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Duesseldorf, 4th June 04 deutsche Version... Resorts: Current News/Environment/Consumers METRO benefits from the destruction of rainforests ROBIN WOOD activists protest today for an ecological purchasing policy at today's shareholder meeting When the shareholders of Metro flocked to the general assembly today, ROBIN WOOD was already waiting for them in front of Duesseldorf's Congress Centre. The environmentalists displayed a large banner with the slogan “CUT & CARRY: METRO trades in paper from the rainforest”. Amongst the protesters was an upset orang-utan, who handed out flyers to METRO's shareholders, asking them to save the monkeys' forest. The reason behind these protests: METRO sells paper the pulp of which originated in native tropical forests. This suspicion has been verified by a laboratory analysis, which was ordered by ROBIN WOOD. The product concerned is the copy paper of the brand Sigma Universal offered by the chain of supermarkets “Real”, which is part of the METRO Group. The pulp analysis conducted by a reputable research institute in the United States has revealed that this product contains “mixed tropical hardwood”. “As METRO is one of the most influential trade companies it has the responsibility not to take part in the destruction of the last remaining rainforests“, says Jens Wieting, ROBIN WOOD Expert on Tropical Forests. “We are asking the Board of Directors to make a public and binding declaration that the Metro Group will stop trading in products gained by the destruction of natural forests.” In particular, Metro has been asked to end its trade with the infamous company Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which is known for clearcutting tropical rainforest. “Galeria Kaufhof”, another chain of the Metro Group offers APP's paper under the brand name Sinar Spectra. This paper is produced in the pulp factory Indah Kiat on the Indonesian island Sumatra. The combine APP alone has already destroyed about 300,000 ha of rainforest on Sumatra – an area larger than that of the German federal state Saarland. Protests by the local inhabitants who are driven off their land, have repeatedly been countered with violence by APP. So far, all attempts by Indonesian environmental organisations to save at least the most precious forests from destruction by APP have failed. Even zones which are officially protected are not safe from the logging troops. ROBIN WOOD has already convinced some other major companies in Germany, such as the chain of department stores Karstadt and the German postal service Deutsche Post, to exclude from the product ranges paper from companies involved in the destruction of rainforests on Sumatra. Contact: Jens Wieting/Peter Gerhardt, Resort Tropical Forests, Ph. +49 174 74 33 522, tropenwald@robinwood.de Ute Bertrand, Press Spokesperson, Ph. +49 40 / 380 892 22, presse@robinwood.de Information on ROBIN WOOD's paper campaign can be accessed on the internet under: www.robinwood.de/tropenwald Photos (3): Lepke, NRZ