Greenpeace fails in British mahogany appeal
Date: 29-Jul-02
Country: UK
Greenpeace had fought government policy allowing the imports, but lost an appeal against a High Court decision allowing a shipment to enter Britain. The test case could set a precedent allowing other shipments.
Greenpeace had argued Britain's failure to seize the shipment breached European and international law.
It also argued Britain's decision not to seize shipments bound for its shores contravened the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which London has signed.
Greenpeace's lawyers said Britain should block all imports of the slow-growing hardwood unless their export permits can be proved to be genuine.
But two senior judges at London's Appeal Court threw out their case, saying the government was entitled to assume permits were valid.
"This is a terrible outcome for the future of the Amazon rainforest," Greenpeace campaign director John Sauven said after the hearing. "A government supposedly committed to curbing the illegal timber trade should be ashamed that it has instead fought for a result that will allow this trade to flourish."
The European Commission told EU states in March not to allow shipments of mahogany from the Amazon into Europe without ensuring the timber was legally-felled first.
European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, have seized shipments in recent months.
Brazil outlawed the trade and transport of mahogany last year after finding 70 percent of the timber was being logged illegally.
In February the Brazilian government launched "Operation Rescue", a plan to hunt down illegal loggers and recover the wood.
A Brazilian environment agency recently estimated mahogany will run out in eight years in the Amazon at current rates of deforestation.