NYC Tropical Hardwood Consumption

[relief@xxxxxxxxxxx]

	S P A R E     T H E     R A I N F O R E S T S ! ! !

I M M E D I A T E    A C T I O N    R E Q U E S T E D ! !

		T H I S     I S     E A S Y ! ! !

		HELP PUT A CRIMP IN THE
INSATIABLE US DEMAND FOR TROPICAL HARDWOODS!

To Everyone: Please Sign On !!

Following is a sign-on letter regarding tropical hardwood selective 
purchasing legislation introduced in the New York City Council by 
Councilman Gifford Miller on July 15, 1997. This bill has the potential to 
stop the use of tens of thousands of board feet of tropical hardwoods a
year by New York City agencies. It is the first major tropical hardwood 
selective purchasing legislation (SPL) introduced in the U.S. since 1994.

RR tried to get a similar bill passed in the New Jersey state legislature 
beginning in 1992, which ultimately failed in 1994. A similar bill was 
vetoed by governor Wilson in California in 1992. There are only a 
handful of active tropical timber SPLs in major cities or states: San 
Francisco, Berkeley, Bellingham, WA, Arizona state and New York state. 
The NY state SPL, however, only bars the use of a designated list of 
wood species, allowing for the continued use of major construction 
woods such as ipe and greenheart, which is used by New York City for 
municipal boardwalks and pilings.

This legislation is important in that it closes that loophole, barring the
use of ALL tropical hardwood species. It is also important in that it 
allows for the use of tropical hardwood coming from sources that 
are certified as well-managed by independent certifiers accredited 
by the Forest Stewardship Council.

NYC has the nation's fourth largest municipal budget and a tropical 
hardwood SPL here will send a strong message to the suppliers and 
importers that consumers want no part of tropical hardwoods unless
they come from certified, well managed sources.

A real battle is about to begin in New York City, as importers and 
governments have been fighting hard against independent 
certification for years. Their latest attempt being to create their 
own standard (called ISO 14000) that "certifies" the status quo. Also, 
a wise use group called USA*ENGAGE is set to introduce federal
legislation making selective purchasing legislation illegal.

We have worked for two years in NYC to get to this point. We now 
have a chance to send a shock wave into the U.S. tropical hardwood 
importing industry. We could sure use your help. The bill has already 
rallied 23 co-sponsors in addition to the original four (NYC has 51 
Council members). This is a great start!

Please look over the following letter and sign on your group. 
Councilman Miller has specifically asked for a list of groups that will 
support the bill. We need to show the Council that this issue has broad 
support and that the public still cares about the death of the rainforests.

There is no deadline to sign on, but the sooner, the better, as we 
currently await a hearing in the Contracts committee. Ongoing additions 
to the list will be sent to the Councilman as we receive them. If anyone 
would like to see the text of the bill, let me know. Please distribute this 
widely to other groups.

For Earth,
Tim Keating, Director
Rainforest Relief

=========================================
To the Mayor and City Council of New York City:

Tropical rainforests are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on 
Earth. Supporting between 50 and 90% of the EarthUs species of animals 
and plants, these systems are paramount to the ongoing functioning of 
the planet. They provide the storage of carbon and other human-
produced global warming pollutants, regulate the local, regional and 
global climate, retain and transport water and are engines of evolution. 
Thousands of indigenous tribes live in rainforests (some of which have 
never been contacted by RWesternS culture) and depend directly on 
these forests for their physical, spiritual and cultural survival. Two billion 
human depend directly or indirectly on rainforests for their existence.

Some rainforests have existed continuously for 65 million years. Now, 
through human action, they are doomed within 35 years. The Earth 
loses one to one and half acres of tropical rainforest every second. 
Due mostly to this loss of forest habitat, global extinction rates are 
estimated by numerous scientists, such as author and scientist, 
Dr. E.O. Wilson of Harvard University, at between 50 and 300 species 
a day.

Logging has been identified by World Wildlife Fund and World 
Resources Institute as the single greatest factor in the loss of EarthUs 
forest ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, logging is the greatest direct 
cause of tropical deforestation.

The problem of unsustainable and illegal logging is especially acute in 
tropical areas due to pressures on the areas from shifting cultivators. 
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 
the majority of tropical forest loss due to shifting cultivation is 
precipitated by the roads and skid trails pushed into formerly 
inaccessible areas by loggers. A logged tropical forest is 8 times 
more likely to be completely deforested than one remaining unlogged.

While exports of tropical logs and their products are, in some cases, 
only a percentage of total production, export has been and continues 
to be the driving force behind continued and new logging ventures. 
It is the export market for mahogany Q in which the United States 
plays the largest role Q that drives illegal logging crews to invade new 
areas in Brazil.


The Brazilian Environment Agency, IBAMA, is responsible for 
overseeing logging and issuing permits. Even IBAMA recently 
admitted that the vast majority (around 80%) of mahogany logging in 
the Brazilian Amazon is outside the bounds of their control (that is, 
it is illegal, as loggers invade indigenous lands and parks to get at 
remaining stands of mahogany). Somehow, the logs and wood from 
these illegal operations are exported with valid (but obviously illegally 
obtained) IBAMA documentation. According to one report, bribery 
is systemic and common.

Much of the logging of other species has also been identified as illegal. 
Ipe and virola are two valuable species which are being cut by illegal 
crews along with mahogany. Ipe is used extensively in New York City 
and elsewhere in the U.S. for decks, marinas, boardwalks and benches.

In Burma, the army uses forced labor, torture and beatings to extract 
logs and lumber from village areas, much of which is then smuggled or 
illegally exported into neighboring Thailand, China and India, where it 
is processed into products such as furniture. Much of the resulting 
products end up in the U.S. as bookshelves, stereo cabinets, flooring 
and yacht and boat decks.

In Malaysia, for five years the indigenous Penan blockaded a logging 
road being built by Japanese loggers, enduring beatings, threats, 
imprisonment and exile.

In the Philippines, villagers are harassed and threatened by legal and 
illegal loggers and those that stand in the way of logging have been 
targeted for assassination.

In Africa, logging crews often transport illegally killed or captured 
wildlife to local and regional markets, thus exacerbating the already 
horrendous direct damage done by the logging itself. Logging has 
also led to territorial wars among some local populations of 
chimpanzees, leading to population losses of up to 80%. Some of 
the wood from these logging operations ends up here for use as 
railway crossties and truck body decks.

Demand from the U.S. for tropical hardwoods is at an all-time high 
and is continuing to rise, fueling new and increasing incursions into 
formerly pristine areas of tropical forests. Increasing imports of 
hardwoods has been identified by the U.S. Forest Service as one way 
of meeting escalating demand for forest products in the U.S. in the 
future. This would have disastrous results and lead to further 
destruction of tropical forests, losses of biodiversity (extinctions) and 
conflicts between indigenous forest dwellers and loggers.

Clearly, demand must move in the other direction if tropical logging 
is ever to be sustainable. Reduction in demand can be achieved 
through public awareness, municipal selective purchasing legislation 
and use of alternative materials. 

Further, what demand remains will have a long-term, positive impact 
toward environmental protection if it is redirected to those logging 
operations which meet or exceed the standards of independent 
certifying organizations for ecological and social health. These 
organizations must be those that meet standards which are approved 
by local, regional, national and international environmental organizations; 
are arrived at independent of those that would profit from the logging 
or sale of the products and are approved by local people being 
impacted by logging*. 

Toward this goal, we, the undersigned groups and individuals, support 
measures such as those currently being considered by the New York 
City Council, namely, Intro #1014, the New York City Tropical 
Hardwood Selective Purchasing Legislation, which seeks to limit 
the CityUs use of tropical hardwoods to those that meet the above-
mentioned standards of ecologically sound harvest.

As the 4th largest municipal budget in the U.S., this is a monumental 
and laudable step towards alleviation of the pressures to log tropical 
forests and global ecological sustainability.

____________________
* Two independent certifiers in the U.S., Rainforest Alliance and 
Scientific Certification Systems, are accredited by the Forest 
Stewardship Council (FSC) for certifying tropical logging operations 
as well-managed. Based in Mexico, the FSC has as members many 
national and international environmental organizations, such as 
Greenpeace and Natural Resources Defense Council, and is supported 
by Rainforest Relief and Rainforest Action Network.

Sincerely,

Tim Keating, Executive Director, Rainforest Relief, Brooklyn, NY
Stephan Chenault, Conservation Chair, Sierra Club New York City
Jeff Lockwood, Director, Rainforest Relief Portland, Portland, Oregon
John Seed, Director, Rainforest Information Center, Australia