BEN # 77

[Adolf Ceska]

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BBBBB    EEEEE    NN N N             BOTANICAL
BB   B   EE       NN  NN             ELECTRONIC
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No. 77                               July 10, 1994

aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca        Victoria, B.C.
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 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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SWEDISH TIMBER INDUSTRY FEARS GREENER FUTURE
From: The European 1-7 July 1994, p. 25 [abbrev.]

Sweden's  timber  industry is launching a campaign against paper
recycling,  after  years  of  effort  to  develop  a   renewable
resource.  In  a letter to Sweden's government, the Swedish pulp
and paper association, Skogsindustrierna, voiced  deep  concerns
about  plans by the country's environmental protection agency to
promote paper recycling, which would mean  a  fall  in  domestic
demand for virgin wood fibres for pulp and paper production.

Sweden already recycles almost half its total yearly consumption
of  1.9  million  tonnes.  A  further  20 per cent is burned for
heating purposes. Only a fifth of the country's total production
of 12 million tonnes of pulp and paper is consumed domestically.
Of the ten million tonnes that are exported, 8.4 million  go  to
EU countries.

Through  its domestic antirecycling campaign, the forestry hopes
that the Swedish government will lower its recycling demands  to
the  proposed  EU levels, thereby protecting its European market
from growing environmental pressure. The government has  already
rejected  the  industry's  plea for broadening the definition of
recycling to include "energy extraction" - that is  incineration
-  as  an accepted form of recycling. If the paper is burned, it
will not compete with virgin fibre as a base  for  pulp  produc-
tion.

Over  the  past  five  years, Swedish industry has faced growing
criticism -  domestic  and  international  -  for  impoverishing
biodiversity.  Timber  companies are now changing forestry prac-
tices and trying to market themselves as a "green" industry.

So when Greenpeace Germany managed to reach a  deal  where  four
large  German  paper  consumers buy only "clear-cut free paper",
Sodra, the leading forestry company in southern  Sweden,  rushed
to Hamburg to convince their German customers and their environ-
mentalist  partners  that Swedish forestry has now abandoned its
old methods.


BRITISH COLUMBIA PREMIER TO COUNTER GREEN OFFENSIVE
From: Times-Colonist, July 7, 1994, p. A3 [abbrev.]

British Columbia Premier Mike Harcourt left  for  San  Francisco
where  he  hopes  to convince newsprint buyers that the province
has cleaned up its forestry  practices.  "British  Columbia  has
some  of  the  most  environmentally  sound forest practices and
highest-quality forest products in the  world,"  he  said.  "I'm
hoping  our customers will appreciate the changes we're bringing
in."

Greenpeace has been advocating a California boycott against B.C.
companies that clearcut ancient forests in the province. Such  a
boycott   would  affect  MacMillan  Bloedel  Ltd.,  the  largest
province's most important industry.  Harcourt  also  faces  heat
from  California  state  Senator Tom Hayden who has introduced a
bill in the state legislature to ban the use of  newsprint  made
from old-growth trees. The bill is in the committee stage.

Harcourt  said  he will highlight his government's environmental
record during his trip to California, which buys 30 per cent  of
the  province's newsprint. He will point to the new Forest Prac-
tices Code, and will spotlight the government's plan to increase
protected parkland while retraining forestry  workers  in  tree-
planting, environmental restoration and other green occupations.


ANNOUNCING CITES-L
From: conslink <conslink%sivm.bitnet at vtbit.cc.vt.edu>

CITES-L,  a  list for discussion and postings of issues relating
to the trade in wildlife and  the  Convention  on  International
Trade  in  Endangered Species (CITES), will provide a medium for
discussions on wildlife trade  and  CITES  related  issues.  The
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), where the list will
be  maintained,  has  had over 12 years of experience in dealing
with wildlife trade issues  and  maintains  a  database  of  all
reported  trade  in  CITES-listed species on behalf of the CITES
Secretariat. WCMC has regular contact with the CITES Secretariat
in Geneva, which will also be a source  of  up-to-date  informa-
tion. The 9th Conference of the Parties of CITES will be held in
November  of  this  year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA and we
hope to post decisions and results of discussions as  they  take
place.

Subscribing:  send  a  one  line message to LISTPROC at WCMC.ORG.UK
with the command line (in message body):
SUBSCRIBE CITES-L <Yourname>
e.g. SUBSCRIBE CITES-L Ronald MacDonald

Signing off: send a one  line  message  to  LISTPROC at WCMC.ORG.UK
with the command line (in message body):
SIGNOFF CITES-L
or
UNSUBSCRIBE CITES-L

Caution:  replying  to  a  message  from  the list will reply to
EVERYONE on the list unless you take precautions  to  make  sure
that does not happen.

If  you  have  any  questions  please  direct  them  to the list
manager:
Helen Corrigan
Wildlife Trade Monitoring Unit
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
219 Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL, U.K.
E-mail: helen.corrigan at wcmc.org.uk