Ernslaw One is a very familiar name to Watchdog readers, and to the judges of the annual Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand (it came third in 2004; see the article elsewhere in this issue which details the reaction of the company and their tame Cabinet Minister, Jim Anderton, to their bronze medal in the latest Roger). For well over a decade we have been detailing the local and regional misdeeds of both Ernslaw One and its truly dreadful parent company, Rimbunan Hijau (which has been the subject of two extremely critical Australian TV documentaries; back in the early 90s Television New Zealand devoted one current affairs programme to it, which led Ernslaw One to complain to the Broadcasting Standards Authority; TVNZ got its hand slapped).

For the past three years Watchdog has been chronicling the seemingly hopeless fight by the Whangapoua Environmental Protection Society (WEPS) against the plan by Ernslaw One’s NZ subsidiary, Blue Mountain Lumber, to build a huge new $30 million dollar sawmill on a farm that it had purchased in that beautiful part of the Coromandel Peninsula. Despite the extremely well organised opposition by locals (who cut their teeth fighting mining TNCs to a standstill over two decades), all the relevant local bodies had granted consents for the mill, consents which had been upheld by a series of court decisions. However WEPS has a never say die attitude and took their case to the Environment Court.

In July 2005, that Court dropped a bombshell and stopped the project dead in its tracks. In his 56 page decision Judge John Bollard concluded: "We find…that the mill would be incongruous at the location proposed. It would introduce a significant industrial activity involving major long term land modification, and impact upon the natural character and pleasantness of the public access route along the Opitonui River adjacent to the site…In our judgment it would impact upon, and undermine the natural character of, the Opitonui valley…" (Waikato Times, 23/7/05, "Whangapoua not the right site, judge rules", Lucy Reed).

Blue Mountain Lumber’s spokesman, Garth Moore, said: "I’m astounded…Basically there will be no processing on the Coromandel Peninsula. Presumably we’ll have to take it somewhere else. I’m close to gobsmacked, it’s ridiculous" (Waikato Times, 21/7/05; "Court axes Coromandel mill plan", Simon O’Rourke). On the other side, WEPS’ spokesperson, Paul Bibby, said: "We’re more than delighted. We’ve fought against two councils (Thames-Coromandel District Council and Environment Waikato) and the ex-mayor. It’s been a real battle" (ibid.). He also said: "It just shows that small communities can do it. We’re wonderfully happy with the result. The biggest winner of the lot is the environment" (New Zealand Herald, 22/7/05; "’Little guys’ give sawmiller the chop after 3-year fight"; Nicola Boyes). Paul Bibby also pointed to the central role of the Resource Management Act (RMA) in securing the Environment Court victory. Stephen Jacobi, the Chief Executive of the NZ Forest Industries Council, called for an overhaul of the RMA. "This is just a stupid decision…because of the vastly superior weight given to environmental issues over economic ones…We all know that investment in wood processing is urgently required if we are going to process more logs onshore. The simple fact is that the RMA is killing legitimate investment opportunities in this country" (Press, 28/7/05; "Call for revamp to RMA", Pam Graham). By no coincidence, the Leader of the Opposition, Don Brash, has announced a comprehensive review of that Act should National become the Government. Blue Mountain Lumber does have the right of appeal, but only on points of law. It has already said that it probably won’t appeal.

This marks an important milestone in the battle against forestry TNCs encroaching on the Coromandel. Also in July 2005, there was yet another "100 year" flood further down the Peninsula, at Pauanui, which caused extensive damage (as did the earlier "100 year" floods which have occurred there this year). Coromandel in general and its coastal resorts such as Pauanui are the playground in the backyard of Auckland, so the Auckland-based TV networks take close notice of what goes on there. The media gave great prominence to the locals who pointed out that these floods coincided exactly with the clearfelling of its forests by US forestry TNC, Carter Holt Harvey. What’s more, those with a long memory pointed out that the last time there were floods of this magnitude was when Carters had previously harvested its trees, 30 years ago. Plantation forestry, and particularly clearfelling, have become dirty words in an area renowned for heavy rain storms. Carter Holt Harvey has washed its hands of the problem by including its 11,900 hectares of Coromandel forests among the 94,300 ha that it sold in July 2005 (to a consortium comprising institutional investors organised by RREEF Infrastructure, an arm of Deutsche Bank via Deutsche Bank Asset Management, and fellow US forestry TNC, Rayonier).

But WEPS is not yet out of the woods (pun intentional). Even though they won in the Environment Court, they are facing costs into six figures because they initiated the action. Their lawyer is applying for costs, but in the meantime they face the usual financial dilemma of a community group versus the deep pockets of Big Business. Blue Mountain Lumber has publicly stated that, so far, it has spent "the thick end of $1 million" (Waikato Times, 21/7/05; "Court axes Coromandel mill plan", Simon O’Rourke). Plus WEPS has still to fight another court battle, this time in partnership with the Department of Conservation, in an attempt to stop Ernslaw One harvesting its thousands of hectares of pine trees on the Coromandel.

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The bad news just goes on for Rimbunan Hijau’s (RH) New Zealand subsidiaries. In Watchdog 107 (December 2004) we reported that, in May 2004, to its credit, the NZ Timber Importers Association (NZTIA) expelled The LumberBank, on the grounds that it does not comply with its rules (The LumberBank appealed, to the Auckland High Court, in August). The LumberBank is a major importer of tropical timber into NZ, most of it coming from RH’s Papua New Guinea (PNG) operations. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ernslaw One, and thus part of the RH empire. "…The NZTIA is New Zealand’s national association of timber importers, and has in its membership around 80% of the timber importers. The NZTIA is a member of the Imported Tropical Timber Group (ITTG) and has made commitments in the ITTG charter to source timber only from certified sustainably managed forests. The ITTG also includes the major timber retail chains of Carters, Bunnings, Mitre 10, Placemakers and Independent Timber Merchants who have issued guarantees that they are not buying timber or timber products originating from The LumberBank…" (Greenpeace Australia Briefing, November 2004).

The LumberBank appealed this to the High Court but lost in December 2004, with costs awarded against it. Grant Rosoman, of Greenpeace International, said: "This is a huge setback for Rimbunan Hijau’s global reputation. The NZTIA position is a groundbreaking stand for the forests and the people of PNG. The message is loud and clear – the New Zealand trade does not want illegal timber. It is extraordinary for a timber trade association to be forced to expel one of its members. By taking on The LumberBank head on, New Zealand’s TIA is leading the way for the trade and governments to say no to forest criminals and their destruction of the world’s ancient forests" (press release, 14/12/04).

For several years now, Watchdog has been following the passage of the landmark Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the World Health Organisation’s very first treaty. The FCTC provides for a general ban on tobacco advertising and promotion (which has been the status quo in New Zealand for more than a decade) or for restrictions in countries such as the US, where a total prohibition would violate the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech (which tobacco transnationals have exploited to the hilt). It toughens up the requirements for graphic health warnings on packets of cigarettes; aims to stop hard sell tactics aimed at teenagers; toughens up measures against second hand smoke; and espouses manufacturer liability.

Having been ratified by the necessary number of countries (New Zealand was one of the first; the US is the most prominent refusenik, putting the interests of its killer tobacco transnationals before human health, indeed life itself), the FCTC came into force in February 2005. This marked a significant victory over the tobacco TNCs and their client governments (led by the US, Japan and Germany). Tobacco is the second leading cause of death globally, causing nearly five million deaths a year. Estimates show that it will prematurely kill ten million people a year by 2020 if current trends are not reversed. Tobacco is the only legal product that causes the death of half of its regular users. This means that, out of 1.3 billion smokers, 650 million will die prematurely. Its deadly effects on human health are widespread and have been extensively documented for decades.

Signatories to the FCTC have three years to implement its provisions. The Cancer Society of New Zealand pointed out that this country does not currently meet some of the key obligations, such as: the introduction of large (over 50%) health warnings, with pictures, on cigarette packets; and the banning of misleading descriptions such as "light", "low tar" and "mild", and called on them to be implemented within less than the statutory timeframe (press release, 24/2/05; "Global Tobacco Treaty Becomes Law – Cancer Society Urges Immediate Action"). Approximately 4,500 New Zeaalnders die each year as a result of smoking, so these measures can’t come a moment too soon. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is calling for New Zealand cigarette packets to very soon start displaying the graphic images of what smoking does to the human body, images that are already used on cigarette packets in several other countries (New Zealand Herald, 18/3/05: "Grisly images to deter smokers", Rebecca Walsh).

This treaty follows hard on the heels of the December 2004 start of the historic second stage of New Zealand’s smoke free legislation, which outlaws smoking in all public places (specifically the pubs, clubs, restaurants and casinos that had hitherto been exempt). New Zealand thus became only the third country in the world (after Norway and Ireland) to ban smoking in all public places (and a bloody good thing too, I say. Personally, I’d be happy to see the whole tobacco industry criminalised).

For many years, CAFCA has watched with great admiration the unrelenting campaign by Londoners Dave Morris and Helen Steel to defend themselves against McDonalds in the longest court case in British history (the trial lasted 314 days and cost McDonalds around ten million pounds for its crack legal team). This case, which has been immortalised with the generic name McLibel, arose from the junk food transnational taking umbrage at a leaflet entitled "What’s Wrong With McDonalds?", distributed outside its London shops in 1990. At the end of the trial, some of the leaflet’s charges against McDonalds were held to be true but some weren’t and the High Court ordered Steel and Morris to pay McDonalds 40,000 pounds. They refused and, instead, took a further case to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that their human rights had been breached.