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The Irish Connection
by Gerald Fitzgibbon from VOICE
From Mullingar to Manaus, the collective responsibility for the disappearance of the rainforests and the communities they support is becoming more and more evident. This article sketches the negative role that we in Ireland it, and outlines a plan for a renewed campaign of action. There is probably no need at this stage to explain to the reader the importance of the world's tropical forests. After years of campaigning by environmentalists the message seems largely to have permeated into the consciences of people in the West. Most people are aware of at least some of the issues involved: their uniqueness as ecosystems, as havens of biological diversity, as vital components of the world's "lungs". What is perhaps not so well appreciated is the dependence on them of indigenous communities, and our own role in their destruction.
The countries of the G8 economic group combined with the European Union are responsible for 74% of the world's wood imports and wood products; and if we consider the estimated 50% of tree-felling is carried out illegally (as high as 80% in the Amazon according to Brazil's Environmental Agency IBAMA), we begin to see the extent of our responsibility in this whole area. Ultimately, the destruction of the world's tropical forests is being driven by insatiable consumer demand in this, the Minority world of the "civilised" West, with Ireland one of the highest per capita importers.
The progress on the issue has been steady but slow and hugely inadequate over the last 30 years. It includes the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (C.I.T.E.S. 1975), recent statements at G8 summits, aimed at improving information on the problem of illegal production and trade of wood products, and developing practical and effective measures to improve transparency within the international timber trade. The best of these measures have come out of the combined efforts of concerned N.G.O. and industry people towards creating a certification system which would assure importer and consumer of the sustainable nature of material purchased.
One such system is the F.S.C. Forests Stewardship/council, and independent non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1993, with headquarters in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is supported by respected groups like WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and The Woodland Trust. It supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests. However, such certification still covers only a tiny area of the tropical forests systems and their illegal destruction still continues. There is a need to increase the acceptance of these certification programmes, but that is only possible through a heightening of industry / consumer awareness of their role in the chain of responsibility.
One Irish group which for the last 10 years has been doing great work on this precise aspect is the Tullamore-based N.G.O., Just Forests. Its founder Tom Roche, was also involved in the setting up of an Irish Timber Buyer's group in October 1999, committed to the concept of sustainable forestry management. So much remains to be achieved however. Although the exact figures are not known, it is estimated that large quantities of uncertified hardwoods are coming into the country. The first co-ordinated opposition to this trade came about last July 24, when a picket was place at Dublin Port in response to allegations that a timber importer had received a consignment of illegal timer.
This came about in the wake of a high profile Greenpeace source in the Amazon Forests to Tilbury Dock in London where activists staged 3 days of non-violent direct action. The timber in question was from the rare samoama tree, dubbed "Queen of the Forest", and was ending up as hardwood plywood used for shuttering in the construction industry. The "demo at the docks", a co-effort by Lasc and SFN (Sustainable Forestry Network) was attended a short notice by over 4 people including Patricia McKenna, MEP, John Gormley T.D., and Fr Sean McDonagh, and was covered by R.T.E.'s Morning Ireland, community radios, Earthwatch and Source magazines.
Over the next few months it is hoped to carry on the campaign sparked off by Greenpeace here in Ireland. With the help of as many concerned groups and individuals as possible, it is hoped to investigate the extent of Ireland's complicity in the destruction of the tropical forests, to build awareness of the alternatives for industry and consumer, and, by means of a high-profile campaign, to exert the necessary pressure to estimating the possibility of a domino effect if consumers and importers were to push for certified timber. In order to qualify for certification, the logging companies would have to negotiate with the indigenous communities rather than oppress them. It is also hoped to look at the potential of a partnership with a Brazilian community working on sustainable forestry.
Anybody out there with time, insight, skills, ideas and/or funding is invited to contact:
Gerald Fitzgibbon
C/o Voice,
7 Upper Camden Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 087-6267563