ITTO report a whitewash

Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 May 1991, Page 34

ITTO report a whitewash

RECENTLY RELEASED REPORT on the logging in Sarawak fails to address any of the tribal peoples’ concems and concedes that the logging is unsustainable. The recommendations of the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) mission, led by Lord Cranbrook and commissioned by the Malaysian Government, ignored the needs of the Penan people and legitimised the destruction of the Sarawak forests under the guise of sustainable management. The report recommends only a minor reduction in the cut from 13 million cubic metres/year to 9.2 million m3, effectively only delaying the impending total destruction by two years from 11 years to 13 years. Yet the New Zealand Ministry of Forestry’s Chief Economist, Don WijeWardana, issued a press release welcoming the Malaysian Government's acceptance of this much criticised report. He enthusiastically endorsed the Malaysian decision as a recognition of the

"need for a balance between development and preservation’. Environmentalists say the report does nothing to defuse the growing call for restrictions on the tropical timber trade, and could be used as evidence by the timber industry for the continuation of the logging of the hill forests in Sarawak. This confirms that the ITTO is primarily concerned with the promotion of the tropical timber trade rather than the conservation of the tropical forests. Forest and Bird had called on the Government to join the ITTO to promote tropical rainforest conservation, but stated that MoF's blatant bias toward logging made them an utterly inappropriate body to represent New Zealand on the ITTO. New Zealand's involvement in the ITTO should be through the Ministry for the Environment or Department of Conservation. If MoF continue their pro logging stance in international forums, they will bring New Zealand into disrepute. #