Environmentalists Call for Boycott on Burmese Teak
6/25/97
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Headline: Environmentalists Call for Boycott on Burmese Teak
Source: Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
Date: 6/25/97
UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (AFP) - Activists on the sidelines of
the Earth Summit deplored Burma's environmental record Wednesday and
called for a boycott of the country's teak exports which are
devastating its rainforests.
"In understanding Burma, it is essential to know that not only
is it a human rights disaster, but an environmental catastrophe,"
Edith Mirante, author of Burmese Looking Glass, told reporters at
the special UN session.
She and environmentalist groups accused Burma's military junta
of selling off the country's natural resources and wildlife for
quick profit and warned that its hydro-electric dam projects will
flood precious land.
Tim Keating, director of Rainforest Relief, said that before the
military regime took over in 1988, Burma's tropical woodlands
management was exemplary while other Asian countries were quickly
becoming deforested.
Forests now cover only around 20 percent of Burma against 80
percent at the turn of the century as the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) harvests valuable hardwoods such as
teak, Keating said.
Rainforest Relief charged the junta with forcing prisoners and
villagers to log the forests and using timber profits to finance
deadly crackdowns on ethnic minorities.
"Teak Is Torture!" reads a slogan for the group which plans a
July 6 demonstration at the last remaining teak outlet here in New
York.
Europe and Asia outpace the United States in demand for teak.
Most of the teak used by Danish furniture companies comes from
Burma.