Royals shamed by logging links
By Roger Boyes
THE Swedish Royal Family is in disgrace after it was revealed that it holds shares in a company blamed for chopping down swaths of the Amazon rainforest.
King Carl XVI Gustaf yesterday bowed to pressure when he signalled his family’s intention to relinquish investments in Aracruz Cellulose, a Brazilian wood and cellulose group. The company, the target of environmental protest groups around the world, is accused of cutting down natural forest to plant eucalyptus, whose pulp is used to make paper tissue.
Details of the investments were revealed by newspapers, scandalising Swedes, who consider themselves to be among the world’s most environmentally friendly people.
The King’s position as chairman of the WWF in Sweden adds to the embarrassment. “Aracruz is a very hot political potato,” said Maria Rydlund, a rainforest expert at the Swedish Nature Protection Association. “One should have been aware of what one was investing in.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2011797,00.html