20 Oct 2005

Greenpeace dumps PNG wood on Britain's environment ministry in London in illegal logging protest

3:12 pm on 20 October 2005

The campaign group Greenpeace has dumped a tonne of Papua New Guinea plywood outside the headquarters of the British ministry for the environment in London.

Greenpeace says the timber was logged illegally in Papua New Guinea, turned into plywood in China, and was being used on British building sites.

The Papua New Guinea forest authority is denying that illegal logging is endemic throughout the country, but Caterina Lecchi who's the forest campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific says its a serious problem.

"Virtually every logging concession that is operating of a large scale has been identified as operating illegally and that has been from reputable sources such as the World Bank Review Team as well as government reports that have actually been funded by the UK government."

Caterina Lecchi who's the forest campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific says the two campaigners who chained themselves to the timber in London, were removed by police using boltcutters and released without charge.