Blog: Forests

Victory! After 10 years of campaigning, EU votes to ban illegal timber

Posted by jamie - 7 July 2010 at 5:18pm - Comments

Exposing illegal timber used in the construction of the new Home Office building in 2003 © Greenpeace/Cobbing

It's been a long time coming but finally - finally! - the European parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a law banning illegal timber from entering the European Union. Like many other organisations, Greenpeace has been campaigning on this for years - 10 long ones, in our case - so to see this become a reality is an amazing tribute to the thousands of people who emailed, donated or took direct action.

Article tagged as: EU, europe, forests, illegal timber, successes

Pulping the Planet: just like palm oil, paper threatens Indonesia's rainforests too

Posted by jamie - 6 July 2010 at 9:56am - Comments

Like orang-utans, the future of Sumatran tigers is being jeopordised by the relentless destruction of their habitat by paper giant APP

Even though we've had huge success in turning companies like Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft off palm oil produced by Sinar Mas, that only represents one part of the jigsaw and Sinar Mas is still chewing its way through Indonesia's rainforests.

Palm oil is one of two plantation products which are driving deforestation in Indonesia, paper being the other big hitter. Needless to say, Sinar Mas is up to its neck in the paper business as well and we've compiled new evidence in a report called Pulping the Planet which shows exactly how its pulp and paper operations are threatening the forests just as much as its palm oil business is.

Article tagged as: APP, forests, indonesia, palm oil, paper, pulp and paper, sinar mas, tesco

How Sinar Mas Is Pulping the Planet

Publication date: 
6 July, 2010

Controlled by the Indonesian Widjaja family, the Sinar Mas group is one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia engaged in clearing rainforests and destroying peatlands. The group also has significant interests in coal mining, amongst other sectors.

Sinar Mas’ pulp and paper division, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), is Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper producer.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: forests, palm oil, paper, pulp and paper, sinar mas

Proposed forest law threatens Amazon rainforest

Posted by jamie - 5 July 2010 at 12:17pm - Comments

In Brazil, moves are afoot to amend a piece of legislation which has been protecting the Amazon rainforest for over 70 years, and not for the better. If the changes are voted through, it could mean that the area of the Amazon which can be legally destroyed will double, and it's the backers of these changes - the agriculture, biofuels and energy barons - who stand to benefit as they argue that pesky forest laws are a hindrance to economic development. 

Article tagged as: amazon, brazil, forest code, forests, lula, rainforests, videos

Biodiversity Inc: providing natural services to all our shareholders

Posted by jamie - 28 June 2010 at 3:42pm - Comments

Bio Diversity Incorporated from carleton creek on Vimeo.

Carlton Creek, who submitted a video to our HSBC advert challenge, has also produced this great little film which takes the ongoing discussions about attaching monetary worth to the natural services provided by our planet and turning them on their head. It's a neat little thought experiment into what the sales pitch for a company representing all life on Earth (or 'shareholders') would be like.

Elsewhere, artist and architect Maya Lin (previous work: Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC) is working on a collaborative, multi-media and multi-space project called What Is Missing? The current website highlights species which have been lost or are severely threatened, and if nothing else hovering your mouse over the map markers and hearing a soundscape of endangered creatures is haunting.

Article tagged as: biodiversity, forests, oceans, videos

Let it all out - Glasto shouts against rainforest destruction

Posted by jossc - 28 June 2010 at 2:43pm - Comments

Once again this year we teamed up with Mi7 Records to put on live music in the Greenpeace field. Following last year's success with the Departure Lounge, where we put on acts including Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons, this time around we decided to step up our game.

Article tagged as: destructive logging, events, glastonbury, rainforests, videos

Prince Charles visits the Greenpeace field

Posted by jossc - 24 June 2010 at 4:52pm - Comments

Gaze, simple folk of the Earth, upon true regal grace. And look, that's Prince Charles as well! Ho-ho.

For those of you who aren't as familiar with the inner world of Greenpeace as, er, me, that bloke on the left is our executive director, John. That chap in the middle is our future king, probably, and the two fellas on his right are minders - probably fighting quite hard to stop themselves rugby tackling everyone to the ground and bundling HRH into a waiting Chinook.

Article tagged as: events, glastonbury, prince charles

Countdown to Glastonbury 2010

Posted by jossc - 24 June 2010 at 11:20am - Comments

Volunteers are hard at work preparing the Greenpeace field for the 40th Glastonbury festival, now just two days away. Forest campaigner Ian explains why rainforest destruction is the central theme this year, and gives a personal demonstration of our very popular solar/biomass on-site showers...

You'll find a full listing of all the goodies available to festival goers in the Greenpeace field this time around on the official festival site.

Making the best of the festival: our top 10 tips »

Article tagged as: events, forests, glastonbury, greenpeace field, rainforests

Coming to the 40th Glastonbury? Don't miss the Greenpeace field...

Posted by jossc - 17 June 2010 at 11:30am - Comments

Come to the Greenpeace field and test out our FSC skateboard ramp

2009 was an epic year at Worthy Farm. Many festival-goers declared it the "best ever" Glastonbury. But with 2010 being the festival's 40th anniversary, we're doing all we can to make the next one even more special...

So this year the Greenpeace field goes ape with a distinctive rainforest theme, complete with hanging vines, authentic forest sounds and smells, plus more than a few of our famous orangutans, of course.

Article tagged as: events, glastonbury, music festivals

Activist murder shows perilous side of campaigning in DRC

Posted by jamie - 9 June 2010 at 4:29pm - Comments

It's easy to forget that, even though we moan about discredited political systems and infringement of civil liberties, in the UK we don't actually have it that bad. It's rare that anyone in the UK would feel in danger for speaking out against the government but of course that's not the case in other parts of the world. A shocking reminder of this came with the news last week that a prominent human rights activist was murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was the executive director of La Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), an organisation he set up in 1983 to expose human rights abuses and injustice in the DRC. But last Wednesday in Kinshasa he was found dead in his car, and his driver is still missing. According to the news wires, there'll be an investigation into Bahizire's death but there are questions over how revealing it will be. So much so that an open letter has been sent to the president Joseph Kabila from over 50 human rights groups, advocating an open, impartial inquiry.

Of course, Greenpeace has a team in Kinshasa and the challenges of campaigning there are markedly different than from a comfortable office in London. Intimidation and murder against those working to improve the lives of those who are disenfranchised and disregarded is unacceptable wherever it happens, and with the 50th anniversary of independence for the DRC approaching at the end of the month, Bahizire's murder will cast a long shadow over the celebrations.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, DRC, forests, kinshasa
Syndicate content

Follow Greenpeace UK