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Restoration of Tropical Forest Ecosystems pp 217–226Cite as

Mitsubishi’s unsustainable timber trade: Sarawak

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Part of the Tasks for vegetation science book series (TAVS,volume 30)

Abstract

Japanese trading houses (sogo sosha), such as Mitsubishi Corporation, play a critical role in the future of tropical forests. So far, this role has been largely negative. Because of its major role in Japan’s tropical timber imports, Mitsubishi has been one of the target companies in a world-wide public tropical forest campaign “Ban Japan from the Rainforest”. The company undertook some steps, such as a reforestation project in Bintulu, but it continues to deny any responsibility for ecological and social disruption in the tropics. The steps undertaken so far are in fact merely ‘green image’ promotion activities, serving no one but Mitsubishi. This paper discusses the company’s involvement in Sarawak’s logging industry, which is unsustainable in respect to the tropical forest ecosystem, timber yields and people’s livelihoods. It is argued that if the company really aims to reduce the burden which their business place on the environment, it would immediately stop importing timbers from ecologically sensitive environments and native customary lands under legal dispute.

Keywords

  • Ecological and social impacts
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • timber exploitation
  • tropical forests

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Abbreviations

cu.m.:

cubic meters

EAD:

Environmental Affairs Department

FoE:

Friends of the Earth

PFE:

Permanent Forest Estate

SAM:

Sahabat Alam Malaysia/Friends of the Earth Malaysia

SMR:

Sarawak Mission Report

TPA:

Totally Protected Area

RWE:

Round Wood Equivalents

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Friends of the Earth, The Netherlands, Damrak 26, 1012 LJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    E. Wakker

Authors
  1. E. Wakker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Helmut Lieth (president) (president)

  2. Osnabrück, Germany

    Dipl. Biol. Martina Lohmann

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Wakker, E. (1993). Mitsubishi’s unsustainable timber trade: Sarawak. In: Lieth, H., Lohmann, M. (eds) Restoration of Tropical Forest Ecosystems. Tasks for vegetation science, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2896-6_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2896-6_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4198-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2896-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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