Secret US plan to derail European fight against illegal rainforest logging

[Nothing Without Hope]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4351863.stm

US blocks forest protection plan

By Roger Harrabin
BBC Newsnight correspondent
March 15, 2005

A secret US plan to wreck Tony Blair's G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight programme.

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The UK was prompted to start the initiative after Indonesian government ministers said corruption in their country was so rampant that they did not have the power to tackle the supply of timber from the criminal gangs pillaging the forests.

They urged rich nations to reduce the demand for cheap illegal wood.

But powerful industry lobbyists in the US have resisted moves to certify that timber is legitimately produced. And the leaked State Department memo shows that the US government will refuse to sign up to the Blair initiative.

Europe is strongly backing Mr Blair's initiative and the US tactics drew a furious response from rainforest campaigners.

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Faith Doherty, from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in the UK, said: "I think it's completely outrageous. What we have is a country that does consume tropical timber, that does acknowledge that there is forest crime, environmental crime in Indonesia and other tropical countries; and to try to undermine what people have worked so hard for the last five years on this issue is just unacceptable."

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The site also has a video link for this report.