Premier Wen urged to save northern Burma forests

Environment

Premier Wen urged to save northern Burma forests

Encouraged by his intervention in February to suspend the construction of dams on the Nu, known in Burma as the Salween, environmentalists have called on China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao yesterday to "act now to save" the forest region known as N'Mai Hku, in Burma's northernmost Kachin State.

"(N)umerous Chinese timber companies affected by the (1998) logging ban in China are now crossing the border to access forests in Myanmar," write the petitioners.

As a result, the N'Mai Hku mountainous forest area, though being part of the biodiverse eco-region known in China as Gaolingshan that has been designated both as a national nature reserve and UNESCO World Hertage Site, it remains unprotected and extremely threatened, says the report. "Logging these mountain forests would destroy the [Nujiang (Salween) and the Dulong (Irrawaddy)] watersheds, causing disastrous flood/drought cycles similar to the one Yunnan experienced in 1998 that led the Chinese government to enact a logging ban," it calls him up.

The environmentalists that include organizations known in Thailand such as International Rivers Network and Mekong Watch and individuals such as Dr David Steinberg and author Sheby Tucker request that he takes immediate action to halt all logging in the area, "implement stricter cross-border trade regulations and more effectively apply existing laws to prevent corruption."

According to Far Eastern Economic Review, 25 December 2003, China is the second biggest timber importer behind the United States, and there is no prospect that the demand will ease as long as China's economic boom rolls on.

"The demand is so huge that plantations will have to be the longer-term solution," Allen Chan, chairman of Sino-Forest Corp, the biggest independent forest-plantation company in China with 200,000 hectares under cultivation, said.

According to him, plantations are renewable, dependable, predictable and profitable. Sino-Forest reported a 56% jump in the third-quarter profit in 2003 compared to the same period in 2002. In Brazil, he told FEER's David Lague, intensive plantations can produce 300 cubic meters of timber per hectare every five years.

For the original text of the petition, please consult attachment.

Text of Letter to Premier Wen Jia-bao regarding

N'Mai Hku Region:

Dear Premier Wen Jia-bao:

We respectfully wish to express our serious and urgent concern about the ecological destruction caused by Chinese logging firms and their associated companies in the N'Mai Hku area of northern Myanmar, Kachin State, on the border of Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.

The N'Mai Hku area is part of the Gaoligongshan mountain forest eco-region located on both sides of the border between Myanmar's Kachin State and Yunnan Province, China. The Gaoligongshan eco-region contains several internationally important rivers, such as the Nujiang (Salween) and the Dulong (Irrawaddy) which flow through Myanmar. Logging these mountain forests would destroy the watersheds, causing disastrous flood/drought cycles similar to the one Yunnan experienced in 1998 that led the Chinese government to enact a logging ban.

According to scientists, the N'Mai Hku area, part of one of the eight most biologically diverse regions in the world, contains one of the region's last remaining areas of intact natural forest. In an attempt to protect this rare biodiversity, UNESCO designated the area a World Heritage Site in 2003. The ecosystem habitat, home to some 7,000 species of plants, has remained until recently relatively isolated from major human disturbances. The forest eco-region also supports exceptional, abundant wildlife, of which 80 species are considered to be rare or endangered.

Although the N'Mai Hku area in Kachin State is of the utmost ecological importance to the region, Chinese companies are currently involved in large-scale, unregulated clear-cut logging operations there. This unsustainable logging threatens ecological and human community integrity by destroying the Gaoligongshan watershed that indigenous livelihoods and wildlife depend on.

China implemented a logging ban in 1998 after unsustainable logging in the Yunnan region resulted in extensive flooding, thousands of deaths, large scale human displacement and massive agricultural, economic and infrastructural damage. The international community congratulates the Chinese government on addressing past unsustainable forestry practices. However, numerous Chinese timber companies affected by the logging ban in China are now crossing the border in order to access forests in Myanmar. The conservation of forests along the Yunnan border should operate on a trans-border scale so the neighbouring country's remaining old-growth forests are not devastated.

To preserve ecological integrity in the entire region, we request that the Chinese government take immediate action to halt all logging in the N'Mai Hku area, implement stricter cross-border trade regulations, and more effectively apply the existing laws to prevent corruption.

As your great nation becomes increasingly integrated into the global economy, and with the 2008 Olympics in Beijing approaching, the international community is becoming more aware of China's major role in influencing world events. Preventing ecological destruction of the N'Mai Hku area by stopping Chinese logging there will demonstrate to the world that China exercises impressive leadership and foresight in protecting forest ecosystems on a transnational, as well as domestic, scale. Please act now to save the N'Mai Hku forest region.

Yours Sincerely,

ORGANIZATIONS:
Bark forest organization, Portland OR USA
Benerich Tropenwald, Hamburg, Germany
Global Association for People and the Environment,
Victoria BC, Canada
Indiana Forest Alliance, Bloomington IN USA
International Rivers Network, Berkeley CA USA
Mekong Watch, Tokyo, Japan
Native Forest Council, Eugene OR USA
Protect, Bryn Athyn PA USA
Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco CA USA
Rainforest Relief, New York NY USA
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of The Earth Malaysia), Penang, Malaysia
Southern Appalachia Biodiversity Project, Asheville NC USA
Tebtebba Inc., Indigenous Peoples International Centre for Policy,
Research and Education, Baguio City, The Philippines

INDIVIDUALS (Academics/Environmentalists):
Yuki Akimoto, Washington DC USA
Helen Andreoni, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
John Armitage, bird conservationist, Scotland UK Natalie Ashworth, UK
Nwe Aung, Germany
Ulrike Bey, Asienhaus, Germany
Prof. Raymond Bryant, King's College, UK
Dr. Karin Dean, National University of Singapore
Perrin de Jong, Kentucky Heartwood, Lexington KY USA
Mary Green, New South Wales, Australia
Tetz Hakoda, Kobe, Japan
Michele Keegan, Washington DC USA
Glenda Kupczyk-Romanczuk, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
Chris Lang, Frankfurt, Germany
Dr. Thomas Lee, University of California Los Angeles, USA
Ken MacLean, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI USA
Edith Mirante, Portland OR USA
David Mushal, University of the South, Sewanee TN USA
Dominic Nardi, Georgetown Eco-Action, Georgetown University, Washington DC USA
Dr. Richard Noske, Charles Darwin University, Darwin Australia
Dr. Rose Paisley, Naturopath, Portland OR USA
Prof. Nicole Panter, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia CA USA
David Patterson, University of New England,
Armidale, Australia
Dr. Lynda Prior, Charles Darwin University, Darwin Australia
Prof. Judith Shapiro, American University, Washington DC USA
Dr. David Steinberg, Georgetown University, Washington DC USA
Prof. John F. Thorne, University of Hong Kong
Shelby Tucker, author and attorney, Oxford UK
Sara van Fleet, University of Washington, Seattle WA USA
Marie Weber, Bad Kreuznach, Germany
Kevin Woods, Yale University, New Haven CT USA
Maung Maung Yan, Germany
Tony Henderson, Hong Kong
Kevin Li, Hong Kong

Copies sent to:
Mr. Bo Xi-la, MInister of Commerce, People's Republic of China.
Mr. Zhou Sheng-xian, Director, State Forestry Administration, People's Republic of China.
Mr. Xu Rongkai, Governor of Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.
Ambassador Yang Jiechi , Embassy of the People's Republic of China, Washington DC USA.
Mr. Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre, Paris France.

R A I N F O R E S T R E L I E F
P.O. Box 150566, Brooklyn NY 11215 USA
New York City: 718/398-3760
relief@igc.org www.rainforestrelief.org