Environmental groups on Monday called on Olympic organizers, governments and banks to take action against a South Korean-Indonesian company they say is "illegally destroying rainforests in Southeast Asia for wood used in the construction of venues for the 2020 Tokyo Games," according to Nazvi Careem of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. Protesters were "expected to gather" on Monday at the Jakarta HQ of Korindo Group and outside the main office of its principal financier, Bank Negara Indonesia, to "demand a halt to the destruction of forests in Indonesia, particularly East Kalimantan, where orangutan habitats have been devastated, North Maluku and Papua." Two reports released on Monday by four NGOs, titled "Broken Promises" and "Korindo Investigation," detail what the groups say is "clear evidence" that Korindo has been sourcing illegal and unsustainable timber for its mills and supplying plywood from those mills for the construction of Tokyo 2020 venues. Hana Heineken from the Rainforest Action Network said, "The Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers promised to deliver a sustainable Olympics. Instead, it has used over 110,000 sheets of tropical plywood from Indonesia that is linked to rainforest destruction, land-grabbing and clearance of endangered orangutan habitat, much of it to make way for oil palm plantations" (SCMP, 11/12).
