Activists protest at African wood import
Activists from the environmental organization Greenpeace ended their protest at a ship about to unload a cargo of tropical timber on the island of Evia yesterday, after representatives of the timber company Shelman agreed to meet with their representatives next week. About 20 activists from Greece and other countries boarded the African Trader, docked in Lefkandi, and raised a banner reading «No to the Destruction of the Ancient Forests.» Some of the activists chained themselves to the decks, preventing the unloading of the wood which they said came from one of the few remaining ancient forests of Liberia, in Africa. Shelman chairman Panayiotis Iliadis is to meet Greenpeace representatives on Wednesday. «Timber industries can and should play a crucial role in protecting ancient forests,» said Nikos Charalambidis, Greenpeace’s director in Greece. Greenpeace staged the event to draw attention to next month’s UN conference on biodiversity in The Hague.
