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines, which Rainforest Alliance claims will ensure sustainable forestry. In truth, however, FSC guidelines allow first-time logging of pristine ancient forests. These forests are recognized by climate scientists worldwide as our greatest defense against climate change.

Many cocktail party attendees coming expecting pina coladas will first be met by activists disguised as rain forest creatures, including an array of wild birds and mammals and even a gorilla to represent those imperiled because of certified logging schemes similar to Smartwood in the Congo.

The watchdog group, FSC-Watch, is directed by one of the founders of FSC Simon Counsell, who became its greatest critic. They have reported that, in addition to legal unsustainable logging, SmartWood has issued FSC certificates to various companies involved in illegal logging; its parent organization, Rainforest Alliance, also issued 'ethical certificates' to a company which that was actually working with Colombian terrorists.

In recent weeks, opponents of FSC certification of old-growth forest logging have achieved important victories. On January 17th the city council of Ocean City (New Jersey) voted unanimously to cancel a $1.1 million purchase of ipê timber from ancient rainforests, despite claims that its FSC certification ensured sustainability. Dr. Glen Barry, of Ecological Internet, responded, "The message is getting through: for our survival rainforest logging must end. Remaining rainforests must be protected and allowed to expand, with compensation to local peoples."

But is the message getting through?

Explains NYCAG member Emily Sandusky, dressed as a gorilla, “I hope Rainforest Alliance will recognize that FSC certification of old-growth tropical timber is certifying the destruction of the rainforest.”

The activists urged Rainforest Alliance to recognize the need to support permanent protected status for the world's remaining old growth forests. The animals will ask cocktail party-goers to use their influence to get Rainforest Alliance to change its ways and to stop selling old growth rainforest timber products. Rainforest Alliance will also be urged to support NYCAG efforts to end New York City's use of tropical hardwoods.

For more information on the FALSE $OLUTION of certification, visit www.fsc-watch.org

-end-

Date/Time: Thursday, January 24, 7pm at RA Headquarters, 665 Broadway (near E. 3rd St.)

Contacts for more information:
Emily Sandusky, Founding Member of NYCAG, telephone: 1.315 576 1747

Dr. Tom Struhsaker, Duke University, Author of Ecology of an African Rain Forest: Logging in Kibale and the conflict between conservation and exploitation. tomstruh@duke.edu

Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet - info@EcologicalInternet.org; telephone: 1.920 776 1075

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Victory for those working to end ancient rainforest logging, and a defeat for supporters of forest certification greenwashing, as an important precedent is set

January 18, 2008
By Ecological Internet, Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776-1075, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Ocean City, New Jersey) -- The city council of Ocean City voted last night 6-0 to cancel a $1.1 million purchase of ipê timber originating in ancient rainforests. The timber was to be used to patch a one block stretch of Atlantic boardwalk. The purchase provoked outrage as it went against a ten-year old pledge by the council to not use rainforest timbers.

The mayor and others argued Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification ensured sustainability. Estimates are over 60% of FSC timber comes from first time logging of ancient forests, with claims only it is "well-managed". Such misleading statements setup a showdown with local group "Friends of the Rain Forest" and led them to a year of protest with support from Ecological Internet (EI) and others.

"EI's network sent over 100,000 protest emails from 80 countries highlighting the ecological truth that maintaining intact primary rainforests is a requirement to address climate change and achieve global ecological sustainability," explains Dr. Glen Barry. "The message is getting through -- to survive rainforest logging must end, with compensation to local peoples, and remaining rainforests protected and allowed to expand."

In recent weeks EI has significantly participated in rainforest victories from New York, to Papua New Guinea, and now New Jersey -- working successfully to end the evil of ancient rainforest logging. Dr. Barry notes "it is disappointing that Rainforest Alliance, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, WWF and other FSC supporters -- despite being targeted by this campaign -- were either on the other side of this debate or chose not to comment. Their greenwashing of ancient forest logging must end."

###ENDS###

The original alert can be found at:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=jersey_boardwalk

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Ecological Internet's international protest supporting local Papua New Guinea resistance blows the project out of the water

January 16, 2008
By Ecological Internet, Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776-1075, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Woodlark, Papua New Guinea) -- Ecological Internet welcomes reports that Vitroplant, shady developer of a proposed oil palm project on Woodlark Island in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea (PNG), has withdrawn. PNG's Minister for Agriculture and Livestock says no oil palm development will take place on Woodlark Island. Vitroplant's withdrawal was due to local and international pressure to conserve Woodlark Island's natural habitat.

The ill-conceived project was to have cleared 70% of the rainforests on biodiversity rich Woodlark Island, some 60,000 hectares, in order to establish a massive oil palm plantation. Following the direction of local peoples, Ecological Internet's Earth action network was able to generate nearly 50,000 protest emails from 3,000 people in 72 countries.

The protest embarrassed the PNG government and highlighted the hypocrisy of their support of carbon payments for avoided deforestation, even as Woodlark was approved for clearance, and a rogue rainforest timber export industry continues unhindered.

"We welcome reports that the Woodlark oil palm project is dead," states Ecological Internet's President Dr. Glen Barry. "Yet campaigning will continue until Woodlark is legally removed from consideration for agricultural deforestation, and the land is returned to its residents."

Ecological Internet's PNG rainforest campaign seeks legally binding assurances that palm oil and other biofuels will not be developed on currently forested lands, and the elimination of PNG's industrial log export industry. Only then will payments for rainforest protection be justified.

"The power of networks of informed Earth citizens to support local conservation action and an end to ancient rainforest logging has again been demonstrated. The forces of ecological destruction must be confronted and defeated," asserts Dr. Barry.

###ENDS###

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)

Ecological Internet's campaign in support of long-standing local efforts to end the use of ancient rainforest timbers by government in New York City is enjoying initial success. Mayor Bloomberg has announced a review of NYC policy, and the Park Department will no longer use endangered woods in NYC park benches. We must ensure the review ends the use of all ancient rainforest timbers, the Parks decision is expanded, and an end to the use of ancient rainforest timbers is enshrined in law and procurement policy. Please send the updated alert. This progress is monumental, it must be brought to completion, and together we are doing it! g.b.

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N E W S R E L E A S E

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2008

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Tim Keating, 917-543-4064, Rainforest Relief
Dr. Glen Barry, 920-776-1075, Ecological Internet
JK Canepa, 917/ 648-4514, NYCAG

NYC Parks Department Ends the Use of Tropical Hardwoods for Benches

Recent Actions by Environmental Groups Bring Progress in 13-Year Campaign

NEW YORK CITY — January 8, 2008. In a meeting with representatives of environmental groups Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe unveiled a plan to phase out the use of hardwoods logged from the rainforests of the Amazon, which the agency uses for benches, boardwalks and the decking of bridges in the thousands of parks and areas overseen by the department. Celia Peterson, director of the Specification Office of NYC Parks, stated that as of last month, Parks will no longer specify tropical hardwoods for benches.

The issue was recognized by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his speech last month in Bali during the climate talks:

“New York, like many cities, uses tropical hardwoods-in our case, for our extensive beach boardwalks and also for the walkway on the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge .. . . I've asked my Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability to work with the relevant City agencies, and present me, within the next 60 days, with a plan for reducing our reliance on such hardwoods.”

“This is an exciting announcement and the most progress we’ve seen on this issue in a decade,” said Tim Keating, Director of Rainforest Relief. “It’s been a long, long road to get to this point and we thank Parks Commissioner Benepe and other Parks staff who have worked to find suitable alternatives to rainforest hardwoods. We call on other city and state agencies to end their use of these destructive woods as well.”

Rainforest Relief, founded in New Jersey in 1989, began a campaign to eliminate the use of rainforest woods by the city in 1995 after recognizing tropical hardwoods at the Coney Island boardwalk in 1994. Recently, the group was joined by a new hard-hitting grassroots organization, New York Climate Action Group, which campaigns to end the city’s use of tropical hardwoods because deforestation, mostly in the tropics, contributes an estimated 25 – 30% of human-caused greenhouse gases.

Logging for exported wood is the primary factor leading to tropical deforestation, as roads are first bulldozed by loggers, in their pursuit of high-value species for export. This allows access to farmers and others who then completely clear those devastated forests.

“People worldwide recognize with increasing urgency the need to address climate change. Economists and environmentalists agree that ending deforestation is a highly cost-effective means to do so. We hope that Mayor Bloomberg will institute a policy ending the use of all woods from old growth forests”, said JK Canepa, a founding member of NYCAG.

In November, Ecological Internet, founded by Dr. Glen Barry, sent an action alert about the issue to a mailing list of over 50,000. The alert generated approximately 200,000 protest emails from 68 countries to state and city staff and officials in the month prior to Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement.

"Maintaining large and intact primary and old-growth forests free from industrial logging is a requirement to address climate change, biodiversity loss and to achieve global ecological sustainability," explains Dr. Barry. "Ancient rainforest logs belong in intact rainforest canopies and ecosystems, not NYC park benches and boardwalks.

-end-

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

It is with sadness that we note the making of another rainforest martyr [ark] -- this time in Malaysia's rainforests -- as missing Penan indigenous leader Kelesau Naan, headman of the Penan settlement of Long Kerong in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak, was found dead [more/ark | more2/ark2]. Kelesau fought to defend the Penan's rainforest home and heritage [search] for years and had been leading the recent rounds of protests and blockading of encroaching loggers. It is widely suspected he was murdered as he checked his traps.

Kelesau is a principal plaintiff in a landrights claim against the Sarawak State Government and the Malaysian timber giant Samling [search] by four Penan communities filed in 1998 and waiting for trial since. The Sarawak state government contends that the Penan do not have rights to the forest where their ancestors have lived for millennia because they have traditionally been hunters instead of cultivators. The Penan are the last nomad hunter-gatherers in Asia, surviving by hunting and harvesting jungle plants.

After a long history of devastating the Penan and their rainforests on the Island of Borneo, Malaysian timber companies that first operated in Sarawak [search] have expanded their operations over past decades to rainforests around the world. They have been widely condemned for rainforest destruction [search], indigenous rights violations [search] and rampant corruption [search]. Malaysian rainforest logging companies are perhaps the greatest threat to rainforests and their biodiversity, cultures, ecosystems and carbon on the Planet.

We join with leading Penan campaigners Bruno Manser Fonds in calling for an immediate end to violations of the Penan's human rights and for a full independent investigation into Kelesau's death. Ecological Internet and its predecessors have been supporting the Penan's struggle for self-determination in their ancestral rainforests for nearly two decades, even after the struggle ceased to be a cause célèbre amongst the chattering class [most recent expired alert -- July, 2006]. Malaysian loggers are the worst of the worse, decimating rainforest and indigenous cultures worldwide, and now almost certainly implicated in murder in Sarawak.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)