Greenpeace and Congo forests

[Martin W]

I sent emails via Ecological Internet, to protest industrial logging in the Congo.
Led to this reply from Greenpeace (not just to me; surely to all who emailed), which of interest I think:

Quote:

Thanks for your email about the Congo Rainforest. We agree with you about the need to protect the Congo forests from industrial logging and have been campaigning to make sure it happens as soon as possible.

The threats facing the world’s last ancient forests are huge, so it is important that we all combine our efforts to stop those responsible for forest destruction, the logging companies and the financial organisations that fund them.

Only a few of weeks ago we released a major report called ‘Carving up the Congo’ that showed the complete failure of industrial logging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in alleviating poverty and the terrible toll this type of logging has had on the regions forests and amazing wildlife.

We are campaigning around the world, including with local NGO’s in the DRC, to ensure alternatives to industrial logging are implemented in the Congo as a way of keeping the forest standing and alleviating poverty. For the past 10 years Greenpeace has also been actively supporting indigenous peoples’ rights and community use ‘solutions’ as alternatives to large-scale destructive logging.

Check out the video and photo story from our recent visit to the Congo forests.

We are campaigning for the World Bank which is the biggest financial donor to the DRC to use its considerable influence to ensure forest protection, not forest destruction. We recently met with senior forest officials from the WB in Washington as well as the WB President Paul Wolfowitz to bring the concerns you and Greenpeace have for the Congo forests directly to the people who can make a direct and immediate impact.

We also have an email action you can do to add your voice to the thousands who have already emailed the World Bank calling on them to protect the Congo rainforest.

In other parts of the world we have also been working to stop industrial logging in the last intact forests. Last year we released the most comprehensive global map of the last intact forests ever produced. This map highlighted how much of the world’s original forest has been destroyed and how much we have left. The maps are an invaluable resource that is being used around the world in the fight for intact forest protection.

See the intact forest maps

As our global intact forests map shows, we have precious little of the world’s original forest left and they shouldn’t be industrially logged or converted to plantations or agriculture.

We are also working with other environment organisations around the world to ensure that certification schemes like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the most credible certification organisation around today, does not certify logging in large intact forest areas in the DRC.

Thanks again for emailing us and for being part of the growing number of people around the world fighting for the forests. By combining our efforts, we can stop industrial logging in the Congo’s intact ancient forests.

Post edited by: Martin, at: 2007/05/16 07:04

Post edited by: Martin, at: 2007/05/16 07:33

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