Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 36


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What are you getting from this, Mr. Hopkins,
     2        because you may just be able to say it.
     3        A.  I will say it.  Quite honestly, that because of various
     4        pressures the Finnish -- sorry, the Czech government or the
     5        Czech forest industry was cutting beyond what they called
     6        sustained yield.  In other words, they were cutting their
     7        forests down faster than the cubic volume grew each year.
     8        This is considered generally a very bad thing to do, partly
     9        because of having norms set by the State of how much timber
    10        should be produced which were in excess of the natural
    11        regenerative capacity of their forests.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  That is backed up by this reference?
    14        A.  That is backed up by this reference.
    15
    16   Q.   Is there one or two sentences that could -----
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If that is what it says, unless in due course
    19        Mr. Rampton wants to challenge it, I would leave it there.
    20        A.  There is also another point from that document.  I am
    21        going to say it directly from here because the English
    22        translation is not always very good.  "Meanwhile, the share
    23        of productively efficient hardwoods is decreasing, so that
    24        the planned proportion of 'biological' woods providing for
    25        the resistance of forthcoming forest generation is not
    26        attained".
    27
    28        What they are saying there is there is a major problem of
    29        acid rain pollution in that part of the Czech Republic, it
    30        is now, and it is important in forestry to try to keep your
    31        genetic source of your trees because they are more adapted
    32        to the locality.  It looks like they are cutting far too
    33        extensively into what they call the biological woods which
    34        I understand to mean the genetic bank of local species
    35        which are adapted to the area and, therefore, tend on the
    36        whole to thrive better than species from outside.
    37
    38   Q.   Maybe we will move on then from that.  I do not know if it
    39        will help the court, but on Canada you identified some
    40        photographs about the effect of the clear cutting, yes?
    41        A.  Indeed, yes.
    42
    43   Q.   It may help if the court can view that.  Mr. Rampton has
    44        already had a chance to view.  If you can show the Judge,
    45        in reality, what large scale clear cutting effects are.
    46        I think you identified to me pages 1, 4, 6, 148, 152 and
    47        following pages.  I will read them out:  146, 148, 152,
    48        154, 156, 158, 160 and 164.
    49        A.  OK.  I am not certain how I handle this, my Lord,
    50        because I am dealing with ----- 
    51 
    52   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, first it might be useful if by reference 
    53        to those pages, assuming they are the coloured pictures,
    54        are they ---
    55
    56   THE WITNESS:  They are.
    57
    58   MR. RAMPTON:  -- one could be told what are the precise
    59        locations because each picture has a caption and a little
    60        article at the side.

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