Tell the Olympic Committee: No rainforest destruction for Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The petition to the International Olympic Committee reads: “Ensure that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic authorities cease using tropical wood, respect Indigenous communities’ legal and customary rights, and adopt robust sourcing requirements for all other commodities that could put forests at risk.” Add your name:

As the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics have drawn to a close, preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics are already well underway. Olympic authorities promised it will be one of the greenest Olympic games in history. But Tokyo Olympic authorities recently admitted that they are using irreplaceable rainforest wood in the construction of Olympic venues. At least 87 percent of the plywood panels used for Tokyo's New National Stadium came from the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.1 Our allies at the Rainforest Action Network and others have pushed the Tokyo authorities to do better, but they need to feel more pressure. We need the International Olympic Committee to use its influence to ensure that no more rainforests are harmed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tell the International Olympic Committee: No more rainforest destruction for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Click here to sign the petition. Japan is the largest importer of plywood from tropical forests, and half of that plywood comes from the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.2 Sarawak has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, and Indigenous communities in Sarawak have been fighting logging for decades.3 Environmental activists have long suspected that the Tokyo Olympics was using wood from Sarawak rainforests, but only now have they gotten confirmation. Over a year after the information was originally requested by Rainforest Action Network and more than 40 other groups, Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers have finally acknowledged extensive use of tropical rainforest wood to construct the New National Stadium and other Tokyo 2020 venues.4 Even worse, the organization is getting that plywood from a timber supplier with a well-documented history of rainforest destruction, illegal logging and human rights abuses.5 Instead of sourcing sustainable wood locally in Japan, the Tokyo Olympics authorities are devastating priceless rainforests and trampling the rights of Indigenous people to cut costs. Rainforest advocates want Olympic organizers to cease using tropical wood, implement third party verification for the timber supply chain, respect Indigenous communities’ rights to natural resources and adopt robust sourcing requirements for all other commodities that could come from at-risk forests.6 We can amplify their call to action by telling the International Olympic Committee that the world is watching what happens in Tokyo. Tell the International Olympic Committee: No more rainforest destruction for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Tokyo-2020?t=7&akid=27471%2E3130208%2Eo4Wsyi - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: Photo Credit: CIFOR/Flickr References: Rainforest Action Network, "Global NGOs 'appalled' by massive use of high risk rainforest wood for Tokyo 2020 Olympics construction," Feb. 15, 2018. Tracy Staedter, "Prized Forests Lost Big at This Year’s Olympics," Earther, Feb. 6, 2018. Ibid. Rainforest Action Network, "Global NGOs 'appalled' by massive use of high risk rainforest wood for Tokyo 2020 Olympics construction." Rainforest Action Network, "NGOs demand Olympic authorities end rainforest destruction and human rights abuses connected to Tokyo 2020 Olympics construction," Sept. 11, 2017. Rainforest Action Network, "No more rainforest destruction for Tokyo 2020 Olympics," accessed Feb. 22, 2018.

Tell JPMorgan Chase to defund tar sands, one of the dirtiest forms of oil.

[Activists organized by Mazaska Talks and 350 Seattle shut down 12 JPMorgan Chase branches in Seattle to demand the defunding of the Keystone XL pipeline.]

Today, environmental activists showed up at the JPMorgan Chase shareholder meeting to send a message to the whole finance community: Stop Banking on Human Rights Violations and Climate Chaos.

We need your voice. Tell JPMorgan Chase to defund tar sands, one of the dirtiest forms of oil.

These activists delivered a letter on behalf of 20 Indigenous rights and environmental organizations directly to JPMorgan Chase leadership. The letter demanded that the finance community stop bankrolling projects like the Dakota Access pipeline, the KXL pipeline, and the pending Trans Mountain pipeline. These pipelines will wreak havoc on communities, pollute critical water sources, destroy our climate, and trample the rights of Indigenous communities and local residents across the continent. But massive energy giants such as TransCanada depend on banks to fund their disastrous projects.

Tell JPMorgan Chase to do their part to protect Indigenous rights and the environment.

Tell Banks to Say No to Tar Sands: More than 120 First Nations and Tribes have signed a treaty opposing all tar sands pipelines — one of the dirtiest forms of oil on the planet!

Tell Banks to Say No to Human Rights Abuses: The conflict over the Dakota Access pipeline resulted in despicable violence and abuses — and these will continue as communities fight for their clean air and clean water.

Tell Banks to Say No to Indigenous Rights Violations: These projects continue the shameful history of trampling on Indigenous land rights and broken promises.

- Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network