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Late Breaking News |
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| Date: July 29, 1998 4:26 pm Contact: Rainforest Action Mark Westlund -- ranmedia@ran.org Christopher Hatch -- chatch@ran.org |
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Latest News Releases
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Brazil Renews Mahogany Logging Ban In Bid To Halt Amazon Destruction; Greens Challenge U.S. To Ban Import Of Old Growth Mahogany Wood And Products | ||
| SAN FRANCISCO - July 29 - In a groundbreaking move towards saving the
Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian National Congress has extended its moratorium on new
mahogany logging for the next two years. The bill prolongs the logging moratorium passed
in 1996 which forbids new logging of mahogany, one of the most lucrative but destructive
industries in the world's rainforests. "By extending its moratorium on new mahognay logging, Brazil has set a high standard of environmental leadership," said RAN campaigns director Christopher Hatch. "Now the United States must live up to this standard and ban all imports of mahogany and other threatened old growth rainforest wood products." International trade in mahogany has been a major force driving the destruction of the Amazon, and the U.S. is the world's single largest importer of mahogany. Mahogany trees grow sporadically throughout the forest, and mahogany loggers have cut more than 3,000 miles of roads into intact forest regions, opening the way for colonization and deforestation. Rainforest Action Network is calling on the Brazilian and U.S. government to seek additional protection for bigleaf mahogany by listing the species on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Being listed in the appendices of CITES places curbs on the international trade in a species or product. This same convention passed international trade regulations that have protected elephants and gorillas from extinction. Brazil stunned the international community in January when it published long-awaited data based on satellite pictures that showed an area in the Amazon five times the size of Connecticut - 23,259 square miles - had been deforested between 1995 and 1997. Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. ### |
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