On Tuesday, October 3rd, Friends of the Earth will be delivering a letter to the Timber Trade Federation [1] from the network of Indigenous groups in the Brazilian Amazon which denounces the mahogany trade. Friends of the Earth activists will be unfurling a 45 foot long banner saying Mahogany is Murder'.

Britain is the world's second largest importer of mahogany, consuming a third of all mahogany exported from Brazil. Much of this timber has been obtained and traded illegally in Brazil's Amazon rainforest with devastating impacts on the forest and its indigenous people. The British Timber Trade Federation (TTF) is relying only on a discredited voluntary agreement to deal with the illegal trade and its impacts [2].

Despite assurances from the TTF that recent new measures have brought the mahogany trade under control, Friends of the Earth received the letter from the Coordinator of Indigenous Groups of the Brazilian Amazon (COLAB) this week which details the continuing suffering of the Indians at the hands of the loggers. In the letter, Sebastiao Manchinery of COLAB [3] states that:

Indigenous peoples are constantly threatened by death and their villages and plantations are destroyed by invaders, hired by the logging companies. .... Invasions in order to procure mahogany are causing great devastation to the forest and its inhabitants'.

The letter [4] goes on to say that:

Indigenous leaders opposing illegal extraction are constantly threatened by loggers, as in those recent cases of Vale do Javari and Alto Solimoes'

The letter concludes that the situation has resulted in deaths of both Indians and loggers - as the Indians try to protect their land and the loggers remain motivated by the fact that mahogany is in high demand on the international market.

Sarah Tyack, Mahogany Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:

The indigenous peoples in the Brazilian rainforest continue to suffer at the hands of the loggers whilst the British Timber Trade Federation does nothing more than rely on a discredited voluntary agreement, which has been shown to be failing, to bring the illegal logging under control.'

Last week, Friends of the Earth also heard that in the Amazonian State of Acre, two gunmen have reached the remote city of Sena Madureira, threatening to kill Father Paolino Baldassari who has become a symbol in the resistance against the illegal exploitation of timber in the state of Acre [5]. Friends of the Earth is calling on British citizens to send messages of support for Father Paolino.

In support of the call of 70 Brazilian NGOs for a moratorium on the trade of mahogany, Friends of the Earth will continue to campaign for a ban on the logging of mahogany until it can be guaranteed that this trade is sustainable and legal.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Friends of the Earth campaigners will present the letter to the Timber Trade Federation, Clareville House, 26/27 Oxendon St, SW1Y 4EL at 10:30am on Tuesday, October 3rd.

[2] In 1993, logging companies in Brazil and timber importing companies in the UK signed an agreement (known as the AIMEX/NHA agreement) promising only to trade in legally obtained mahogany. However, a detailed report written by Friends of the Earth in Brazil gives evidence that the illegal logging has continued since then.

[3] Sebastiao Manchinery is the general coordinator of COLA (Coordenacao Das Organizacoes Indigenas Da Amazonia Brasileira)

[4] A full copy of the letter (in Portuguese) is attached. For a translation of the letter, contact

[5] Father Paolino has also been involved in the defence of traditional forest dwellers and rubber tappers. He had already been threatened by loggers, especially over the past two years, when Eastern Acre was increasingly exploited because of the rapid depletion of mahogany in the State of Para. Friends of the Earth's Roberto Smeraldi visited the Servants of Mary on August 24th 1995 and confirmed how, in his presence, another fellow priest had been advised' by the lawyer of a timber company that Father Paolino was risking his life'.

NETWORK OF INDIGENOUS ORGANISATIONS OF THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

MAIN POINTS OF THE LETTER

26 September 1995

"The Network of Indigenous Organisation of the Brazilian Amazon - COLAB; has declared that the invasion of loggers into indigenous areas in order to exploit a number of woods such as cedro, mahogany - PARTICULARLY MAHOGANY - has caused serious conflicts between Indians and whites.

Indigenous people are constantly threatened with death and their villages and plantations are destroyed by invaders, hired by large logging companies.

The exploitation of mahogany causes great damage to the forest and consequently the destruction of the environment and the livelihood of those who live in it.

Indigenous leaders opposing illegal extraction are constantly threatened by loggers as in those recent cases of Vale do Javari and Alto Solimoes, where loggers, with the support of local politicians, are turning the white population against the Indians, including protest marches and threatening to set fire to the HQ of CIVAJA, CGTT, and the Alto Solimoes Indigenous Centre where the demarcation of Indian is administrated.

Some indigenous leaders, often with the help of FUNAI officials, are signing contracts with the loggers... loggers have distributed armaments to the Indians...

These invasions have had disastrous results such as:

The social and sconomical destruction of indigenous communities;

Destruction of the forest

The spread of diseases throughout indigenous communities such as malaria, hepatitis B, cholera, tuberculosis, venereal diseases

Social disintegration such as alcoholism, drugs etc

The loggers are motivated by the fact that mahogany is an internationally traded wood, and it has brought about resistance from the Indians who are defending their heritage which has resulted in the deaths of both loggers and Indians."

Signed by Sebastiao Manchinery Coordinator of COLAB