At 06:09 PM 5/23/96 EDT, you wrote: >Dear members of the list, > >Here're some info forwarded from the Forest List for your kind perusal. > > >Regards. > >Nelson Wong >Malaysian Timber Council > >

Dear Malaysian Timber Council here is another example of "timber extraction influecne from Malaysia"

REVOKE LOGGING CONCESSION DECLARES BELIZE AUDUBON SOCIETY (22nd.May.96.)

Atlantic Company Industries Ltd., the Malaysian company which enjoys a concession to log in the Columbia Forest Reserve in the Toledo District has once again come under fire by an environmental group.

The Belize Audubon Society has charged that the logging company has violated several clauses within their licence agreement ,that the permit to log in that area has not economically benefitted the country and that it has caused social and cultural distress in the entire nation, especially in the South.

It also notes that the logging concession was granted to an Asiatic consortium which has previously twice failed to meet Belize forest management conditions and has brought Mayan feeling to the boiling point.

Audubon has called on the Government of Belize to deliberate once more on the Malaysian logging permit and to make the decision that will benefit the country and the Belizean people instead of just a few.

The BAS statement adds that the logging area has more eco cultural tourism value than the present method of timber exploitation in this very delicately balanced forest environment which is a rare relic of a humid tropical forest that no longer exists in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.

The cry of the Mayan people of Southern Belize who are opposed to this massive logging operation has not been addressed and the regional and international concern for this logging permit has grown and could seriously affect the countrys international status as the present world leading eco cultural tourism destination, adds the BAS release.

BAS has expressed its solidarity with the Belize Alliance for Conservation Non Government Organizations (BACONGO) ,the environmental umbrella organization which has been negotiating with the Government of Belize in regards to accepting and monitoring the logging operation.

Nevertheless the so called transparent process has dragged on for too long and has not assisted in protecting the Belizean natural environment and the rights of the Belizean people in general, the Audubon statement asserts. Finally, the statement from the Belize Audubon Society asserts that Atlantic Company Industries Ltd. has broken or violated several signed clauses within the logging permit, and enough to have this licence revoked by the Minister of Natural Resources. --------------------------------------------------- > >This message contains information that cannot be processed by this MIME >decoder. > >Encoding type: message/rfc822 > >This message was automatically generated. > > > >Attachment Converted: C:\EUDORA\NEWSTUFF\FILE2.EXT >