GLOBAL TASMANIAN PROTEST

RIGHT:LOGGING TASMANIAN STYLE

World citizens today protested at Australian embassies and consulates in America, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom to decry the destruction of old-growth forests and the undermining of democracy in the country's island state of Tasmania by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns, Ltd., a billion-dollar logging giant whose practices rank among the world' s worst according to recent reports. The IUCN compares Gunns' operations to rampant illegal logging in the Third World.

Demonstrators delivered a letter signed by leading international sustainability groups to Prime Minister John Howard demanding that the government act in accordance with scientific recommendations to protect Tasmania's virgin forests from a well-documented arsenal of logging tactics deployed by Gunns and industry-controlled Forestry Tasmania.

The worldwide call for action today echoed a dozen of Australia's leading scientists who signed a 2004 statement of support for the protection of Tasmania's forests calling for the 'urgent need for Australian government intervention.' The effort to protect Tasmania's forests is one of the largest environmental issues in Australian history, and according to a 2004 opinion poll by Newspoll, over 85 percent of Australian citizens favor full protection.

Gunns are currently seeking $6.3m damages in a writ against 20 environmental activists, claiming that their actions hurt the companies business. Included in the writ are the Green Senator Bob Brown, Tasmania's Green Party leader Peg Putt, along with Geoff Law of the Wildnerness Society and Lou Geraghty, a 60-year old grandmother for her role in local protest actions. The case is being likened to the 'McLibel' case brought by McDonald's against two British activists.

Websites like Gunns20.org and McGunns.com are indicative of the global support the campaign is attracting. The US-based Rainforest Action Network today launched TreesNotGunns.org to organize future worldwide action.

At the Australian High Commission in London today, British MP Norman Baker - the Lib Dem Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary - met with the Deputy High Commissioner to deliver the NGO letter and spoke about the scenes he witnessed on his visit to Tasmania last month. Over 100 members of the British Parliament recently signed a motion condemning Gunns' actions and calling for an international boycott of woodchips and paper sourced from Tasmania's old-growth forests.

The global outcry comes just days before a March 9th hearing when lawyers will argue for the third time that the Gunns 20 case should be thrown out of court. It is just two weeks before a March 18th Tasmanian election when an record Green vote may force the current government into a minority coalition or from office altogether.

Spearheaded by San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, the worldwide day of protest expands one of the largest environmental protection campaigns in Australian history to global economic centers including Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

The letter to Prime Minister Howard was signed by coalition of US and European-based groups including Forest Ethics (www.ForestEthics.org), Friends of the Earth International (www.FOE.org), Global Exchange (www.GlobalExchange.org), Global Response (www.GlobalResponse.org), International Forum on Globalization (www.IFG.org), Native Forest Network (www.NativeForest.org), Pacific Environment (www.PacificEnvironment.org), Ruckus Society (www.Ruckus.org) and the Sierra Club (www.SierraClub.org).

With an annual revenue of over $700 million in 2005, Gunns is the largest logging company in Australia, where it holds a virtual monopoly in Tasmania. Gunns operations have resulted in convictions and fines for breaching the Forest Practices Code and causing major environmental damage to a Tasman Peninsula waterway. Under the legal protection of special exemptions from national and state laws granted by the government's Regional Forest Agreement, Gunns has routinely ordered the destruction of pristine areas identified for permanent protection by the United Nations World Heritage Bureau. Under current Tasmanian law, the company is not required to file environmental impact statements.

The revolving door between Gunns and the government includes former Tasmanian Premier Robin Gray who currently sits on the company's board of directors. RAN claim that Gunns collusion with Forestry Tasmania has essentially eliminated citizen oversight and has led to a breakdown of democracy in the state. Despite being Tasmania's largest landowner, less the 15 percent of the company's record profits stay in Australia's poorest state.

Gunns largest customers are Japanese paper companies Nippon, Oji, and Daio and major recipients from products of its old-growth woodchips with US markets include Fuji-Xerox, Ricoh and Canon. As a result of NGO pressure, Mitsubishi Paper Mills, another major customer of Gunns, recently adopted a new wood-chip buying policy which rules out sources from old-growth forests.

For more information see www.ran.org.