Environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday urged the Group of Eight countries to stop subsidizing "destruction of the last ancient forests" within two years.

Their call came one day before the G8 begins its three-day summit in Okinawa Prefecture.

The group, which has been lobbying the G8 to promote sustainable forest management, said in a statement that a new report issued by the World Resources Institute, a center to provide information on the environment, found that those "perverse subsidies" stand at more than $3 billion.

The report by the Washington D.C.-based WRI, compiled with the support of Greenpeace, defines the perverse subsidies as those causing forest loss or degradation and having no lasting positive impact on economic development, and especially points to Canada, Japan and the United States as the leading providers of subsidies.

The WRI estimates that in Canada alone, the government wastes at least $2 billion a year subsidizing logging industry activities that are harmful to forests.

The U.S., it says, lost over $2 billion between 1992 and 1997 on sales of timber from national forests.

In Japan, subsidies pay for the processing of timber imported from the frontier forests of Siberia, Canada and Southeast Asia, some of which is probably cut illegally, the report said.

"Instead of wasting tax money in the destruction of forests, the G8 should decide at this weekend's summit to invest this money meaningfully in protecting the world's last ancient forests, particularly combating illegal and destructive logging and trade of illegally harvested timber," said Martin Kaiser, a Greenpeace member.

Nigel Sizer, the report's author, said: "The structure of these subsidies is so complex and so politically charged that the public does not often appreciate their scale or call for their removal."

The WRI report recommended that the G8 establish an independent external commission to conduct investigations into government subsidies promoting forest destruction and demanded that the G8 countries commit to eliminating such subsidies by 2005, according to the group.

The G8 leaders pledged in 1997 to promote sustainable forest management and halt illegal timber trade; in 1998 they renewed commitments to do so and launched a five-point action program on forests.

The environmentalists pointed out that the G8 and other countries of the European Union account for almost 75 percent of the world's timber imports and therefore bear a great deal of the responsibility for the destruction of ancient forests.

NGO center opens

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. — The Okinawa Summit NGO Center opened on the eve of the Group of Eight summit Thursday, giving domestic and international nongovernmental organizations an opportunity to officially speak about their concerns to the leading industrial countries.

It is the first time in the 25 years of the summit's history that an official space has been provided for NGOs to make themselves heard, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Located in a local public hall about a 10-minute walk from the International Media Center, a total of 42 domestic and international groups will provide information on their concerns as well as give news conferences.

The NGOs, whose issues range from the environment and economy to the presence of U.S. military bases, are scheduled to give a release a statement Sunday.