The Untouchables. Rimbunan Hijau's world of forest crime & political ...

THE GLOBAL FOREST CRISISAncient forests are fundamental to life on Earth.They provide a home and vital sustenance tomillions of people. They provide a habitat forinnumerable species of plants and animals. Andthey perform vital ecological functions.Ancient forests are the place that millions ofindigenous peoples call home. Some of thesepeoples constitute the poorest and mostdisadvantaged of all world citizens. They sufferhuman rights abuses, great poverty, disease andother social problems as forest areas are harvested,with little or no consideration for their plight orlivelihoods.“...landowners were forcedto sign papers with abarrel of a gun at theirback. In the presence ofpolice and companyofficials, without properlegal advice, with gunspointed at them.”Annie Kajir, Human Rights Lawyer, PortMoresby, Papua New Guinea. 3Now, just 20percent of the Earth’soriginal forest coverremains as large intactareas; with more thana third of these underthreat. Industrial-scalelogging poses thesingle largest menaceto the forests’survival. 2Across the globe,trans-nationalcorporations continueto operatedestructively, and often outside of the law, as theyharvest the world’s last remaining accessible forestresources.Malaysian logging company, Rimbunan Hijau(RH) is one such corporation.Logging destruction is fuelled by a complacentinternational marketplace. In addition, consumingnations worldwide, eager to fulfil a relentlessdemand for wood and paper, turn a blind eye to“Some 350 million of the poorest people on Earth areentirely dependent on forests for their survival”World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development 1999. 4the social, environmental and legal problems thatcharacterise the logging operations of companieslike Rimbunan Hijau.The actions of forest plunderers amount to farmore than just a huge ecological disaster.They have severe impacts on local people and onthe national economies of some of the LeastDeveloped Countries (LDCs) in the world.KEY POINTS1. Much of the global trade in timber and timberproducts is unlawful.2. Destructively and illegally extracted timberexacts a ruinous toll on forest eco-systems andon the lives of forest-dwelling peoples. It cheatsdeveloping countries of revenue and resourcesnecessary for survival and nationaldevelopment.3. Companies like Rimbunan Hijau operate acrossnational boundaries and are a key participant inthe illegal harvesting of timber.4. Such companies operate with impunity andcultivate a network of political patronage thatbreeds off political systems that are underimmense stress in Southern nations.5. Only measures at both the producer level (whereforests must be protected from illegal anddestructive logging) and at the consumer level(where illegal timber and timber products mustbe identified and banned) willeffectively address the problem.6. International and bilateralpolitical processes, such as theConvention for BiologicalDiversity (CBD), are anopportunity for governments tofund the protection of ancientforests and put in place strictinternational guidelines andprogrammes to achieve the“significant reduction inbiodiversity loss by 2010”, agreedto at the Johannesburg EarthSummit in 2002.Pepsy Diabe, Kamala clan, KusuoTribe stands amidst devastationof recent logging, Wawoi Guavi,Papua New Guinea. ©Scheltema/GreenpeaceTHE UNTOUCHABLES 3Rimbunan Hijau’s world of forest crime & political patronage