BOYCOTT MFC GLOBAL INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT*, JOHN HANCOCK INSURANCE and
MANULIFE.
July 2012: College Creek Wipeout! FSC/AFS certified Clearfells
in site of National Conservation Significance/Rainforest Reserve
Google Earth Image of Morwell River East
Branch, highlighting cool temperate rainforest (in green). Rainforest
buffer destruction by Hancock on a catchment scale. All of the logging
of rainforest buffers in this image has occurred post FSC certification.
Morwell River East Branch Rainforest is regionally significant, College
Creek is a site of state significance for its rainforest attributes
and national conservation significance for its conservation attributes.
This kind of practice would not be allowed elsewhere in Victoria,
yet Hancock and their shareholders continue to profit whilst threatening
the long term survival of rainforest. You do not have to log rainforest
to kill it!
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.
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?
Hancock Victorian Plantations
were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (Feb 2004) for
their timber operations throughout Victoria. The certification was premature
and has been an ecological disaster in the Strzelecki Ranges. 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?
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?
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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