Citizens' Group Opposes Waste of Tropical Timber for Election Poster Boards

A Japanese non-governmental organization named HUTAN (which means "forest" in Malay) has been running a campaign to prevent the use of tropical timber for election poster boards since March 2001. The organization operates mainly in the Kansai region and cooperates with other non-governmental organizations around the world to prevent the destruction of tropical forests.

Since 1990, many municipalities have reduced the amount of tropical plywood used for public works projects. But election administration commissions operate separately from the construction divisions that have improved their environmental policies, and some of these commissions are still using large amounts of tropical plywood to build wooden panels on which posters of election candidates are displayed.

In cooperation with other citizen groups such as the Osaka Garbage Action Club, HUTAN negotiated with municipalities to change their practices, and sent out questionnaires to government-decreed cities and prefectural capitals. As a result, more than 73 percent of these major cities, and 90 percent of cities with populations over 300,000 have started using election panels made from recycled-paper or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in place of tropical timber.

HUTAN and Osaka Garbage Action Club are calling on the local governments that still use tropical plywood to switch to recycled materials.



Posted: 2003/04/24 09:20:37 AM
Japanese version