What a Press release by Green Pease could look like but with Madera's name in the headline. It can become a reality.
GREENPEACE CELEBRATES LANDMARK VICTORY IN FOREST DEBATE
Logging giant makes first move to meet customer demands
10 June 1998
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Today in British Columbia, Greenpeace applauded logging giant MacMillan Bloedel for showing leadership and vision by announcing a forest programme that will change the face of the forest industry in Canada. The announcement marks the first time an industry leader has acknowledged that clearcutting is no longer acceptable and that there is a drastic need to increase the conservation of old growth forests.
"This announcement is a vindication of what Greenpeace and other environmentalists have been saying for years," said Karen Mahon, Greenpeace forests campaigner. "There will still be lots of work to do but today marks the dawn of a new era."
"MacMillan Bloedel's announcement is a challenge to the rest of the logging industry to pull their heads out of the sand and meet or beat this new initiative," said Tzeporah Berman of Greenpeace. "This is the first step towards ensuring that British Columbia may be to able to meet international market demands and provide ecologically responsible forest products in the future."
MacMillan Bloedel's creation of a new 'Old Growth Zone' is an innovative and progressive concept that Greenpeace will encourage other forest companies to follow. The creation of an independent advisory panel to oversee activities in this zone and the potential for greater conservation of old growth forests are steps in the right direction.
MacMillan Bloedel stated that they will phase out clearcutting in British Columbia. While Greenpeace fully endorses the company's stated intentions, there are still outstanding concerns regarding some issues. These are, among others, the final phasing out of clearcutting and the potential problems of selective logging. Greenpeace has pledged to work with the company to ensure that the new logging practices maintain the integrity of the existing forests and that clearcutting is finally phased out.
Furthermore, MacMillan Bloedel has not yet committed to leaving the remaining pristine rainforest valleys intact. Greenpeace will continue its campaign for the protection of the remaining pristine rainforest valleys on Canada's west coast. Of the original 353 primary rainforest watersheds only 69 remain intact.
Additionally Greenpeace remains concerned regarding MacMillan Bloedel's continued reliance on logging old growth forests and calls for a more expedited shift of their operations to second growth forests. As 80% of the world's ancient forest has already been destroyed or degraded Greenpeace is calling on the global timber industry to move out of the world's remaining ancient forests.
Greenpeace has created criteria to evaluate the performance of forestry companies. According to these criteria, Macmillan Bloedel's announcement received a score of 13 out of 20 or 65% on the Greenpeace Checklist.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Karen Mahon or Alison Turner, Greenpeace Canada, +1-604-253 7701, mobile +1-604- 313 0159
Tzeporah Berman, Greenpeace International mobile +1-604-3292991 Christoph Thies + 31-20-5236 278, mobile + 31-6-535 04 721 |
