TAKE ACTION
Insist leading Australian/New Zealand bank stop financing
destruction of PNG's ancient rainforests by Malaysian loggers
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=png

Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australian community groups have
filed a formal complaint against Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group Limited (ANZ Bank) of Australia over its financial
support of ancient rainforest logging companies that are engaged
in human rights abuses and environmental destruction in PNG.

The
complaint alleges that ANZ is "actively facilitating and
supporting" the PNG operations of Malaysian logging giant
Rimbunan Hijau, a company whose operations involve "serious
human rights abuses, environmentally devastating logging
practices and repeated, serious illegal conduct."

Most of PNG's
logging operations are illegal because of their failure to
comply with a whole host of legal requirements including the
need for sustainability and informed consent as well as non-
compliance with harvesting and labour regulations. The groups
filing the complaint are the Australian Conservation Foundation,
the Human Rights Council of Australia and three PNG community
groups: the Environmental Law Centre, the PNG Eco-Forestry Forum
and the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights
(CELCOR). ACF and CELCOR’s recently released report, 'Bulldozing
progress: Human rights abuses and corruption in PNG's large
scale logging industry', is available at: http://www.acfonline.org.au/ . Take action now at: http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=png