|
| |
| "28. Mai 2015" |
| TimberWest plündert den Great Bear Rainforest immer brutaler und immer schneller – neue Kahlschläge im Süden des Gebietes |
| Der Forstkonzern TimberWest, Westkanadas größter privater Forstkonzern, der im Besitz von zwei Pensionsfonds ist, plündert den Great Bear Rainforest immer brutaler und immer schneller. In einer Art „Holzrausch“ wird hemmungslos Kahlschlag an Kahlschlag gereiht, um im Vorfeld neuer Land Use Orders und der vollen Umsetzung der Ziele des Great Bear Rainforest-Abkommens sich noch ungehindert möglichst viel Holz sichern zu können. Ohne jede Rücksicht auf ökologische Kriterien fallen so auch Urwaldgebiete, die längst hätten geschützt sein sollen, den Kettensägen zum Opfer und gehen unwiederbringlich verloren. |
| Im Gebiet der Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 47 (u.a. das Gebiet von Sonora Island) hat der Holzeinschlag seit 2009 deutlich zugenommen, über 4.000 Hektar Regenwald wurden kahlgeschlagen. 2008 hatte TimberWest dort kein Holz gewonnen, 2013/2014 wurden auf Grund des großen Protestes der Öffentlichkeit und von Umweltschutzorganisationen die Kahlschläge zunächst „freiwillig“ gestoppt und es wurde weiter verhandelt. 2009 holte sich TimberWest 248.188 cbm Holz aus seiner TFL 47, 2011 waren es schon 778.580 cbm. „The province established an annual average harvest of 365.000 cubic meters per year for the Great Bear Portion in 2014, when the company logged 614.412 cubic meters. Logging occurs over five-year periods, meaning that the cut will now have to be lowered in the Great Bear in future years”, heißt es in dem Artikel von Larry Pynn vom 21. Mai 2015 in der Vancouver Sun (Environmentalists call on TimberWest to suspend logging in Great Bear Rainforest. The groups are asking the company to freeze its logging operations in the region until planning is complete and are urging the B.C. government to ensure no new cutting permits are approved until new stricter logging regulations are in place). |
| Schon zum 31. März 2014 hätten die Vereinbarungen des Great Bear Rainforest-Abkommens und die letztendliche Implementierung der Holzeinschlagsregeln nach dem sogenannten Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) sowie die Ausweisung der „Reserves“ erfolgen sollen, doch es gibt immer neue Verzögerungen. Dies kann der Forstindustrie nur recht sein. Solange neue Reserves und vom Holzeinschlag auszunehmende Gebiete nicht rechtsverbindlich ausgewiesen sind, können die hemmungslosen Plünderungen des Waldes durch die Forstkonzerne, allen voran TimberWest, mit rasender Geschwindigkeit fortgesetzt werden. In einem Holzrausch gehen so längst als schützenswert erkannte Gebiete verloren und es werden hinter dem Rücken der an den Verhandlungen beteiligten – auch der drei Umweltschutzorganisationen Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club BC und ForestEthics Solutions – Tatsachen geschaffen, die nicht rückgängig gemacht werden können. Eduardo Souza, Forest Campaigner von Greenpeace Canada, schrieb in seinem Artikel „Return to Sonora: TimberWest in the Great Bear Rainforest“ am 21. Mai: “Recent analysis shows that as we move towards implementing stricter logging regulations in 2015, TimberWest has dramatically accelerated its rate of logging in the southern Great Bear Rainforest part of its tree farm license over the past five years. They have logged over one million cubic metres more (the equivalent of a million telephone poles) than they have been allocated as an average Annual Allowable Cut in the five year period (from 2010 to 2014). The company has logged more than 4,400 hectares of rainforest in this area since 2009, 11 times the area of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. This is particularly concerning given that TimberWest does not currently have a plan to reserve and restore these endangered ecosystems and the species that depend on them. Indeed, in the past 5 years, more than 50% of TimberWest’s logging has occurred in areas that were identified five years ago as priorities for landscape reserves. Not only is this not consistent with the spirit and intent of Ecosystem-Based Management (and is also contrary to what their senior executive team committed to us in a 2011 letter), but also goes against the wishes and aspirations of the region's First Nations (the leadership of these Nations have been in dialogue with TimberWest on their rate of logging and how it precludes other activities and visions for their territories, but that has gotten them nowhere). It is for this reason, that Greenpeace along with ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club BC have once again gone public with our concerns (read our Press Release here). We gave TimberWest the benefit of the doubt over the past two years to get things back on track through ongoing negotiation and engagement, only to be shocked and dismayed with our finding that their logging has accelerated considerably in the region while they have been talking with us.” |
| Steve Thomson, Minster of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, erklärte gegenüber Global BC am 21. Mai 2015, dass die neuen Land Use Orders zum Holzeinschlag erst Anfang Juni 2015 vorliegen werden. Im Global BC-Beitrag hieß es, dass es danach noch Monate dauern werde, bis diese Regeln in Kraft treten werden, eventuell werde dies erst 2016 der Fall sein. Schon alleine wegen dieser extremen Verzögerung (umgesetzt hätte alles schon zum 31.3.2014 sein sollen) kann das von den drei an den Verhandlungen beteiligten Umweltschutzorganisationen so hoch gelobte und als Erfolg gepriesene Great Bear Rainforest-Abkommen kaum als Vorzeigemodell für andere Regionen gewertet werden. Die brutale Kahlschlagsforstwirtschaft von TimberWest ist wegen dieser Verzögerungen derzeit leider ganz legal, was sowohl Domenico Lannidinardo, Vice-President of Sustainability and Chief Forester von TimberWest feststellte als auch Steve Thomson. Der Minister erklärte, TimberWest sei „compliant with legal requirements currently in place”. |
 |
|
Kahlschlag im Süden des Great Bear Rainforest. TimberWest plündert den Wald in TFL 47 © Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions, Sierra Club BC/Rainforest Solutions Project
|
|
Nachfolgend ist die Presseerklärung des Sierra Club BC vom 21. Mai 2015 zum Holzeinschlag von TimberWest wiedergegeben:
|
|
„TimberWest logging in the Great Bear Rainforest like there is no tomorrow
|
Sierra Club BC calls on TimberWest and the BC government to freeze logging plans until we have certainty that rare and endangered rainforest ecosystems will be set aside.
New information compiled by Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club B.C reveals that logging company TimberWest has dramatically sped up logging in the Great Bear Rainforest and targeted globally endangered rainforest ecosystems before stricter logging regulations come into effect. The environmental organizations are calling on the company to freeze their logging operations in the region until planning is completed to ensure that endangered rainforests will be safe. Additionally the organizations are asking the BC government to ensure they aren’t approving new cutting permits until new stricter logging regulations are in place. These are currently under negotiation with the BC Government and the region’s First Nations.
‘Both TimberWest and the BC government should freeze logging plans until we have certainty that rare and endangered rainforest ecosystems will be set aside.’ said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC.
According to the organizations’ analysis, the company significantly increased the rate of logging in this area between 2009 and early 2015. In this period, TimberWest logged more than 4,400 hectares of rainforest (equivalent to 11 times the area of Vancouver’s Stanley Park) in the Great Bear Rainforest. The company also logged more than one million cubic meters over what they had been allocated as a government-mandated Annual Allowable Cut between 2010 to 2014; the equivalent of a million telephone poles. This cutting coincides with the period agreed to by the BC government, First Nations, a group of forestry companies and environmental organizations as a transition period towards stricter logging regulations.
Today, Greenpeace called out TimberWest by deploying a large banner on its ship Esperanza near Sonora Island in the southernmost part of the Great Bear Rainforest where the company operates.
‘TimberWest has sped up logging in the Great Bear Rainforest like there is no tomorrow’ said Eduardo Sousa, Greenpeace. ‘Their actions compromise the integrity of the forest and disrupt the vision First Nations communities have for their traditional territories.’
Due to decades of extensive logging, the southern region of the Great Bear Rainforest has very little remaining old-growth forest and very few protected areas. As a result, many of these forest ecosystems and wildlife species like the Marbled Murrelet that depend on them are now endangered.
Final implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management in the Great Bear Rainforest was due by March 31, 2014. Significant progress has been made to achieve these steps but finalization is delayed and will require ongoing leadership and resources by the BC government.
‘TimberWest’s rush to clearcut and their plans to use the delay to log even more endangered forest is opportunistic and irresponsible,’ says Valerie Langer, ForestEthics Solutions. ‘It’s a double whammy for the Great Bear Rainforest. TimberWest needs to understand that either they are part of the solution or they have a very big problem.’”
|
 zurück |
|
|
