Subject:  Illegal Amazon Logging Targeted
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8/19/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE
Though historically factors such as clearing rainforests for 
agriculture and grazing have been the primary cause of deforestation 
in the Amazon, increasingly the area is additionally threatened by 
illegal logging.  Greenpeace intends to highlight this fact over the 
next year.  They state that "illegal commercial loggers cut down 80 
percent of the trees that disappear from the rain forest (Amazon) each 
year." If such deforestation continues, Greenpeace estimates that in 
80 years the Amazon rain forest would be wiped out on this basis alone 
(never mind climate change, fires and other habitat threats which are 
also accelerating).  The time is now to bear the costs to conserve the 
Amazon.
g.b.

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Title:   Illegal Amazon Logging Targeted 
Source:  Associated Press 
Status:  Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint 
Date:    August 17, 1999

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The Amazon rain forest will be wiped 
out in 80 years if multinational logging companies continue 
deforestation at the current rate, Greenpeace warned Tuesday in its 
annual report.

As part of its Brazilian Amazon campaign, the environmental group said 
it will target multinational companies and illegal logging this year 
to prevent the destruction of the vast wild territory -- a forest the 
size of Western Europe.

Greenpeace says illegal commercial loggers cut down 80 percent of the 
trees that disappear from the rain forest each year. Most of the cash 
generated from the sale of the lumber goes to foreign companies, the 
group says.

Greenpeace's forest campaigners document deforestation and publish 
details of companies they say are responsible. The group says it will 
use the material to press for court action against illegal loggers.

In a recent report, Greenpeace listed 17 Brazilian corporations, 
either partially or wholly owned by foreign companies, which it said 
practice illegal logging. A detailed report to be released this fall 
will list more than a dozen multinationals that Greenpeace will 
recommend the public boycott.

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