Mitsubishi to Stop Buying Old Growth - Blow to Australia’s Tasmanian Timber Industry

VICTORY
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FOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Mitsubishi to Stop Buying Old Growth
Blow to Australia’s Tasmanian Timber Industry
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June 29, 2005
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Dr. Glen Barry, Forests.org

The Japanese company Mitsubishi Paper Mills has announced it will stop
using woodchips from old-growth forests. Their new policy is to buy only
woodchips "sourced from plantations or second growth forests of
environmentally benign, and reclaimed wood."  Mitsubishi is a major
customer of Tasmanian woodchip exporter Gunns – and the new wood-chip
buying policy would rule out sourcing woodchips from old growth Tasmanian
forests. Shockingly, until now most old growth timber from large-scale
clearfelling in Tasmania has been converted to woodchips, largely for
export to Japan.  

The word is out – chopping up old growth forests to make throw away
consumer products is barbaric, inhumane and ecocidal. The Tasmanian timber
industry is worried – and they should be. There is nothing the timber
barons in Tasmania and elsewhere can do regarding the emerging global
sensibility that old-growth forests should not be chopped up to make
paper. I expect that market pressures will lead other Japanese timber
mills, including Oji and Nippon, to follow suit shortly. This is a clear
signal to Gunns to shift to more sustainable forest practices in secondary
and mixed plantation forests as the way of the future. It also sends an
unmistakable message that World Heritage-class Tasmanian forests should
not be fodder for woodchips.

Forests.org’s network has been active in this struggle for over a decade
and contributed significantly to this victory. Recently we had followed
Greenpeace’s lead in targeting Mitsubishi with protest emails. And our
recent alert notifying Australia’s Prime Minister Howard that his
half-hearted protection of some Tasmanian forests would not quell the
movement to stop old-growth logging now seems down right prescient.

The gauntlet has been thrown down, somewhat surprisingly by Mitsubishi of
Japan's example: all international companies that consume forest products
must adopt a no old-growth forests use policy.  Society and the market no
longer find old-growth forest products to be acceptable – their continued
use is antiquated.  Those that continue to do so will feel the pain of
market rejection.
g.b.


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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
 
ITEM #1
Title:  Mitsubishi rejects old-growth wood
Source:  Copyright 2005, AAP
Date:  June 29, 2205

The Japanese company Mitsubishi Paper Mills has said it will stop using
woodchips from old-growth forests.

MPM is a major customer for Tasmanian woodchip exporter Gunns Limited, and
Tasmania's forest industry has accused environmental groups of economic
vandalism.

The leader of the Greens in Tasmania, Peg Putt, said MPM's decision was a
significant development for forest conservation.
"There will now be market pressure on other Japanese woodchip customers …
to follow the lead of Mitsubishi Paper Mills and adopt more enlightened
purchasing policies," she said.

The state Minister for Infrastructure, Energy and Resources, Bryan Green,
said MPM had been subject to an "international misinformation campaign".

"The result could well be they'll be directed to countries where forest
management is not subject to the same tight controls as in Tasmania," he
said.

Mr Green said the joint state and federal Community Forest Agreement
underlined the sustainability of forest operations, but Ms Putt said the
agreement allowed logging in many areas of old growth.

"This decision by Mitsubishi Paper Mills … demonstrates that at 
least on the other side of the world there is an environmental conscience
and willingness to act," she said.

The chief executive of the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania,
Terry Edwards, said the conservationists' campaign in Japan had undermined
Tasmania's economic well-being and reputation in international markets. He
said only 5 per cent of woodchips exported to Japan came from old-growth
forests.

The chairman of Gunns Limited, John Gay, said all wood supplied to Japan
was certified under the international Program for the Endorsement of
Forestry Certification scheme.


ITEM #2
Title:  Mitsubishi Paper Mills rejects Tasmanian forest destruction
Source:  Greenpeace Japan Press Release
Date:  June 28, 2205

Sydney Tuesday, 28 June, 2005 : Greenpeace and The Wilderness Society
today applauded Mitsubishi Paper Mill's (MPM's) new wood-chip buying
policy, which rules out sources from old growth Tasmanian forests. 

"It's a major victory for anyone who doesn't want Tasmania's magnificent,
ancient forests reduced to woodchips and pulp," said Greenpeace Australia
Pacific Campaigns Manager Danny Kennedy. 

MPM has informed Greenpeace that its new policy is to buy only woodchips
"sourced from plantations or second growth forests of environmentally
benign, and reclaimed wood." These new terms are found on their statement,
"Our policy on Conservation and Creation of Forest Resources". 

Most old growth timber from large-scale clearfelling in Tasmania is
converted to woodchips, largely for export to Japan. The Japanese firm
MPM, along with Oji Paper and Nippon Paper, is a major international buyer
of forest products from Gunns Limited. 

"Mitsubishi has now set a new standard for wood chips from Tasmania which
Oji and Nippon have failed to match," said Alec Marr, National Campaign
Director of The Wilderness Society. Gunns receives the overwhelming
majority of Tasmanian logs destined for sawmills and woodchip mills and as
such is a major beneficiary of Tasmanian old growth forest destruction. 

"Market-wise, this is an exciting development. This is a clear signal to
Gunns to shift to more sustainable forest practices as the way of the
future. It also sends an unmistakable message that World Heritage-class
Tasmanian forests should not be fodder for wood chips," said Marr. 

"But it's highly regrettable to have to rely on more enlightened policy
from overseas buyers to save our last remaining ancient forests," said
Marr. 

MPM's move follows a sustained campaign by Greenpeace and The Wilderness
Society to save Tasmania's old growth forests. 

In May, the Tasmanian and Federal Governments announced a package to
protect 180,000 ha in the Tarkine wilderness and Styx Valley of the
Giants, but failed to end old growth logging by leaving forests in the
Upper Florentine, Huon, Weld, Picton, North East Highlands, Blue Tier,
Great Western Tiers and Ben Lomond open to logging and woodchipping. 

CONTACT: 
Greenpeace Media Officer: Janice Wormworth 
mo 0439 649 359 
The Wilderness Society National Campaign Director: Alec Marr 
mo 0417 229 670 
      

ITEM #3
Title:  Japanese old-growth ban worries timber industry
Source:  Copyright 2005, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Date:  June 29, 2205

The Forest Industries Association says the future of old-growth logging in
Tasmania could be under threat.

The association is worried a decision by a Japanese paper mill to stop
buying woodchips from old-growth forests could be adopted by other
international companies.

This month, Mitsubishi published its new policy to only source woodchips
from plantation forests.

Alec Marr from the Wilderness Society says it will now lobby the two other
Japanese paper mills to follow suit.

"I think they've set an important lead which Oji and Nippon need to
follow," he said.

"Japanese customers can get the woodchips that they need from plantations
and still keep jobs in the timber industry and with far less environmental
damage.

"Mitsubishi have shown that that's the case and we're hoping that Nippon
and Oji will follow Mitsubishi's lead in this area."

Terry Edwards from the Forest Industries Association says there is the
potential for old-growth harvesting to end if pressure from
conservationists is increased.

"There would be many thousands of jobs lost in Tasmania if old-growth
forest harvesting were to cease," he said.

He says workers in the high value adding sawmill and veneer mill
industries would be the worst affected by any reduction in old-growth
logging.

"It certainly exacerbates the pressure situation that has applied for some
time," he said.

"As I say, the pressure isn't on the woodchip industry by this sort of
decision and these activities, the pressure will be on the high value
adding end and that will particularly impact on our export of high quality
flooring architrades and furniture component manufacture industries."


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gbarry@forests.org