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10th June 2005 Editorial Departments: Economy/Environment deutsche Version... Environmental and consumer organisations demand: Paper industry must respect human rights and protect primary forests An alliance of welknown environmental and consumer associations today issued a common appeal to the members of the Federation of German Paper Mills as well as the Federal Association of German Paper Wholesalers. In the appeal, they demand that the paper trade and industry use only pulp originating from forestry operations which are ecologically sustainable and socially fair. In addition, the paper industry and trade should use more waste paper as raw material. ROBIN WOOD activists accompanied the release of the appeal today with an action at Hamburg's fish market against paper waste and paper from overexploitation. 35 tons of paper per minute are used in Germany. To illustrate how much this is, ROBIN WOOD loaded a lorry with waste paper. Above the paper load the environmentalists displayed a banner with the slogan "for human rights and forests - no paper from predatory exploitation". In front of the truck they symbolically sawed four giant trees, representing the amount of wood needed to produce this quantity of paper. World-wide about 15 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year. Every fifth tree cut is used to make pulp or paper. In countries such as Indonesia and Canada primary forests are clearcut for paper. Indigenous people and smallscale farmers lose their land to the wood and pulp industry and become impoverished. Animals and plants become extinct. Climate change is intensified. The industrialised countries which use over four-fifths of the paper are mainly responsible for this situation. In order to avoid pulp from illegal, destructive and socially unfair origins entering the market, obligatory regulations are necessary. However, appropriate laws are so far missing. Therefore, on the initiative of ROBIN WOOD, an alliance of environmental and consumer associations has formulated an appeal explaining concretely what they expect from paper industry and trade. The appeal includes a series of demands including independent control of the origin of the pulp, more transparency for consumers, clean production processes (for instance the complete renouncement of chlorine compounds) and preferably short transport distances. "Now is the time for paper industry and trade to explain, what they will do, to distance themselves from the destruction of forests, illegal trade and violations of human rights”, says Jens Wieting, tropical forest expert with ROBIN WOOD. For more information contact: Peter Gerhardt, Jens Wieting, ROBIN WOOD-Tropical-Forest Section, ph +49 (0)40 / 380 892 18, tropenwald@robinwood.de Ute Bertrand, ROBIN WOOD-Press Office, ph +49 (0)40 / 380 892 22, presse@robinwood.de The appeal is signed by: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald und Artenschutz (ARA), BUND, Forum Ökologie & Papier, Initiative 2000 plus, NABU, Pro Regenwald, ROBIN WOOD, Urgewald, Verband für Umweltberatung NRW, Verbraucher-Zentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen and WWF Germany. You can find the appeal and more information at www.paperwatch.info