Rainforest logging policy slammed by biologist

An Alaskan biologist has called a new logging proposal in the Tongass rainforest "fatally flawed", it has been reported.

New rainforest logging scheme comes under fire

Environmental website Monga Bay claimed it has obtained a copy of a letter written by Alaskan biologist Jack Gustafson in which he said that a new proposal to give some 80,000 acres of the Tongass rainforest away will harm the local economy and the environment.

Under the plans, Sealaska - a firm which the website noted has a "poor" record on the environment - will be given the land.

Gustafson called the idea "misguided" in the letter, which was written to Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski.

According to Sealaska, which is the biggest landowner in south-east Alaska, the land was promised to them by the federal government. It is to be used for logging and Monga Bay noted that around 55 per cent of it is old growth.

Logging is one of the biggest threats to the preservation of the environment, particularly in countries such as Malaysia and Brazil.

Written by Caroline Oberoi. ADNFCR-2073-ID-19842811-ADNFCR