NEW ZEALAND/AOTEAROA
ZERO CUT of Native Forests:
Please write a letter or email
Only seven percent of New Zealand's original lowland forest remains unlogged. Please help protect it by responding to this action request from the Dunedin Environment Centre.
Dear Friend,
I am writing to ask your help in the urgent matter of the continued logging of New Zealand's native forests. New Zealand is famed worldwide as a clean, green, environmentally friendly country. This public image is far from the truth. This island nation was predominantly forested only two hundred years ago. Now only seven percent of the original lowland forest remains unlogged, and a State owned company, Timberlands West Coast Ltd., is continuing to take ancient trees out of these unique wilderness areas.
Trees such as Rimu, and NZ Beech are native nowhere else in the world, and these ecosystems provide a home to the endangered Great Spotted Kiwi and many other rare species. Native Forest Action has been lobbying, informing the public here, and organising boycotts of New Zealand hardwood timber such as Rimu. We now need an international letter writing campaign to add to this work.
Pressure from abroad may be the only way to convince our complacent government to make some positive decisions and realise the global importance of this conservation issue. They are particularly sensitive to public opinion on New Zealandıs desirability as a tourist destination.
What You Can Do
A sample letter is attached below. Please change it as you see fit, print it out and send it to
Prime Minister Jenny Shipley
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
New Zealand.We are informing over 1,000 people worldwide of the situation, and if everyone puts pen to paper then 10,000 grams of paper will contribute to saving 100,000 hectares of irreplaceable lowland forest.
Copies to Nick Smith, Conservation Minister; and
Helen Clark, Leader of the Labour Party,
at the same address would also help, or email:
nick.smith@parliament.govt.nz ;
helen.clark@parliament.govt.nz
Please also write to your local paper; and distribute this letter as widely as you can.
For more information please contact nfa_office@ts.co.nz.
Many thanks for your help. E Tu, E Tane - Stand up for the Trees
Sample Letter
Dear Jenny Shipley,
I am horrified to learn that some of the remaining seven percent of New Zealandıs untouched lowland forest is being logged by a State owned company. Virgin forests are a global resource the value of which cannot be estimated. What remains of these rich and unique ecosystems needs to be protected for the sake of their flora and fauna (especially the endangered Great Spotted Kiwi), and so people can visit to gain inspiration from their beauty. There is also scientific research to be done in these wilderness areas. There is no justification for destroying these forests for short-term economic gain.
The operation of Timberlands in the Okarito and Maruia forest's is not acceptable to the international community, and is doubly disgraceful given the clean, green image which New Zealand likes to portray abroad. I ask that you halt all logging of these areas immediately, and begin to appreciate the true value of the wilderness resources you have, for the people of New Zealand, the tourist industry, and the future generations who will have to live on this ravaged planet.
Yours
Thanks for your support.
Source: Dunedin Environment Centre, PO Box 5067, Dunedin, New Zealand, Ph/fax 64 03 477 4938 envcent@earthlight.co.nz