ACTION ALERT
Stop ANZ Bank Funding of Illegal Logging in Papua New Guinea
By Rainforest Portal, project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
http://www.rainforestportal.org/
August 31, 2006
TAKE ACTION
Insist leading Australian/New Zealand bank stop financing destruction of PNG's ancient rainforests by Malaysian loggers
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=png
Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australian community groups have filed a formal complaint against Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group Limited (ANZ Bank) of Australia over its financial support of ancient rainforest logging companies that
are engaged in human rights abuses and environmental destruction in PNG. The complaint alleges that ANZ is "actively
facilitating and supporting" the PNG operations of Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, a company whose operations
involve "serious human rights abuses, environmentally devastating logging practices and repeated, serious illegal
conduct."
Most of PNG's logging operations are illegal because of their failure to comply with a whole host of legal requirements
including the need for sustainability and informed consent as well as non- compliance with harvesting and labour
regulations. The groups filing the complaint are the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Human Rights Council of
Australia and three PNG community groups: the Environmental Law Centre, the PNG Eco-Forestry Forum and the Centre for
Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR). ACF and CELCOR's recently released report, 'Bulldozing progress: Human
rights abuses and corruption in PNG's large scale logging industry', is available at:
http://www.acfonline.org.au/ .
Take action now at:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=png
ENDS