Forest Action Network

On Wednesday 15th January, twenty people from the newly formed UK Forest Action Network occupied the Canadian Tourist Office in Trafalgar Square, London to protest against the trashing of British Columbia’s ‘Great Coastal Rainforest’.

Direct action has ‘saved’ the few remaining fragments of the wild forest of Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, so the rapacious timber companies have headed up north to the untouched forests of Mid-Coast B.C. Remote pristine forests are still being destroyed for toilet paper on the shelves of our local shops.

Seven activists from Britain and Canada entered the office, chained the doors and re-arranged a window display to show clearcuts and, in the words of current television adverts, to encourage people to ‘Discover Canada’s True Nature’. Climbers scaled the outside of the building with a banner demanding ‘CANADA: SAVE YOUR RAINFOREST’. Outside, the pavement was scattered with woodchips fresh from BC, placards were waved and a curious crowd were leafleted. After an hour, police cut the chains and turfed everyone out. There was nationwide television and press coverage in Canada, a country nervous of its overseas image, unexpectedly prompting the B.C. Minister of the Environment to tell Canadian greens to “lay off the European campaign”. “No way” says FAN!

This was only the first action of the Forest Action Network (UK) who have pledged to use direct action to save the world’s forests, be that by protecting Scandinavian old-growth remnants or stopping the trade in stolen Brazilian mahogany. To find out more about Forest Action Network (UK) contact: 0171 602 5889.