Australian Greenpeacers Arrested Blocking Woodchip Export

HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, February 17, 2004 (ENS) - Greenpeace Australia Sunday stopped the export of woodchips from Tasmanian old-growth forests to Japan for seven hours until the police came to take them into custody.

A team of seven Greenpeacers dramatized their effort to protect the ancient forests of Tasmania’s Styx Valley by climbing onto the loading gantry at Tasmania’s Triabunna port, preventing woodchips from being loaded onto the Panamanian registered ship "Pearl Queen."

They hung banners saying “Stop global forest destruction,” and “Protect Tasmania’s ancient forests,” in English and Japanese.

Police scaled the gantry and brought the protesters down. They were transported to Bellerive, charged with trespassing and bailed out. They will appear in court in Hobart on March 15.

Greenpeace banner suspended from the Triabunna port gantry Sunday morning (Photo courtesy Greenpeace Australia)

During the action, Greenpeace campaigner Rebecca Hubbard said with satisfaction, "For the time being we’ve halted export of woodchips from Tasmania’s ancient forests to Japan."

“The ongoing destruction of Tasmania’s ancient forests shows why governments meeting at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Malaysia this week must implement a global network of protected areas, and ensure that the Earth’s biodiversity is protected for future generations,” said Hubbard.

Activist Sakyo Noda, an English language student from Tokyo, said that he was among those who helped transport climbers onto the ship but that he escaped arrest.

Noda is one of the activists who have been living in the world’s highest tree-sit, the Global Rescue Station in the Styx Valley of southern Tasmania, since November 12, 2003 in an attempt to keep some of the world's largest trees from being turned into woodchips.

Roadline logging in the Styx Valley to prepare for clearcutting The background trees stand between 60 and 75 meters (196 and 246 feet). (Photo by Rob Blakers courtesy Geoff Law)

“Oji Paper, Nippon Paper and Mitsubishi Paper Mills can help to protect these magnificent forests by sourcing woodchips from FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] certified forests or sustainably managed plantations instead of ancient forests," he said.

Tasmania exports more woodchips from native forests than all other Australian states combined. Less than 20 percent of Tasmania’s original extent of untouched giant eucalyptus regnans trees remain. Half of those are threatened by logging.

The logging company, Gunns Ltd. of Tasmania has vowed to pursue the protesters through the courts. Gunns called the action the work of economic terrorists and lawbreakers, but it earned the support of Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, who represents the island state of Tasmania.

Brown endorsed the action and quoted a recent Newspoll survey which showed 85 percent of Australians want the federal government to protect Tasmania's forests.

"The ship has a bellyful of Australia's most magnificent forests, including from the Styx Valley of the Giants and the Blue Tier in northeast Tasmania," he told the "Mercury" newspaper.

Senator Bob Brown (center) and staff stand in front of a Eucalyptus regnans in the Styx valley known as The Big Tree. At 91 meters (298 feet) it is the tallest known tree in Australia and the tallest hardwood tree in the world. (Photo courtesy Geoff Law)

But Gunns defends its forest practices. Gunns' forest operations first obtained ISO 14001 certification in December 1998, being the first in Australia to obtain this certification. "This is clear evidence that Gunns environmental management systems meet global standards," the company says.

Re-certification was obtained in November 2001 and Det Norske Veritas successfully carried out audit in May 2002. Gunns forest practices are now certified under the Australian Forestry Standard, and Gunns is the first company to achieve this certification.

But that does not satisfy the environmentalists. In January, Greenpeace and the Wilderness Society hijacked the maiden voyage of Spirit of Tasmania III with a similar action in Sydney.