Mike/Ed- NPR locally ran a spot this weekend about cedars in Louisiana being clearcut off of private lands (80% of the cedars are apparently on private lands), taken in and are being tub ground or chipped for 'organic mulch' in 50 lb. bags to Home Depot and Lowe's... It seems that when informed of that, both retailers took them off their shelves...a commendable response. But the companies responded by labelling their same product as coming from Arkansas and Florida (?), which passes most realistic retailers tests. If we have that much trouble at home, with an unregulated industry, how are we going to be able to control Honduran products? I'm not a big government kind of guy, but clearly private industry is the proverbial "fox in the henhouse" and needing a shotgun wielding farmer! -Don
From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Re: Honduras and Home Depot Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:51:28 -0400 RE: [ENTS] Honduras and Home Depot Ed, This proves once again that FSC “green certification” is a joke. (Home Depot has subscribed to FSC). There is a very simple way the US can do its part and that is to put a ban on all mahogany and pine imports from Honduras. As a matter of fact, I would go further, I would ban all wood imports from tropical rainforests throughout the world. We have a ban on hunting whales so why not have this ban too? It’s the right thing to do. We don’t need that wood. Then we can adjust our foreign aid programs to help the rainforest countries manage their remaining forests for other products as well as small local sustainable harvesting for their local needs. Mike -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Edward Frank Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 7:07 PM To: ENTS Google Subject: [ENTS] Honduras and Home Depot HONDURAS: Greasing Palms to Plunder Forests By Jim Lobe, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30876 WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (IPS) - Illegal logging by corrupt interests tied to major political figures is devastating the rapidly disappearing pine and mahogany forests of Honduras, particularly in northeastern Olancho province, according to a major report released here Thursday by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Centre for International Policy (CIP). The report is based on a series of trips to Honduras over the past year in which EIA investigators posed as investors or buyers of illegally logged timber. It identifies the major companies involved, foremost among them Jose Lamas S. de R.L., a major supplier of pine products to the U.S. home-furnishing giant, Home Depot. At the current logging rate, mahogany in Honduras may become all but extinct within 10 to 15 years, according to the 45-page report, which added that illegal operations now threaten the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Meanwhile, the Honduran government, which has failed to provide adequate funds to enforce logging laws, is losing as much as 18 million dollars a year in lost stumpage fees and other forest-based revenue, according to the report, "The Illegal Logging Crisis in Honduras". _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Celebrate the moment with your favorite sports pics. Check it out. http://www.windowslive.com/Online/Hotmail/Campaign/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_QA_HM_sports_photos_072009&cat=sports --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
