Doris Beher

ArbeitsKreis nördliche Urwälder (AKU) Petrikirchstr. 22, 37077 Göttingen, Germany www.naturschatz.org/kanada, [email protected]

Regarding efforts towards total protection of remaining primaeval temperate rainforests Dear colleagues and friends! We are AKU ("Council for Northern Primaeval Forests", founded 1991), a European network of conservationists and ecologists with a particular interest in British Columbia's magnificent primaeval temperate rainforest. As we are so rapidly losing the Earth's wild places, many communities, organizations and engaged individuals are committed to the conservation of primaeval forests around the world, but we feel that it is now urgent that we unite and work together to completely stop any further commercial extraction from these forests. Many of us have traveled to BC to experience your beautiful ancient forests. But having seen the near total destruction of Vancouver Island forests by industrial logging, we are very concerned about plans by the BC government, forest industry, and others to continue commercial forest operations in what little intact tracts remain. We know that any commercial logging in primaeval forests will alter their ecological structure and species composition significantly. Even under sustainable certification schemes, like the FSC or Ecosystem Based Management (EBM), these forests will be intensively used and altered. With respect for thousands of years of careful First Nation stewardship, for the sake of the world's irreplaceable natural ecological heritage, for the stability of the global biosphere and for their essential climate-change buffering services, we urge you to recognize that the protection of these forests is a global responsibility, and join us in demanding the complete and permanent protection of what remains of the primaeval temperate rainforest! While we fully appreciate and respect the principle of ecoforestry, our position is that it should only apply in secondary forests. The time has come to fully protect all remaining primaeval forests on this planet. Please find attached our position paper. We ask that you please carefully consider our statement. We are sending this out to over 500 addresses of ENGOs, politicians, media and your associates in BC and Europe. We believe that there must be a unification of the environmental movements on the issue of the loss of these priceless forests, and that our position is now essential for any organization which recognizes their critical importance and serious plight. With solidary greetings, for the Arbeitskreis nördliche Urwälder Ingrid Bantel, Allensbach Doris Beher, Wiesbaden Klaus Berger, Darmstadt Alina Gerbode, Konstanz Alexander Gerschner, Hamburg Angelika Hanko, Porta Westfalica Rika Harder, Usedom Korinna Holtzheuer, Dortmund Meike-Christine Karl, Güstrow Philipp Küchler, Göttingen Dorit Mersmann, Bremen

Maren Milsmann, Bonn Christian Offer, Frankfurt am Main Imke Oncken, Hamburg Holger Over, Dortmund Klaus Pommerenke, Allensbach Stephan Röhl, Berlin Werner Rolf, Augsburg Falk Schmidt, Dortmund Sabine Stosiek, Snedsted/Denmark Karen Wonders, Göttingen