ArbeitsKreis nördliche Urwälder (AKU)

Petrikirchstr. 22, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

www.naturschatz.org/kanada, aku@naturschatz.org

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 Maren Milsmann, Bonn

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
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