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Top Paper Company Misinforming Customers about Source of Wood

Release Date: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

TOKYO – A report released today by U.S. environmental group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) contains evidence that Nippon Paper is purchasing wood from old growth forests in Tasmania, Australia, despite the company’s assurances to the contrary. RAN’s report, The Truth behind Tasmanian Forest Destruction and the Japanese Paper Industry, details how Japanese paper companies are supporting the rapid destruction of Tasmania’s biologically unique forests by purchasing huge volumes of woodchips from controversial Australian lumber giant Gunns Limited.

Tenth Anniversary of Chico Mendes Murder Sees Rainforests in Worst State Ever

Release Date: 
Wednesday, December 16, 1998

"The unprecedented loss of old growth forest is a catastrophe of global proportion. It hastens climate change, obliterates the habit of millions of species, and lays waste to the homelands and way-of-life of traditional forest peoples. The spirit of Chico Mendes lives on in everyone who stands up against this senseless destruction, and if we join together we can protect the Amazon as a lasting memorial to Mendes' vision."

- Randall Hayes, President, Rainforest Action Network

The deflowering of the EU's green logo

The EU's Ecolabel is used to certify a product partly made from Indonesian rainforest timber. What a shame

The deflowering of the EU's green logo
The Guardian
Thursday, April 15, 2010

Indonesian Paper Giant APRIL’s Certification Status Suspended

Release Date: 
Thursday, April 15, 2010

Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia - Allegations of rampant environmental damage and human rights violations were confirmed today as SmartWood, an independent forest management certifier, suspended the interim certification of Asia Paper Resources International Limited (APRIL) pulp products. The paper giant failed to meet the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)’s minimum standard for controlled wood certification.

Missing the forest for the trees

Every cloud has a silver lining, right? Well, not in Copenhagen.

As COP15 talks got underway last week, many people thought that a deal on curbing deforestation in developing countries might offer one positive outcome to what looked likely to be an otherwise disappointing climate conference. Now, though, at a time when negotiations for a comprehensive climate treaty have hit a brick wall, talks concerning deforestation appear to be grinding to a halt as well. Can anything be resolved at COP15?

Missing the forest for the trees.
The Nation
Monday, December 14, 2009

Peat and Repeat: Can Major Carbon Sinks Be Restored by Rewetting the World's Drained Bogs?

The logging of palm trees grown atop the decaying peatlands of Borneo and Sumatra helps drive the economy of Indonesia, and this fact alone is starting to make the nation a top global priority for efforts to mitigate the warming climate. The problem is three-pronged: First, cheap pulp and paper produced in Indonesia winds up in the glossy coated products we know as junk mail, luxury shopping bags or children's books. Then, once the original trees are gone, palm oil plantations are often planted in their place.

Peat and Repeat: Can Major Carbon Sinks Be Restored by Rewetting the World's Drained Bogs?
Scientific American
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

NH Company Pledges Greener Luxury Paper Bags

Here is something you probably didn’t know: Some of those luxury shopping bags your purchases are placed in at stores like Versace, Prada and J. Crew may have contributed to tropical rainforest deforestation.

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N.H. company pledges greener luxury paper bags
Boston Globe
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Tree Harvester Offers to Save Indonesian Forest

TELUK MERANTI, Indonesia — From the air, the Kampar Peninsula in Indonesia stretches for mile after mile in dense scrub and trees. One of the world’s largest peat swamp forests, it is also one of its biggest vaults of carbon dioxide, a source of potentially lucrative currency as world governments struggle to hammer out a global climate treaty. The vault, though, is leaking.

Tree Harvester Offers to Save Indonesian Forest
New York Times
Monday, November 30, 2009

Gucci joins other fashion players in committing to protect rainforests

The Rainforest Action Network announced on November 3 that the Gucci Group--which includes fashion houses Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Balenciaga--has joined a growing list of major companies who are pledging to change their paper policies.

Since the beginning of fall 2009, the Rainforest Action Network has been encouraging fashion industry players to examine their paper supply chains, avoiding suppliers who use resources from endangered rainforests, specifically those in Indonesia.

Gucci joins other fashion players in committing to protect rainforests
The Independent (UK)
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sizing up palm oil

Palm oil is in everything from fuel to cosmetics. Is it a solution or a problem?

It’s lurking, unlabeled, in hundreds of household products from lip gloss to baby formula to potato chips. While it doesn’t sound (and need not be) nefarious, activist groups worldwide argue that the production of palm oil is currently harming rain forests in Southeast Asia, orangutans, and the environment.

But the American Palm Oil Council calls it “nature’s gift to the world.”

So, which is it?

Sizing up palm oil
Christian Science Monitor
Monday, November 2, 2009
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