BOYCOTT MFC GLOBAL INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT*, JOHN HANCOCK INSURANCE and
MANULIFE.
Boycott F.S.C. certifiers Smartood
who like Hancock are also profiting from threatening Victorian rainforest.
Boolara Gippsland: Sunday July 27 2008: Local
community and Strzelecki forest campaigners receive Aboriginal 'Welcome
to Country' by Robbie Thorpe (Gunai
Nation). At the ceremony Robbie questioned the legal validity and jurisdiction
of Hancock's logging operations in Gunai country (Gippsland).
College Creek Strzelecki Ranges June 29, 2008:
Local community protest Hancock's upcoming plans to log College Creek.
College Creek was supposed to be protected under a Heads of Agreement
signed in October 2006. On May 31 2008: Hancock and the State Government,
with support from The Wilderness Society and Victorian National Parks
Association, agreed to allow the gutting of this site of national conservation
significance. Noone from the local community was informed of this betrayal.
Strzelecki Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve.
Image on left shows what the community lobbied for. Image on the right
is Hancock's agenda. Logging coupes in white. Red represents cool temperate
rainforest - extremely vulnerable to disturbance.
*MFC Global Investment Management is
the institutional investment management arm of Manulife Financial. MFC
Global Investment doubled its size in April 2004 through the merger
of Manulife Financial and John Hancock Financial Services.
Victorian State Government Policy
for the 2006 Victorian Election
"Provide $7 million to
buy back the iconic Cores and Links area in the Strzelecki Ranges to
be vested with the Trust for Nature for future conservation"
Hancock Natural Timber Resource Group is a subsidiary
of MFC Global Investment Management.
Strzelecki Ranges, a privatised forest. All of the
shaded land (above) is now classed as private land and controlled by
Hancock. Purple is leased land for 99 years, Orange is leased land for
60 years and Gold is private land.
STRZELECKI KOALA FACING
EXTINCTION!!!
In October 1998 Hancock first purchased
large amounts of land in the Strzeleckis. Almost one decade later;
"We do not have a Specific BMP for
Koala's. Grand Ridge Plantations is currently working with the Australian
Koala Foundation on a Koala Management Plan. This project is awaiting
the completion of the current EVC mapping project in the Strzelecki
ranges." Owen Trumper Manager Grand Ridge Plantations January
22, 2007.
Why should Australia's environment suffer
so that American and Canadian's can enjoy a comfortable retirement?
Is John Hancock Financial Services
Inc. investing in the extremely controversial OCP pipeline in Ecuador
that will result in genocide of indigenous people and ecocide of one
of the most important forest ecosystems in South America!!! Find out
more about this project
here and find out more about Hancock investments
in the OCP
Pipeline.
Hancock have recently been certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) (Feb 2004) for their timber operations throughout
Victoria. We believe that the certification was premature. However,
Hancock Watch believe it is a positive step that the company gained
FSC certification, because a number of our concerns about the activities
of Hancock appear to have been included in conditions and pre-conditions
of the certification. It is our belief that many of the plantations
purchased by Hancock were initially established with limited environmental
considerations. Is it responsible to certify a land use that was initially
created by unsustainable practices? What onus is there on the company
to significantly improve their logging practices in plantations established
with limited ecological foresight 40 years ago?
Hancock's practices currently leave alot to be
desired. It is a massive undertaking to bring Hancocks' plantations
up to standards required by the FSC. Change will not come quickly and
we will continue to monitor the operations of the company - despite
the FSC granting the company certification. FSC
is not a perfect system and without grassroots monitoring the process
is entirely questionable.
We also urge people to get in contact with the
World Rainforest Movement whose recent publication 'Certifying the Uncertifiable'
addresses a number of concerns regarding FSC and their role in certifying
plantation monocultures). World Rainforest
Movement
Native forest removal by Hancock late 2007 (Mirboo
Gippsland). This stump had a circumference of over 20 feet.
Historical Perspective by Hancock
Watch retained on this website for historical purposes.
August 2000.
We have heard that in the United States, Hancock have denied that
they are logging native forest and koala habitat. Bob Sundmacher, vice
president of corporate communications, asserts that the company is not
logging native forest in the Strzelecki Range, but only its "plantations".
(Source: The Institutional Real Estate Letter. Volume 12, Number 7.
July 2000. Hancock Timber, Conservation Foundation to Map Koala Habitat.
Scientist notes that aims are worthy, practices questionable. By Nancy
Gordon). We have been forced to create this website in order to convey
to the American and Australian public that Hancock are indeed logging
native forest and koala habitat in the Strzelecki's. This situation
has also recently come to light through the FSC Assessment.
We have called this site Hancock Watch. We are very interested in anyother
groups or people out there who have had any problems dealing with Hancock,
particulary in regard to their forestry operations.
If we see that Hancock's 'on the ground' practices improve,we will
be happy to include those improvements on this website. We are also
willing to lift the boycott on Hancock if significant improvements are
made - especially in the Strzelecki Ranges. We realise that Hancock
have 'inherited' many problems, and we hope that the company can significantly
improve its performance in the following years.
WHY SHOULD AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN PENSION AND SUPERANNUATION HOLDERS
BECONCERNED ABOUT HANCOCK TIMBER RESOURCE GROUP AND THEIR ACTIVITIES
INTHE STRZELECKI RANGES OF VICTORIA AUSTRALIA?
The purchase of the Victorian Plantation Corporation (VPC) by Hancock
Timber Resource Group (HTRG are a subsidiary of John Hancock Mutual
Life Insurance Company) in November 1998, and Australian Paper Plantations
(APP) is Hancock's largest purchase of forested land and their first
foray into the overseas market. Many people living in Victoria have
been concerned about the lack of sustainability of both VPC and APP
for many years. They now have concern that a US based multi-national
will not properly respond to issues concerning environmental and social
implications of broad scale plantation based forestry.
Why should Australia's environment suffer
so that American's can enjoy a comfortable retirement?
Dec 2003: Recent plantation
cable logging near Mt. Joy in the Strzelecki Ranges on land now 'controlled'
by Hancock. This plantation is located in the headwaters of the Domestic
Water Supply for the town of Seaspray - Merrimans Creek catchment. For
more information on Merrimans Creek click
here
Much of the capital financing Hancock's operations in the U.S, and
Australia is likely to be retirement funds of U.S and Australian teachers
and university staff. In Australia these funds are called superannuation
funds. It is crucial that the average American worker is told the truth
about where their retirement funds are being invested. How many Hancock
insurance holders realise that their retirement could be funded through
the extinction of possibly the most significant koala population remaining
anywhere in Australia. Victoria's cool temperate rainforest is suffering
from a similar plight.
We are convinced that if information can be circulated throughout the
United States about the activities of Hancock in Australia, many insurance
holders with Hancock will be unhappy and many will want their concerns
properly answered. That is why it is vital that our message by heard.
If this information can be circulated amongst environmental organisations
and shareholder organisations in the US, we would greatly appreciate
it. There is not much time left for the Strzeleckis. Hancock are deliberately
targeting the best of what little remains of an area that once grew
the largest trees on the planet.
Please take the time to contact the following address. Ask them to
stop logging native vegetation in the Strzelecki Ranges and to protect
the Strzelecki Koala.
STRZELECKI KOALA FACING EXTINCTION
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