Bruno Manser Fonds
Tong Tana, September 1999
Journal of the Bruno Manser Fonds
on the subjects of rain forests, indigenous rights and timber trade
bm - Im on my way in beautiful Switzerland in the year 1999 AD. A McDonalds wrapping flies out of the train window, a Coke can follows soon afterwards. «Do you find that funny?» I asked the youth who relised that he had shown bravado in the wrong place. - A walk with my 78 year-old mother, who has trouble walking and uses crutches. The path in the green park is littered with garbage and glass from broken bottles after a young peoples party: father state, or rather a good foreigner, will clean everything up again. - At the edge of the Rhine river in Basel: within minutes 3 empty beer bottles fall with a plop into the dark river at night. Out of sight, out of mind. The Rhine will wash everything clean.
Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world. Federal Council member Couchepin sees further economic growth, even more production, even more consumption, as conditions for social security. Social security for whom? Already three or four people successfully commit suicide in Switzerland every day.
We export weapons in order to save jobs. Thanks to the war in Ex-Yugoslavia various businesses are flourishing. War boosts the economy. The economy and war are allies. The economy and politics are allies. Politics and war are allies. It is up to the Swiss politicians and every one of us to show that it need not be so, that Switzerland shows solidarity with people in the Third World protecting their and our environment. We are all in the same boat: our wonderful, beautiful planet Earth.
The first proof of our honesty is transparency. All products on the market should be declared according to origin and contents.
Objective information is a prerequisite for a conscious society; and only such a society will have a future in the new millenium. After the introduction of a mandatory declaration for meat, genetically modified organisms and toxic substances, the declaration for wood will be a further small step towards honesty. Only give your vote to those members of the National Council this autumn who clearly commit themselves in this sense to more transparency in commerce. The mandatory decla-ration has been put on the agenda for the parliamentary session in autumn after not being dealt with in the summer session.
Or does nothing make sense anymore? Is it too late to act? Mrs Spaehnhauer said to me on the phone that, even if it is difficult at the moment, good will triumph in the end, to which I answered that we will also hold fast to this hope. «Dont talk like this! Good will triumph! Set an exclamation mark behind it» the 82-year-old lady called out energetically. - Chapeau!
And again Im sitting on the banks of the Rhine. A drowning swallow drifts in the current. Save it? Jump in? Get wet? The bird is certainly already dead - or not? Quickly I throw off my clothes an, «splash», the swift lies in my hand. One of its eyes is almost closed, the other tired. The body is shivering. With its beak wide open it breathes heavily. Are you dying? After 1 1 /2 hours in my hand it suddenly spreads its wings, lifts off, flies low over the surface of the water in a wide curve over the Rhine, over the roofs of the town and disappears in the distance.
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Ulau Ayat from Long Leng, Baa Layun:
We live now in the middle of logging-companies who exploit timbers every day within our territory. They have even destroyed our fields without paying any compensation for the damage. The loggers pursue and molest us women when we pick up fruits and collect rattan and medicines.
Uan Sope from Long Latei:
We went to Kuching to see the Chief Minister at his residence during Hari Raya Haji. The Police brought us to their station for enquiry. We told them everything about our problems with logging and oilpalm-plantations. We wanted to ask Taib Mahmud, Abang Johari and Alfred Jabu: «How do you heal these problems?» But the Police did not let us see them - and did not allow us to stay longer in Kuching, but forced us to leave for Miri and Marudi the next day.
Asik Nyalik from Baa Ubung
They forbid us to kill Gibbons and Horn-bills - but they kill them themselves by killing the trees and the forest. Check it out yourself: before the loggers came, there were plenty of gibbons and hornbills here. They say we will profit from having our forest turned into oil-palmplantations. I do not believe them. We have seen it, when they logged our forest - they only became rich themselves, while our life turned into poverty.
rg - The Penan had previously spoken unsuccessfully with the representatives of the logging companies. Already at the beginning of 1999 the Penan had erected a blockade at the same place. It was pulled down due to negotiations with representatives of the government. This was already viewed as a success for the Penan by the local media. In the meantime the wind has changed again, the government has sent policemen to Long Sayan and the intimidated (and hungry) blockaders gave up for the time being.
jk - The four Penan which were arrested and abused in March, 97 (see Tong Tana, May 99, «Violence towards peaceful Penan») were acquitted on June 15, 1999, due to insufficient evidence. The Penan are allowed to return to their villages. The police, however, considers carrying the matter further.
bm - According to an article in the Sarawak Tribune, Sarawaks Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Rural and Land Development, Dr Alfred Jabu has recently tried to cancel the traditional position of Along Sega, the headman of the Penan nomads in the Ulu Limbang region. Along Sega is one of the most eloquent speakers of the Penan. Maybe this was Alfred Jabus reaction on Along Segas complaint, that he does - regularly and already for years now - illegal hunting and fishing inside the Long Adang Wildlife Reserve, and transports plenty of fish and wildgame, on which the Penan depend for their own survival, out of the territory by helicopter. According to a message from Along in march this year, Alfred Jabus hunting-group has killed on a recent trip 7 mousedeers (Pelanok) in one night. The nomadic Penan do not recognize the decision of Alfred Jabu as he is meddling into their internal affairs. Sources: Sarawak Tribune May 12, 1999, Headman Along Segas message of march 99.
rg - Since the commercial trade in game was banned in 1998 sales have decreased in Sarawak. Dealers are fined up to about 1400.- US$, buyers up to about 500 US$. Hardly any game is now being sold on the public markets of Sarawak. Nevertheless, the consumption of game during tourist tours to longhouse settlements remains a problem. As the minister of tourism, Dato James Masing, announced at the end of last year, guilty tour operators will also be punished now. Who knows whether Alfred Jabu, the hunting tour operator, will also be called to account for this?
bm - The respresentataives of the Penan from the Baram/Limbang rivers, who have put forwards their complaints and concerns after Hari Raya Haji this year in Kuching are still waiting for reply from the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and from Abang Johari, the head of the Special Cabinet Committee on Penan affairs. They have asked the Chief Minister to withdraw logging licences within their territories, and to protect their forest as source for their daily food. The reply - or non-reply - of Taib Mahmud and Abang Johari will give proof, how much they respect the «poorest» part of Sarawaks citizens.
Bornean bay cat (Catopuma badia). No living specimen has been photographed. This cat, held by Dr. Charles Leh, was caught by trappers in 1992 on the Sarawak-Indonesia border, bud died before scientists could examine it.
bm - The Bruno-Manser-Fonds is also still waiting for reply on the proposal for a Mobile Dental Clinic. US$ 10,000 startcapital are ready, and the BMF is positive to find the US$ 140,000 necessary to run the project over two years in favour of the Penan and Kelabit in the Ulu Limbang/Ulu Baram area. The Chief Minister may appoint a dentist of his choice who likes to engage in this social project in favour of health of the Orang Ulu peoples. The Penan welcome such a project.
bm - In an article in «The Star», Abang Johari, Head of the Committee for Penan Affairs, was quoted saying: «There are no more Penans practising shifting cultivation. Most of them are now selfsufficient in food production... they all have access to medical facili-ties». Yet, in contrary to that statement, many Penan face food shortage (mainly in protein) as a result of the reduction of the wildgame-population due to logging-activities. Most of the Penan also have left their nomadic way of life and do nowadays shifting cultivation on advice of the Government... Several Penan leaders have been asking, that the head of the Committee on Penan Affairs, Abang Johari, should be replaced by a person, who at least understands their language, culture and needs.
Sources: The Star, 11/12/98, Penan-messages of march 99.
rg - After the construction of Ekrans USD 4 million) dam project failed for lack of finances in November 1997, the government now wants to build a smaller project costing an estimated USD 1,4 billion. Representatives from Siemens have carried out preliminary talks with the Malaysian government in the hope to get contracts for turbines and generators for the 500 megawatt dam.
rg - The brown Borneo cat (Catopuma badia) is regarded as the rarest cat in the world. Since 1874 only a dead animal and several furs had been collected. In 1992 poachers captured a female brown Borneo cat in the border area between Sarawak and Kalimantan, keeping it in captivity for several months. It finally perished from undernourishment and was dead by the time it was brought to the museum of Kuching. Genetic analyses showed that the brown Borneo cat is indeed a separate species. At the end of 1998 another cat was caught which had fled from forest fires. It was released again at an undisclosed location.
Bornean bay cat (Catopuma badia) in a 19th century painting by Joseph Wolf.
Professor em. Eberhard F. Bruenig, Associate Member, Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford University, who worked in the Sarawak Forestry Department from 1954-1963 and 1990-1996, talked to John Künzli
Responding to a question by Bruno Manser whether the development of the forestry and forest industry could be described as catastrophic, Professor Bruenig asserted that, with respect to the development in the last three decades, this could be said with the following qualifications.
Timber trade, and to a certain degree, the wood-processing industry flourished, while the forest growing stock capital was depleted quickly and drastically, at the expense of future prospects. Rash and wasteful growing stock depletion and exodus of capital caused ecological damages to site and forest stand caused by the generally careless and inadequate construction of roads and tracks, inappropriate harvesting technology, destructive logging practices and overlogging.
All this could have been avoided, however, if the political will and strength had been there. Commercial interests of indigenous and foreign power-holding groups were, since the mid-1960s, primarily cash-flow orientated. The combination of lack of governmental control, ready markets, pressing buyers and the in theory free but in reality manipulated and distorted markets, was ideal for those who cleverly and in many ways were out to maximise private profits. The position of the power-holders was strong enough to fend off any outside interference. Even the Malaysian Federal Government found it difficult to make itself heard. This only changed with the emergence of the rainforest movements in the international political and NGO arena. During the whole period, only a few companies had, to some extent, managed to adhere to the principles of sustainability and complied with existing rules, regulations and management prescriptions.
Recently for example, the German Technical Assistance Agency (GTZ - Project FOMISS) is helping the Samling Co. to implement low-impact logging techniques and sustainable management approaches. (However, even then, the elusive issues of social justice and customary or statutory rights of land and resource ownership remained outside the concern of Samling Co. The co-operation with GTZ effected little change.) If forest values worth mentioning are to be saved, the existing principles, codes and guidelines for sustainable management, nature conservation and environment protection must be enforced without delay in all concession areas. This would cause 20-30% of the area of Sarawaks permanent forest estate to be automatically excluded from logging and totally protected in its pristine state as a result of excessive slopiness, water catchment and stream/river bank protection or because of particular ecological sensitivity or uniqueness. In addition, another 5-10% of each concession area would be excluded from logging for various reasons such as poor accessibility or poor quality. Another 10% outside the producing forest estate should, according to government policy, be established as national park, wildlife sanctuary or biosphere reserve. The total area of preserved pristine forest would then be very substantial in absolute and relative terms which should satisfy any conservationist, environmentalist and anthropologist.
Peatswamp forest in Sarawak
However, the reality is rather different and the forest growing stock liquidation and forest area decline continue almost unabated. Nature and forest protection have made no notable headway. The large newly designated totally protected areas are intentions which are only slowly established on the ground and largely remain on paper. Satellite images indicate that exploitation of Sarawaks forests progressed rapidly and engulfs many areas which should, under any circumstance and aspect, be totally protected. This causes not only damage to the sites, forests, environment and water bodies, but also irreversibly destroys unique heritage sites and ecosystems.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which is mandatory for any forestry operation above a specified size is applied reluctantly or entirely circumvented. Of particular ecological and economical alarm are the continued exploitation and destruction of the fragile Alan-Peatswamp forest ecosystems which are unique as ecosystem and global heritage, and the hazardous plan to replace all types of natural peatswamp forest by agricultural plantations. A credible and well implemented EIA and certification would probably stop the former and prevent the latter. However, a hopeful sign that a wind of change is blowing effectively, is the activity in recent years of the Malaysian Federal Government towards a national scheme of certification to support development towards sustainable forest management and conservation.
bm - Penan nomads live off hunting all year round - mainly wild boars - and off sago, a starchy flour from wild palms. Only a few trees blossom annually in the wild; the monkeys are usually faster than the people in plucking their fruit. In intervals of about 5-7 years, however, the whole jungle with all its noble fruit trees turns into a paradise! There is food in abundance for months, as the game also follows the blessing of fruit. 1998/99 was such a year of good fortune.
As the hornbill bird (metui) heralds the arrival of the large troops of wild boars, the Penan know that an abundant fruit season is near by the sight of so-called «root flowers» at the foot of the Meranti tree. In such a year the Penans needs in vitamins and sweets are met beyond fulfillment. Over a hundred kinds of fruit, some of them very nourishing, ripen in alternating sequence. Among the first gifts are the Cu-ui balls (ill. 1), beckoning in the low-lying areas, looking somewhat like mirabelle plums from far. Those who dare to try the unripe fruit soon have their teeth full of yellow resin and the sensation of «long teeth» (kennilou), caused by the fruits acids, signal restraint. The end of the fruit blessing half a year later is marked by the date-like blue-black Keramen- Paiáh fruit in the mountains. They become nicely sweet after boiling water is poured over them.
ill. 1: Cu-ui fruit
During the fruit season nobody wants to stay in the settlement. Four-year-old children even shoulder a rattan bag and join a little troop for a playful walk through the jungle. Whoever can climb does so. Even some pregnant Penean women can climb. For what is more wonderful than to sit up in a tree in the fork of a branch and fill your belly with sweet fruit and on top of that to enjoy the view in the soft breeze? A few dare-devils can always be found for dangerous trees who will get the fruit to fall by shaking branches with barbed sticks or just by chopping down branches high up in the trees crown. Unfortunately, abundant trees such as Cu-ui, or trees which can hardly be climbed like Beripun, or Peta are also felled in order to get at the fruit. One of the noblest of fruits is the Buá Jet (Langsat, ill. 2), which is also cultivated. Their thin skin does not weigh much during transport and their ripe sweet juicy meat smells like the behinds of the Sogok ant (Bo sak Lotok Sogok). The bitter bark of the tree is used for treatment of malaria; the green seed is an ingredient for arrow poison.
ill. 2: Buá Jet with ant
A whole row of coveted fruits of lianas, especially Pellutan species, hang like oranges in the branches. But their harvest is dangerous, even when the mother-tree is felled. The copiously flowing milky sap leaves black spots on the skin. The latex of the «Pellutan Unga» liana (ill. 3) is used as a soap: When applied to the skin it binds the other types of latex and can be rubbed off when dry. Watch out: the method does not work for hairy bodies!
ill. 3: Pellutan Unga liana
About 20 wild types of Rambutan beckon. Some glow like flaming red heads of hair in a green sea of leaves. «Thick is the skin of the Maha fruit, but sweet its flesh!» (Kapan ipa buá Maha, tapi mee luneng néh) says the song to honour a woman who is not the most beautiful at first sight but has inner qualities.
In contrast to the cultivated Rambutan Kah-win, the flesh of the wild fruit (ill. 4) does not easily come off the almond-sized seed. Whoever does not want to swallow it chews the meat and the sweet juice off the seed with his front teeth. The only shadow over this fruit paradise is the fact that an as-tounding number of young Penan already have damaged teeth from the fruits acids and urgently need treatment.
ill. 4: Wild Rambutan fruit
The thick skin of a whole family of nut-sized to peach-sized fruits (Buá Ipa, ill. 5) opens under pressure into three segments. When fruit is plentiful only its flesh is collected in a bamboo container, the contents of which turn into a sweet alcoholic drink after 2-3 days (Borak Buá). Fermentation can be enhanced through the addition of a middle section of a Nakan fruit. Unfortunately, the production of this drink by the Penan, resembling fermenting grape juice, was forbidden by the Christian mission SIB.
ill. 5: Buá Ipa fruit
The largest and most nourishing fruits of the jungle are summarised by the Penan as Buá Jato (fallen fruit). The most well-known - or the most infamous - of them is the Durian, head-sized, 1-2 kg heavy and spiked. It mainly grows on large trees and exists in types with white, yellow and red flesh (ill. 6). Overripe fruit smell like vomit. Neither hotels nor airlines permit them in the luggage. Whoever does not (yet) know it, finds it disgusting. Whoever dares to try it can become addicted after the third time. All indigenous people love it and there is hardly a child who will not lick the smeary flesh from its fingers. A tree can provide several hundred fruits and feed a family for 2 weeks. For easy transport only the inside of the spiky fruit is carried home in a leafy package. The flesh can be dried to a black-brown dough over a fire and be preserved (dusi). The eyeball-sized seeds used to be cooked, peeled and dried over the fire as provisions for later (gurem).
ill. 6: Bela fruit
The Nakan fruit (jackfruit, ill. 7) are as fine as the Durian. Looking like huge hanging breasts, they grow directly from the trunk which, according to the myth, was once a Penan woman.
When a group returns to the settlement from an expedition, part of the harvest is shared with all the other families and the feast of fruits continues. Although the Penan nomads do not pursue agriculture, they become gardeners during the fruit season: as the seeds of eaten fruits are spit out or land in the bushes after passing through the digestive tract, a new fruit garden soon sprouts in and around the settlement!
rg - Since 1.4.99 the Inuit, formerly known as Eskimos (raw meat eaters), were granted a politically self-contained territory within Canada.
The Inuit hunt in kayaks
With an area of around 2 million square kilometres (approximately 50 times bigger than Switzerland) and with around 27 000 dwellers, the new territory named «Nunavut» (our land) is extreme sparsely populated. From the 56 000 Inuit living in Canada, 23 000 now live in Nunavut. The landscape is stamped by lakes, tree-free polar prairie and plains and cliffs on the Arctic coast. Nunavut has been tagged as one of the worlds most promising mining areas. There are big deposits of resources like zinc, lead, silver, gold and diamonds that are already partially exploited. Through the transfer of prospecting rights, the Inuit receive from the Canadian government over the next 14 years a total of 1.15 billion dollars. Apart from that the government will take over 90% of the ter-ritorys expenses in the next years. The Inuits culture has changed a lot in the past years: monies provided to them by the government up to social housing assisted to the Inuits estrangement from their traditional lifestyle. Nomadic camps and dog sleighs have been re-placed by permanent housing estates and motor sledges. The official language will indeed be Inuktitut, and although not only the well educated inhabitants often prefer English, many traditions are preserved specially by the elders. Because of the language barrier the younger Inuit find it hard to discuss with their grandparents. Demand for drugs and other consume-possibilities is spreading.
NUNAVUT, our Land
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rg - Brazils Minister of the Environment, Jos, Sarney Filho, has partly lifted the ban on timber felling in Amazon due to pressure from the logging industry. Clear cutting continues unhindered. According to the secret service, eighty per cent of Brazils timber exports are from illegal sources. The remaining 20% are cut by the 377 registered logging companies which possess logging concessions for over 16 000 square kilometers. Not all by far adhere to the guidelines for reforestation and careful logging techniques, as the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» dated April 9, 1999, writes. The Malaysian timber companies WTK and Samling and the Chinese enterprise Tianjin reportedly have already bought several million hectares of forest for future logging. According to the «NZZ» all experts agree that the environmental controls have become more strict in Brazil. Whether this is sufficient to put a stop to the «timber sharks» handiwork remains to be seen.
rg - As reported by «Nature» in April 1999, the rainforest is disappearing faster than assumed. A study questioned 1, 600 people, especially owners of sawmills and Speaking of wood: Amazon land owners. Additionally, aerial photographs were taken from aircraft. The researchers stated that their results were by far more reliable than the satellite photos used until now. According to the newest calculations about 44 000 square kilometers (the area of Switzerland) of rainforest were destroyed during the past year. This is almost three times the official Brazilian estimate.
rg - Behind the front of the loggers and slash-and-burn farmers remains a rag rug landscape of patches of more or less intact forest with clear-cut and burned areas between them. Many of these small and isolated fragments are subsequently bought by environmental organisations or by the state and placed under protection. Very small areas, however, are not able to maintain the original biological/ species diversity, as the journal «Biological Conservation» (No. 89/1999) reports. Scientists investigated the number of mammals living within two large (each about 20 000 hectares), two medium-sized (about 2000 hectares each) and two small (about 200 hectares each) rainforest fragments on the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Whereas all 36 expected species of mammals were found in the large areas, 30-31 species remained in the medium-sized areas and only 22-23 species were left in the smallest areas. Especially large species with low population densities roaming through large territories such as jaguars, pumas and lowland tapirs were missing in the small forested areas. Boundary effects are also especially detrimental for the small areas where a change in the temperature and wind regimes causes the microclimate inside the forest fragment to change and to foster forest fires.
rs - The deforesting of Tibet through the Peoples Republic of China rages on unhindered. Daily more than a hundred cargo trucks roll along the strategic east-west axis of Lasha-Kangding-Chengdu passage downloaded with big trunks for China. Most of the trunks have diameters ranging from 40 cm to 70 cm - some even over 150 cm - and are often longer than the cargo truck itself. The Chinese army also takes part in the transportation of the logs. Another method of transporting the felled trunks from Tibet to East China is to let them float down the rivers in their thousands. Tibets primary forest, with its broad variety of species, has been tagged by the Han Chinese as the last «wood warehouse» in China. Large mountainous areas in Tibet have already been clearcut under generally primitive logging methods. The wood taken out of Tibet is used in China for any imaginable purpose: house-constructing, ship building, paper industry, heating - and for making chopsticks. China satisfies its hunger for wood - since after last years flood catastrophe a loggingban for the upper course of the Yangze-river was spoken - with timber from military occupied regions and neighbouring countries.
rg - On 23.3.99 Thomas Adona, an elderly, highly respected representative of the Batak people on Palawan (Philippines) was murdered with a spear stab into the head by a transient Philippino who was illegally in the Batak forest looking for rattans. The murder happened in the Mangapin-camp, a settlement built by the state-authorities. Traditional living of the Batak people is increasingly dwindling. Non-local hunters, using rifles, have drastically reduced the wild boar stock. Even the collecting of rattans and Almasiga, the fruit from Cauri trees was prohibited for the Batak people through a governmental decision. The collecting-licenses are now in the hands of a few wealthy persons who hire people from the slums of the cities to collect the forest products. The murder of Thomas Adona was one of their employees.
By now, practically all the Batak have compulsory been settled down. They have been christianised particularly by the «Korea Independent Baptist One Way Church», a sect who drums into their heads that their culture is bad, uncivilised and underdeveloped. Today, only 9 Batak family groups do still live in the traditional nomadic way in the rain forest.
rg - Within the Redwood Forest, on the west coast of America, Julia Hill, nicknamed Julia «Butterfly» has been living within the leafy folds of a thousand year old Redwood for the past year and a half in a desperate struggle to protect the ancient tree and the forest from further destruction by the Maxxam Pacific Lumber Company. An avid environmen-talist, Butterfly - who beseeches the protection of the remaining forest - is supported by sympathisers who bring her food, water and mail.
rg - On july 1st , 1999 Cameroon put an export-ban for certain threatened timber-species into force. Not concerned by the new regulation are Sapelli- and Ayoustrees, which make about 50% of all trees felt in Cameroon. To balance the financial losses caused by declined exports, the government intents to increase the export taxes. The main quantity of Swiss tropical timber-imports origins in Cameroon.
Very cheap picture frames from tropical wood in the «Bastelzentrum» in Berne (large handicraft shop). Neither species nor origin of the wood is declared. A local craftsman would have to demand ten times the price just to cover costs!
bm - In Switzerland the manufacture of doors consumes the most tropical wood. 95% of all veneered doors conceal undeclared tropical wood under veneer/paint or aluminium. Even carpenters which expressly order pinewood doors receive wrongly declared doors containing concealed tropical wood like the raw door type shown here from Entla AG in Entlebuch.
The issue is the consumers right to objective information. Neither the handicraft shop «Bastelzentrum» nor Spiess/IDEA declare illustrated commodities according to species and origin. All products are made of local wood such as beech, maple and lime-wood, presumably from Swiss forests. A clear declaration in this case would be an advantage on the mark
«Entla» door on the Bundesplatz in Berne
Claraspital (a hospital) in Basel: Like most doors in Swiss hospitals, these are made of tropical wood.
Like in this «forest cherry» chest of drawers from the furniture shop Yverdon in Berne, the interior and back sides of many pieces consist of tropical wood, undeclared of course! Switzerland: Why a mandatory declaration of wood?
Like many shops the large distributors ABM, JUMBO and Loeb sell picture and mirror frames made to measure. The salesperson from Loeb/ BE even assured us there was no tropical wood involved. The fact is, however, that over 50% of these products are made of African and Asian timber...
The furniture shop Conforama in Geneva («Where life is less expensive») conceals its tropical wood under the label «walnut brown hue»; further indications are missing completely.
Under the indication «beech decor», «maple decor» etc., shops such as Conforama, Migros and Möbel-Pfister sell the worst junk. This consists of pollutant and energy-intensive plywood covered by a plastic wood imitation. The products are often imported from Denmark, fall apart after moving house once and become hazardous waste after that.
Sweeping in front of your own door - with the right broom! Whereas the department store Loeb in Berne conscientiously declares the floor mop as beech-wood, origin Switzerland, every indication is missing on the handle: it is made of Ramin wood from the exploitation of Borneos rainforest.
Möbel-Pfister, who already promised in 1992 to completely renounce tropical wood, sell various closets containing tropical wood, as does the closet «Laura» shown here (SF 2670.-). The declaration «ash-wood light, natural veneer» of Möbel-Pfister is not a real declaration, the details of the inner door (Ramin, Malaysia?) and the backside (Okumé, Cameroon?) are missing, as are the countries of origin.
JUMBO, the «heavyweight» with the largest turnover on the Swiss market for building and hobby products, simply does not declare anything!
JUMBO had promised to declare all products according to species and origin by 1995. Jumbo-Markt AG then wrote us on Aug.4, 1994, «Together with our suppliers we have agreed upon putting a label with the declaration of the origin on the product in the retail shops. In this way we enable the consumer to participate in the protection of the environment independently and with personal responsibility. [...] To date 7 shops have declarations. The remainder are being prepared and will be revised by about the end of March, 1996.»
This promise has not been kept, as opposed to MIGROS and Coop.
In its branches in Dietlikon, Fribourg and Pratteln JUMBO misleadingly declares these wall panels made of Lauan wood from Indonesia as pinewood from Germany!
The land of origin of these Ramin border strips from the exploitation of Borneos virgin rainforests was given as Europe. Almost all laminated or painted border strips are not declared at all. These are also made of Ramin wood from Borneo.
Whereas all «Decoline»-curtain poles made of Ramin wood are not declared, the same supplier conscientiously declares a product when it is made of pinewood. Anyhow, the country of origin is missing in both cases. Is this a conscious deception of the customers?!
Picture frame: Behind such misleading labels as «walnut style» or «sorbet pistachio» JUMBO hides tropical wood!
JUMBOs Garden-furniture «Camping 1999» made of «hardwood» is made of timber coming from the plundering of the last remaining primary forests in Sarawak/Malaysia...
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rg - The SHIV (Schweizerischer Sägerei-und Holzindustrie-Verband, the Swiss association of sawmills and wood manufacturers) and the WVS (Waldwirtschaft Verband Schweiz, the Swiss forestry association) have published their annual reports of 1998. The reports are full of all kinds of snide remarks. The WVS states that the issue of labelling according to origin has been resolved by the Q-label propagated by the WVS, 85% of the wood having to be from Swiss forests. We then asked ourselves: what about the remaining 15% and what about foreign wood which ... priori cannot receive a Q-label? Three years ago the same circles were fighting against the so-called discrimination of wood by a mandatory declaration. And now this should not be the case anymore with a one-sided declaration of wood which is 85% worthy of getting a Q-label?
rg - Emil Mosimann, president of the SHIV, formulated his «realistic demands» for the favourable development of basic conditions for the wood manufacturing industry in the associations annual report. Apart from fair transport conditions, research capacity at universities, a good presence at the Expo 2001 and «hopefully» at Sion 2006, he called for «fair certifying partners (a. o. WWF, Pro Natura, Greenpeace, BMF, etc. - the Ed.) who are primarily interested in the actual state of the forest and forestry, not in selling labels.» The gentlemen responsible for the policies of the association never tire in repeating the same phrases about the eco-product wood over and over again like a mantra and at the same time shooting verbally at its potential partners. As long as such gentlemen do not disappear from the stage the goodwill of a wide range of consumers can (unfortunately) hardly be strengthened towards using native wood.
rg - The newspaper «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» dated June 8, 1999, printed a supplement on the subject of paper manufacturing. Under the title «The forest and paper - widespread misunderstandings due to bad information» the CEO of the paper factory Biberist AG, Jürg Müller, could contribute his personal truths. Müller formulated statements such as, «Whereas in some countries outside Europe more wood is cut than can grow back in the same time span, the worlds forest land is increasing» or «There is no global lack of wood, on the contrary, in order to keep the forests in balance more wood has to be felled». Furthermore, «It does not make sense to forbid the renewal of a forest under the pretext of wanting to save forests. It is just as misleading to leave forests in their original state without considering the economical difficulties of the owners of the forests; environmental protection should show consideration for the economy.» The fact that the latter point stated by Müller is still a common one at the end of the 20th century seems to be clear. The assumption that economy has priority over environmental protection does not really show competence in someone who feels entitled to write about «widespread misunderstandings due to bad information on paper and the forest».
rg - The carpenters journal «Schreinerzeitung» dated March 25, 1999, published its views on the calls for the boycott of tropical wood under the title «The use of tropical wood: the facts». According to the opinion of the «Schreinerzeitung», such renunciations point in the wrong direction when measured against the main reasons for the destruction of the tropical forests - mismanagement and social ills in the tropical wood producing countries. Alleviation can only be achieved through development aid in those areas under the condition that the aid be used for the given purpose and not disappear into the pockets of corrupt government officials! That the wood industry is interwoven with the interests of a privileged class of politicians, that the land rights of local peoples are disregarded and that corruption is daily fare, are, unfortunately, all facts. The «Schreinerzeitung» indirectly confirms these facts - it just sees the use of development money as the problem...
db - A rough estimate made by the BMF of tropical wood imports into Switzerland during the past year amounts to a minimum total of 20 311 tons worth 42 million SF. This includes logs, sawn wood, plywood and products which can be identified as made out of tropical wood. Swiss customs statistics unfortunately do neither deliver any information on the type of wood used in partly finished and finished products nor on products imported into Switzerland over a third country; the imports would therefore be even higher.
jk - The well-known company Precious woods advertises parts for fireproof doors made of tropical wood in the «Schreinerzeitung». The FSC certified wood comes from the Brazilian virgin forest and should be an alternative to native oak, or, respectively, African Sipo. The BMF advises against the purchase and recommends instead the fireproof doors tested by the EMPA made of glued layers of local beechwood and poplar-wood from the firm Norma Reiden AG, in Reiden/LU. Phone: 062 758 42 42; fax: 062 758 42 43.
bm - There was a lack of wood just 50 years ago in Switzerland. It was forbidden to go into the forest with an axe and cut firewood in many places. Thanks to the import of cheap fuels and wood from exploited virgin forests, Swiss forests are recuperating. The wood is unused and lies rotting away in many places.
In the region of the Laufental (Liesberg, BL/ Kleinlützel, SO) projects are being carried out which should create new habitats for the Jura viper. This endangered species of reptile loves sunny cliffs. On the one hand, undergrowth is sensibly being cut and piled on to heaps, giving the snakes and other animals good cover. On the other hand, almost all vegetation is being removed in some places in a kind of mini-clearcutting process; beech trees thick as bodies, as old as 50 years, oaks and pines as well as rather rare species of shrubs and small trees such as snowy mespilus (Amelanchier ovalis), a buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), the wild service-tree (Sorbus torminalis) and a whitebream (Sorbus chamaemespilus/ S. mougeotii) have been indiscriminately cut down and left to rot on the ground. In January the bark of the thickest, probably 300 year- old beech tree in the area has been cut off around the trunk to cause it to die. Miracu-lously the sap could rise up in spite of this, the buds opened in Spring and the tree still stands in full foliage today, in July!
The BMF requests the manager of the project and the BUWAL to spare older (> 150 years) trees, oaks and rare woody shrubs in order to enable virgin forest-like biotopes to develop in dry areas with cliffs, to cut all wood in winter and to utilise trunks sensibly, or to wait with felling until the demand for wood increases. Not only the snakes would profit from this in future.
The miracle of Kleinlützel - this beech tree should have died but didnt!
We congratulate the following communities on their decision to renounce the use of tropical wood from the exploitation of virgin forests: Aarau/AG, Gonten/AI, Kreuzlingen/ TG, Neunforn/TG, Jouxtens/VD, Lutry/ VD, Mex/VD, Préverenges/VD, Dürnten/ZH and Illnau-Effretikon/ZH. Apart from 4 cantons, a total of 250 communities with a population of 2 626 572 desist from using wood from the exploitation of virgin forests. Is your home community not yet included? Become active - we will be happy to send you the necessary information.
jk - The eighth annual general assembly took place on 26th June. The 1998 balance sheet indicated a surplus of CHF 16 934.80 - many thanks to all donators who have made this delightful result possible! After Bruno presented the annual report, the members held a discussion about possible avenues to finally secure a protected area for the Penan people. Those who wish to have a look at the annual account should contact the BMF secretariat.
dk - A VERY BIG THANK YOU to the organisation «Kein Stolz auf Tropenholz», René Rohner and all the volunteers that helped to organise and to carry through a wonderful evening for the benefit of the BMF. An addition to the lovely atmosphere was the great diner and the entertainment of Masha Dimitri who gave us the possibility to forget our daily sorrows! The proceeds of the event was a check over CHF 10 842.50 - thank you!
René, Bruno and check on an oak
dk - Video SAGO available in English now! The film by Bruno Manser is a unique document on the daily life of the Penan nomads, on the search of Sago-Palms, their staple food in the rainforest. CHF 50.-, US$ 45.-
This exhibition runs from September 11th , 1999 to march 19th , 2000
Place: «Naturmuseum» Kasernenplatz 6, Luzern, Switzerland
Open: Tue to Sat: 10-12 hr and 14-17 hr
Sun and holidays: 10-17 hr (through)
On the opening weekend Bruno Manser will build a Penan hut. The evenings of October 20th , 1999 and of January 20th , 2000 have been designated for video presentations with a concluding lecture by Bruno Manser. Beginning at 20:00 p.m.
As much as possible and more.
As big as possible and bigger.
As fast as possible and faster.
As long as possible and longer.
More and if possible all.
Bigger and if possible the biggest.
Faster and if possible the fastest.
Longer and if possible the longest.
From a volume of poetry «Fahrlassig» by Peter Fahr, Nemesis-Verlag
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are still the highest buildings in the world.
Association for the peoples of the rain forest
Heuberg 25, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
Telephone 41 61/261 94 74
Fax 41 61/261 94 73
Voluntary contributions are very welcome and very needed thank you!
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Updated 99.10.06, By