Tag Archives: illegal logging

“As long as there is one of us standing, there will be a fight to protect the forests”

Posted on by

Today, Brazil celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day. However, on a day that is supposed to celebrate their ancestors, culture and stories, many of Indigenous Peoples are instead fighting for their lands and their rights.

According to a survey by CIMI (Indigenous Missionary Council), there are no less than 452 government development projects currently underway in Brazil, 201 of which directly impact Indigenous Lands. Illegal logging and ranching continues to encroach on Indigenous Lands andconflict and violence is prevalent in the Amazon region.

Accorind to CIMI, an average of 50 murders of Indigenous Peoples occur annually in Brazil. Even more shocking, in the state of Mato Grosso, a leading state for deforestation, there is an average of four deaths per month. From 2003 to 2012, 315 Indigenous Leaders were murdered in connection to forest destruction. Continue reading →

Good News: Brazilian companies to cut ties with deforestation and slave labor

Posted on by

Illegal charcoal camps fuel production of pig iron, the primary ingredient in steel

Only a few weeks ago, Greenpeace activists occupied the anchor chain of the Clipper Hope, a barge filled with pig iron, the primary ingredient for steel used by the world’s leading auto brands. This pig iron was processed using wood charcoal made from natural rainforest, which is often illegally logged. To make matters worse, the pig iron is ‘cooked’ in clay ovens by workers under conditions that can only be compared to slavery (see our infograph below).

Our two-year investigation, launched the same day as the action, documented the devastation the region experiences at the hands of the pig iron industry. Greenpeace exposed the way this industry has been throwing the forests into its furnaces, destroying indigenous lands, and forever altering a globally important biological reserve to help produce the cars and appliances we buy. Continue reading →

Herakles Farms is cutting the heart out of Cameroon’s rainforest

Posted on by

by Irène Wabiwa

Within the past few weeks, rainforest destruction has begun once again in one of Africa’s most important biodiversity hotspots: the coastal rainforest of Cameroon, at the fringe of the Congo Basin region. Herakles Farms, the American company behind the operation, is now pressing ahead with the establishment of a palm oil plantation in this precious area despite major social, environmental and legal concerns.

A Buma tree (Cieba pentandra), standing in the middle of one of Herakles’ nurseries. These trees are considered to be sacred, and are a symbol of power in many African regions. The bulldozer that tried to fell it crumpled under the impact. Despite having fixed the bulldozer, the company decided to leave the tree so that it now stands alone in the middle of a devastated landscape. © Jan-Joseph Stok / Greenpeace

Continue reading →

Illegal Farm in the Amazon: Not For Sale

Posted on by
Blogpost by Jess Miller

verde para sempreActivists from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior joined local community members from the Resex Verde para Sempre Reserve today to declare an end to the sale of an illegal farm inside the protected area. The “Not for Sale” sign installed on the land wrongfully up for auction reads “Verde para Sempre” or “Forever Green”.

A 7.200 hectare logging farm located inside the reserve is up for auction by a public bank (Caixa Economica Federal) to collect a debt owed from years ago by the logging company, “Medida Certa Madeiras”. The fact that the courts are willing to allow a public auction on an illegal logging farm inside the reserve proves that lack of governance has left the creation of the reserve without implementation.

Continue reading →

APP customers start to take action as we deliver evidence to police in Indonesia

Posted on by

By Zul Fahami, Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaign Director

Illegal ramin logs identified at APP's Indah Kiat Perawang pulp mill

Illegal ramin logs identified at APP's Indah Kiat Perawang pulp mill

It’s been a momentous 24 hours since we released the results of our investigation into Asia Pulp and Paper’s illegal timber scandal. While we in Greenpeace are best known for our direct actions, it’s our investigation work that provides the foundation to expose these environmental crimes. Our Indonesian forest campaign is no different and with APP so adamant that it has ‘zero tolerance for illegal timber’ we knew we had to go to the heart of this issue and uncover the reality.

Continue reading →

Asia Pulp & Paper in illegal rainforest scandal

Posted on by

by Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Indonesia

APP: “Zero tolerance for illegal wood.” – @AsiaPulpPaper

These are the five words that say a lot but apparently mean little to a company that has made a mantra out of repeating something which is simply not true.  And today, we’ve released proof that what APP says is wrong – the results of a yearlong investigation uncovering how APP is systematically violating Indonesia’s laws which protect ramin, an internationally protected tree species under CITES. Continue reading →