World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 22
4/29/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 22
Source: World Rainforest Movement
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: April 29, 1999
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W R M B U L L E T I N 22
APRIL 1999
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In this issue:
* OUR VIEWPOINT
- Two different IFF intersessionals
* LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
AFRICA
- Nigeria: threatened mangroves
- Human rights abuses in Nigeria continue - Madagascar: communities
defend rainforests against Rio Tinto - South Africa: exotic tree
plantations are green wastelands
ASIA
- Made in Vietnam, cut in Cambodia
- Thailand: support requested for peoples' rally - Thailand: two
approaches to forest conservation - Thailand: Local people resist
dams
- Thailand: one year of struggle against Yadana gas pipeline -
Malaysia: opposition to dam megaproject - Dams generate environmental
and social destruction in Laos
OCEANIA
- Papua New Guinea's Rainforests Threatened
SOUTH AMERICA
- Brazil: The power of Aracruz Celulose - Chile: establishment
experts and reality - Chile: more than scientific evidence on
plantations' impacts - Venezuela: Smurfit's changing strategy -
Venezuela: sign-on letter to President on Smurfit - Venezuela: social
and environmental demands to new President - Support to the U'wa
people in Colombia - Bolivia: concern over the fate of forests
CENTRAL AMERICA
- Pristine Belize forests threatened by dam project - Prize to
Honduran activist
NORTH AMERICA
- Mexico: mangrove destruction by tourism and shrimp farming
* GENERAL
- The Penang Declaration: 10 years later - Certification debate in
Europe: PEFC vs FSC
* WRM GENERAL ACTIVITIES
- News from the International Secretariat
*************OUR VIEWPOINT
*************
- Two different IFF intersessionals
The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests will be meeting from 3-14 May
in Geneva to continue working on the implementation of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Forests' proposals for action and on other
matters left pending. Among the different inputs this meeting will be
receiving, we would like to focus on two intersessional meetings, one
held in Costa Rica (on the underlying causes of deforestation and
forest degradation) and another in Chile (on tree plantations), which
have resulted in a number of conclusions and recommendations which
will be considered by IFF3.
The Costa Rica meeting was the final stage of a process initiated by
the NGOs and IPOs at IFF1, where they volunteered to implement one of
the IPF's proposals for action, which "urged countries to support the
convening, as soon as possible, of a global workshop on the
international underlying causes of deforestation and forest
degradation, and their relationship to national underlying causes of
deforestation and forest degradation." With support from and direct
participation of a number of governments and intergovernmental
agencies, this initiative organized seven regional (Africa, Asia,
CIS, Europe, Latin America, North America, Oceania) and one IPO
workshops, all of which fed into the Global Workshop in Costa Rica.
It is important to emphasize that the above process incorporated the
views of local communities and indigenous peoples' organizations, as
well as those from national and international NGOs, governments and
intergovernmental agencies, through their direct participation in the
preparation of case studies and in the discussions which took place
in the workshops. The report of the Global Workshop on Underlying
Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation is the outcome of an
extensive participatory process --a process which, in accordance with
the IPF diagnostic framework, was founded upon more than 40 case
studies and numerous additional submissions from all over the world.
The process aimed to deliver to the international community solution-
oriented approaches and concrete actions that can arrest current
trends of deforestation and forest degradation. At the same time,
such approach allowed all participants to enrich their knowledge
about the direct and underlying causes leading to deforestation in
very different contexts. This constitutes in itself a major step
forward to begin to address the problem, given that those
participants will now participate in the forest debate within their
regions and constituencies with a better understanding of the issue.
The Global Workshop, held from January 18-22 in San Jose was hosted
by the Government of Costa Rica and organized by an Organizing and a
Steering Committee composed of UNEP, other intergovernmental
agencies, governments, IPOs and NGOs. The workshop was successful in
formulating a wide range of innovative actions. In addition, the
workshop has uncovered underlying causes that are not part of the
deliberations in the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests. Underlying
causes of deforestation and forest degradation, be it in tropical
moist forests or the temperate boreal forests, often lie outside the
forest sector. It must also be noted that several of the
recommendations from the workshop are similar to those proposed in
other fora, in particular, the IPF Proposals for Action, which
highlights the fact that governments lack commitment to these
proposals and to enforce existing laws.
A number of key points clearly emerge from the actions formulated by
the San Jose workshop (see full text in our web page). Full
participation of local communities and other stakeholders in
decision-making over management of natural resources at the national
and international level is required if we intend to break the vicious
cycle we are in. Also, it was stressed that forests are much more
than just stands of timber. Forests provide valuable services, for
example biodiversity, water, and spiritual meaning to individuals,
communities, and society as a whole.
If we compare the above process with the Santiago de Chile
"International Experts Meeting on the Role of Planted Forests for
Sustainable Development" the difference is dismal. This was the
traditional expert meeting, where some of the organizers
(particularly Chile and New Zealand) had a very clear agenda: to
further promote the expansion of industrial tree monocultures through
the IFF process. The meeting was accordingly characterised by:
The predominance of foresters. The majority of the participants were
government officials from forestry agencies, but also present were
forestry consultants and corporation executives from Jaakko Poyry,
Plantation Focus (New Zealand), Carter Holt Harvey, Westvaco
Corporation, Sarawak Timber Association. This resulted in a biased
approach to plantations, given that most of the participants'
interest lie precisely in the promotion of plantations. Local
community representatives --which could have provided opposite
viewpoints from the receiving end of plantations-- were totally
absent.
A biased agenda. The majority of presentations were clearly in favour
of plantations. Although some NGOs (including the WRM) were invited,
non of them was asked to make a presentation. The presentations were
followed by group work, where each group had to answer a set of
questions based on the presentation. For instance, after having heard
that the world needs to produce more and not less wood and that 100
million hectares of new plantations would be needed to meet the
global demand, the groups were asked to respond to the following
question: "Does the world need an expanded area of forests? Is it
realistic to plant 100 million ha of forests by the middle of the
21st century?"
A lack of critical thinking. Given the pro-plantations majority, the
meeting did not promote discussions on the negative impacts of large-
scale tree plantations. It is interesting to highlight that foreign
participants were not aware that while the meeting was taking place,
the Mapuche indigenous peoples were demonstrating in Southern Chile
against those same plantations that were being presented as a model
of social and environmental sustainability. Only the NGOs voiced
their concern about plantations being a direct cause of deforestation
in many parts of the world --including Chile-- as well as having a
number of other negative social and environmental impacts.
A terminology leading to confusion. The insistence of using the term
"planted forests" instead of "plantations" led to a generalized
confusion. For Chilean and New Zealand delegates particularly,
"planted forests" are large scale exotic tree monocultures aimed at
wood production. For most African delegates, "planted forests" imply
small community forests (using both native and exotic species) aimed
at a number of environmental and social services and products. For
the Danish representatives, "planted forests" are exotic tree
plantations aimed at the creation of a tree cover to favour the
future establishment of native tree species and thereby the
recreation of their native forests. In such situation, a broad
discussion on the different types of plantations and on their
respective positive and negative impacts was impossible. This
obviously served the purpose of hiding large-scale tree plantations
behind the more positive community-based small-scale tree
plantations. At the same time, the use of the term "planted forest"
aims at publicising plantations as synonymous to forests, in a
context of growing public support to the protection of forests.
However, the discussion on whether the use of this terminology has a
scientific meaning or whether it serves specific economic interests
had no possibility of being addressed at this meeting.
Differing viewpoints. Within such context, it needs to be stressed
that the strong-in-numbers pro-large scale plantation lobby was
unable to achieve its objectives. The reason for this was the fact
that not all delegates supported large scale tree monocultures. This
led to the establishment of informal alliances with NGOs in the
working groups and in plenary which finally watered down the
conclusions and recommendations which the more fundamentalist
organizers had aimed at.
In sum, the above-mentioned interesessionals show two different
styles regarding the forest issue. One approach --the Underlying
Causes Initiative-- seeks the involvement of the main actors which
might play a major role in forest conservation: local communities,
indigenous peoples, NGOs, academia, governments, intergovernmental
agencies. All of those actors are experts in different areas of
knowledge, from the more local to the more global and their
interaction results not only in a deeper understanding of the complex
processes which affect forests, but also in real steps to addressing
the problem. The other approach --exemplified by the Experts Meeting
held in Chile-- seeks support from experts to "scientifically"
justify pre-established motivations. Fortunately, not all experts are
willing to play that game and this was clearly the case in Santiago,
where, in spite of all their efforts, so few of the objectives of the
plantation lobby were achieved. Two different styles, two different
results.
*************LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
*************
AFRICA
- Nigeria: threatened mangroves
Thousands of hectares of mangrove forest and fresh water swamps of
the Niger Delta, in the Cross River State, will be destroyed by
ongoing oil exploitation activities. Responsible for the situation
are the companies Moni Polu Nigeria Limited, that in early 1998
started its oil prospections in the area, and Nobles Drilling, which
was contracted to start drilling oil wells. By December 1998 about 8
oil wells had been sunk. A 1000 km long pipeline, that will pass
through over 25 communities, has also been programmed. In spite of
the letters of protest sent by Nigerian environmental NGOs to the
firms involved and to the national authorities, the new phase of the
project will start without the accomplishment of the required
Environmental Impact Assessment.
Oil prospection and exploitation are known worldwide for their
negative environmental and social impact at the local level: loss of
indigenous peoples' or peasants' lands, health problems, destruction
of rainforests, pollution of water sources and air. At a global
level, more extraction means more fuel consumption and liberation of
CO2 to the atmosphere, the most relevant gas causing global warming.
In the specific case of Nigeria, the military intimidate local
populations, burn their houses and even kill the villagers that
resist oil related activities in their lands. Several cases of human
rights abuses have been denounced, as testified by the long struggle
of the Ogoni people against Shell in Ogoniland and the most recent
facts involving Chevron in the Delta State.
Oil industry is a very important factor of mangrove destruction in
Nigeria, but not the only one. The Federal Government is suspected
of having recently awarded a contract for the dredging of the upper
River Niger from Warri to Baro, in the northern region of the
country. Since mangroves are fragile forest ecosystems highly
dependent on continuous water feeding, this project could gravely
affect them, which could bring about the loss of livelihoods for
their inhabitants. It is feared that the Niger Delta area, situated
downstream of the location of the dredging project, and which has
suffered for years much environmental degradation and social
conflicts due to the activities of the oil industry, is further
compounded with the works to be undertaken.
Nigeria has lost between 70 and 80% of its original forests and
nowadays the area of its territory occupied by forests is reduced to
12% even if the entire country is located in the humid tropics.
Having the largest population in Africa (115,000,000 inhabitants in
1996) it registers levels of 40% of illiteracy, while GNP per capita
is only U$S 240. The authorities seem to ignore this reality and
prefer to devote funds and efforts to megaprojects as the above
referred, regardless of the real needs and aspirations of local
communities.
Source: Late Friday News, 33rd Edition, 27/3/99; The World Guide
1999-2000.
*************
- Human rights abuses in Nigeria continue
In spite of political changes after the coming to power of the new
military government headed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998
the situation of human rights in Nigeria has not essentially
improved. Members of civil society organizations --some of them
involved in environmental causes-- are frequently victims of abuses
by military and police corps. The situation of jailed Nigerian
environmentalists and Human Rights activists has provoked grave
concern worldwide since the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995
in relation to the struggle of the Ogoni people for the defense of
their territory against Shell.
On 4 and 23 March 1999 the Nigerian military government announced the
release of most of the remaining political prisoners. They included
at least 39 prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of
conscience held in connection with alleged coup plots. Those who
recovered their freedom have corroborated reports by prisoners
released earlier and by former government officials that the alleged
coup plot was a government fabrication used to imprison influential
government critics, journalists and other human rights defenders.
Severe cases of torture have been also denounced.
The process has not a clear positive trend. Three environmental
activists --Mr Sagbama Owei Okpo, Mr Akpobarelo Didiya and Mr Sea Mum
Kuku-- have been in police detention since last March 20. Their
supposed "crime" was to have public documents with them. All three
are being held in solitary confinement in the cells of the State
Investigation and Interrogation Bureau (SIIB) at Yenagoa, Bayelsa
State. Access to family and friends is denied, as well as that of
medical assistance even if their health situation is deteriorating.
It has also been denounced that they were subjected to torture, ill-
treatment and humiliation while imprisoned.
To the former can be added that the government has not revoked the
State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree, No. 2 of 1984, which
allows indefinite detention without charge or trial of those deemed
to have threatened the security or the economy of the state. No
answer has been given to the questions raised by victims of human
rights violations and human rights defenders about responsibility for
the deaths in custody of political prisoners and for political
killings suspected of being extrajudicial executions by government
forces.
Sources: Environmental Rights Action (ERA), eraction@infoweb.abs.net,
28/3/99; Global Response, globresponse@igc.org, 2/4/99, based on an
Amnesty International Report dated 31/3/99.
*************
- Madagascar: communities defend rainforests against Rio Tinto
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has been frequently denounced
for its depredatory activities against forests and local villagers in
Indonesia (see WRM Bulletin 8), Papua New Guinea (see WRM Bulletin 7)
and South Africa. Now Rio Tinto has set its sights in rainforests of
Madagascar, one of the megabiodiverse countries in the world, due to
its situation in the tropical zone and to the fact of being a big
island. Local villagers are strongly opposing the company's plans to
mine for titanium, a mineral used to make hardened steel, on the
Southeast coast of the country despite the company's efforts to woo
the community.
Qit-Fer Madagascar Minerals, a Rio Tinto subsidiary, first proposed
to mine the 40 kilometres of coastal dunes that cover the villages of
Petricky, Mandena and St Luce in 1986. Since then the project has
faced significant opposition from the communities and
environmentalists because the mine would deforest the area. Even the
World Bank, which had been asked to finance the project, pulled out
in 1992 as a result of the findings of an environmental impact
assessment carried out by a consulting firm hired by Qit-Fer.
Facing a vigorous international campaign against the mine led by
Friends of the Earth, Qit-Fer has spent five months conducting a so
called "consultation" process with the 120 communities who live in
the area of the mine. Nevertheless such consultation did not actually
take place. The company just provided large dinner feasts for the
meetings and displayed models of dredging machines, but the
devastating impacts of similar Rio Tinto mines in several countries
were not mentioned or shown.
Local people reacted to such manoeuvres: "We have seen pictures of
the dredging machine and you won't be able to recreate Petricky for a
long time after that. What wood will we use for the next 47 years?"
said a Lovarhano villager. "Petricky existed before the existence of
the people, it is sacred land. The forest of Petricky is our mother.
If you cut it down we will have nothing," said one man in Ambovo.
Since part of the mining project includes a huge industrial port at
Evatra which is situated on a pristine river mouth, Evatra's leader,
Ludovic denounced that if the port is built "the sea won't be able to
get through to the river and we won't be able to fish".
Regarding employment, community members are also worried about the
company's recent statement that all but 350 jobs would be filled by
skilled foreign engineers and technicians for the 40 year duration of
the project. The additional 3000 jobs required at the start of the
project will not necessarily go to local people. The company has
failed to discuss other alternative sustainable economic practices
based on the local management of natural resources, forests included.
Source: Drillbits & Tailings, Volume 4, Number 5, 31/3/1999, based
on: "Forest People Tell Mining Giant Never!" by Anna Weekes, Gemini
News Service, February 3, 1999. "Habitat faces destruction sooner or
later" by Colin Barraclough, Miami Herald, November 21, 1997. Pers.
comm. Friends of the Earth UK. Comments by WRM International
Secretariat.
*************
- South Africa: exotic tree plantations are green wastelands
What follows is a contribution sent by a new friend of the WRM for
its dissemination, which highlights problems caused by tree
monocultures in his country:
Adapt or die
I live in the province of Mpumalanga (where the sun rises), South
Africa. I live on a protected reserve, close to the Sudwala Caves and
Rainforest. The immediate area surrounding the reserve is under
exotic plantations, and it is obvious to see the effect of this model
on the environment.
I often think of the mountain. I imagine every living thing being
luminous, so that they would glow at night. I like to think that
plants would have a soft glow, trees like the giant wild figs or
beautiful Stinkwoods would glow brighter. Insects would glitter, a
mouse would gleam, an owl radiate, a leopard shine. In the reserve I
see the mountain, shimmering with life. When I look beyond, at the
vast areas of exotics I see a monotonous feeble glow. Exotic tree
plantations ARE green wastelands. They smother the indigenous life,
not allowing enough water and light to sustain growth. No plants, no
insects, no birds, no reptiles, no mammals. Small pockets of
indigenous growth is preserved, mostly as a public relations
exercise, and it is not enough to compensate for loss of habitat.
Programs are in place to clear clogged water ways, but much too
slowly, and, it seems, as if it has little effect on the overall
runoff, as huge areas of water catchment should be cleared. Many
residents of this region experience escalating water shortages, due
to plantations. Legislation are in place to secure wetlands, but it
is not enforced due to lack of man power. I believe exotic
plantations should be cut back drastically. No more new planting
permits should be issued. Plantation managers should change to
environmentally friendly products, which would be more labor
intensive as harvests occur on a yearly basis.
It is not nice to be thirsty, that is why water is such an emotive
issue. Water shortage could lead to serious conflict in the future,
as many countries in southern Africa share rivers as borders. In
September 1998, troops from South Africa and Botswana invaded Lesotho
to quell political uprising. Fierce fighting occurred to secure the
Katse dam, a vital link in the Lesotho Highlands Water project. This
project holds water reserves for use in South Africa. It has been
suggested that the "war" was motivated, at least in part, by the need
to secure the strategic water reserve.
In the face of ever increasing energy consumption man-kind is on the
verge of a major crisis. This is a time when we should be taking care
of the earth, treating it with respect, correcting the wrongs of the
past, as our own survival depends upon biodiversity. I think we
should adapt our way of thinking, recognize our dependence upon
nature. Our environment shapes us, therefore we need to keep it
healthy."
Philip Owen, Wood Bush River Valley, Mpumalanga, South-Africa,
owen@soft.co.za
*************
ASIA
- Made in Vietnam, cut in Cambodia
During this decade Vietnamese loggers have been illegally felling
trees in Cambodia, especially in Ratanakiri Province, to obtain wood
to be used in manufactured garden furniture exported to Europe.
According to Vietnamese law, exclusively imported wood can be used to
this aim, and this raw material comes from the neighbour countries,
being Cambodia one of them (see WRM Bulletin 18).
Vietnamese loggers obtain cheap raw material and part of the money
goes to fund Cambodia's "parallel" military budget, since members of
the Royal Cambodian Armed Forced are in charge of protecting illegal
logging activities. While an accelerated process of deforestation and
forest degradation takes place, local communities are negatively
affected because logging damages farming and fishing. They are denied
access to logging concessions which have taken over land and forests
on which they have relied for their livelihoods for generations, and
in some cases they are even intimidated or murdered. At the same time
the treasury is losing about U$S 180 million a year due to these
illegal operations.
Under the motto "Made in Vietnam, cut in Cambodia" last March Friends
of the Earth and Global Witness started a campaign in the UK to
boycott the sale of Vietnamese garden furniture. The objective of
this campaign, based on the follow up of the production chain of wood
coming from Cambodian tropical forests is to provide public opinion
with a holistic view of the problem and to raise awareness among
Northern consumers.
The Government of Cambodia has recently begun to control this obscure
business, which results not only in environmental destruction but
also in losses in government revenues. Nevertheless the Government's
move does not seem to address the core of the problem. In this
regard, Global Witness has issued the following press statement:
"Since the February meeting of the Consultative Group, the Royal
Government of Cambodia (RGC) has mounted several well publicised
operations to crack down on illegal logging operations. Whilst this
demonstration of political will represents probably the most
prolonged and robust anti-logging measures yet taken by the RGC, and
has undoubtedly resulted in a reduction in illegal logging activity,
it is probable that the RGC are missing the prime targets.
There are disturbing reports that small sawmills operating for local
use have been targeted and closed down by the RGC, resulting in a
shortage of, for example, building materials and a corresponding
increase in the price of timber. At the same time the major
perpetrators of unsustainable and illegal logging, the military and
the legal concessionaires, remain largely unaffected.
This state of affairs gives rise to the potential that the Cambodian
public will see the logging crackdown as an infringement of their
rights and livelihood, rather than as a serious effort to bring
industrial scale operators under control for the benefit of the
entire country and its population. Any resulting public opposition to
forest policy reform will seriously undermine the reconstruction of
Cambodia. The RGC needs to address this issue.
The military: The removal of various military leaders from their
posts due to their involvement in illegal logging operations is
welcomed, but Global Witness' intelligence indicates that military
controlled logging operations are continuing in many areas including
Bokor and Aural protected areas, Stung Treng, Koh Kong, Kompong Thom,
Pursat and Kratie.
Legal concessions: Global Witness has frequently documented serious
infringements of Cambodian legislation and forestry management
regulations by virtually every forest concessionaire in Cambodia. The
recent cancellation of concessions targeted inactive operators or
areas already too degraded to be economically viable. The most
serious perpetrators of bad forest management and illegal activities
remain unaffected. It is imperative that all concession activity is
suspended pending the results of the ADB concession review process,
due to take place in mid 1999. The RGC has the legal right to
terminate the concessions of those companies that have breached the
terms of their concession contracts.
If the RGC continues to target small operations whilst ignoring the
major perpetrators of illegal logging, the logging crackdown has no
long term future and will be largely cosmetic, whilst at the same
time causing financial and other hardships to the rural population.
The implications for the preservation of Cambodia's forest resources
are severe."
Sources: Sarah Tyack, Friends of the Earth, 26/3/99; Late Friday
News, 33rd Edition, 27/3/99; Global Witness Press Statement, 24/3/99,
email: gwitness@gn.apc.org, Internet:
http://www.oneworld.org/globalwitness.
*************
- Thailand: support requested for peoples' rally
Four thousand representatives of rural, poor and ethnic communities
within the upper nine provinces of Northern Thailand rallied at the
Provincial Office in Chiangmai early on the 25th of April. These
representatives of the people have released the following statement:
Stop the violation of community rights and protect the dignity of
human beings
Thailand announced the acceptance of the new Royal Thai Constitution
in October of 1997, a decree of the commitment to the protection of
the rights and liberties of the Thai population in many categories
including the civil rights of all people within Thailand and the
right to utilize resources. However it has been almost two years
since the acceptance of the current Constitution and the protection
or acknowledgement of the expressed rights of villagers have yet to
been seen. On the contrary the rights of the people have been
continually violated, the rights to manage their resources and the
basic right to citizenship as shown by the intimidation and threats
used by government officials and the emergence of increasing tension
and conflict between village communities and other sections of Thai
society.
In the management of natural resources throughout Thailand government
employees continue to use the policies and laws which date from half
a century before the new Constitution in the claiming of the power to
violate the rights of the people, and local communities living in
forested areas by forbidding the communities to use the local
resources even for basic needs in maintaining their livelihoods. In
addition to this there have been moves to relocate communities from
their residential and cultivation areas which they have inhabited for
many generations.
An aspect of the violation of the rights and intimidation of
communities are the instances of the abuse of their legal rights. For
instance the officials of the Royal Forestry Department, using the
authority of the Forest Law of 1941, arrested Mr. Mongkhol
Rukyingprasert from the Wang Watershed area in Chiangmai Province for
harvesting timber from the community forest area for the construction
of a house. In another instance Mr. Pol Payoe, a member of the Karen,
or Pgakenyaw, ethnic group in Chiangdao District of Chiangmai
Province was arrested for his collection of dead timber over a period
of ten years, timber used for repairs on his home. A third example of
this phenomenon is the increasing demands for, and use of influence
and power to force the relocation of the Hmong communities in Pha
Klang sub-district, Pua district in Nan Province, although this is
but a single example of a much wider phenomenon.
Regarding the violation of the civil rights of all Thai people, there
still exists the legal power to perpetrate these violations. A recent
example can be found in the arrest of community members belonging to
the Palong ethnic group in the community of Pang Daeng in Chaingdao
District of Chiangmai Province. Fifty six members of this community
were arrested without any statement of the reason for their arrest.
Another instance is the continued practice of treating members of
ethnic communities as separate from the Thai majority and using this
as a pretence, or excuse, for the removal of their lands.
The Northern Farmers Network in the name of peoples networks to
conserve the forest who face a violation of their rights resulting
from the declaration of protected forest areas which enclose areas
traditionally used for cultivation, and the Assembly of Ethnic
Minorities, Northern Thai Section in the name of peoples networks of
ethnic minorities who face a violation of their human rights
resulting from discrimination by government officials have combined
with a number of democratic peoples organizations. These
organizations combined to peacefully protest these violations
according to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, Article 44,
and have the following demands:
1. The Government must implement changes in the forestry laws,
specifically in the following four legal instruments; Forestry Law of
1941, National Reserve Forest Law of 1964, Wildlife Sanctuary Law of
1964, National Park Law of 1961 and the Cabinet Resolution of the
30th of June 1998. All these laws violate the existing rights of the
people over the management of resources, are not in line with reality
within Thailand and are in conflict with the Constitution of the
Kingdom of Thailand, the highest law in the Kingdom.
2. The Government must immediately implement the issuance of the
Community Forest Bill in order to give the rights of conservation and
forest management to local communities and to restrict the authority
and power of government officials so that they are unable to use
their authority to continue to exploit local resources for personal
gain.
3. The Government must review and change the laws regarding the
issuance of citizenship and issue citizenship to ethnic minorities
within Thailand. This must be done with review of international laws,
declaration of revolution and/or regulations and other legal
instruments pertinent to the issuance of citizenship. The
restrictive, limited and repetitive nature of citizenship
registration laws must be examined and amended including details of
the Citizenship Issuance Committee, their mandate and the criteria
for qualifying for citizenship. In the meantime the continuing
project issuing alien status to all ethnic minorities according to
the law passed on the 3rd of October 1995 should be slowed as it is
applied to all areas and peoples uniformly, until the laws can be
amended.
4. The Government must withdraw the legal documents, uncertain by
law, which deny the existing areas of public or communal use and halt
the declaration of public ownership in traditional cultivation areas.
5. During the process of resolution of these problems arrests based
on current laws, intimidation, threats and the violation of the
rights of local communities should be immediately stopped in order to
prevent the tension and conflict already existing from escalating
further until the appropriate changes have been made to the laws in
question and statutes are in place to solve the problems.
In solidarity: Northern Farmers Network, Assembly of Thai Ethnic
Minorities, Assembly of the Poor Temporary Coordinating Office:
email: ethnet@loxinfo.co.th web page: http://www.cm.ksc.co.th/~cesd/
The people gathered at the Chiangmai rally request our readers to
send a letter of support for their cause to the Prime Minister of
Thailand, Mr. Chuan Leekpai, expressing both your support for
previous efforts of the government to solve these problems and your
hope for immediate movement on this issue.
A copy of any letters you might write should also be forwarded to the
temporary coordinating office of the peoples' rally and the following
cooperating organizations in order that they can be translated and
shared with the people as a demonstration of international support.
Please send your letters to:
Mr. Chuan Leekpai, Office of the Prime Minister, Government House,
Bangkok, Thailand, Fax : 66 2 629 9211
Northern Development Foundation and the Northern Farmers Network, Fax
: 66 53 810 623 - 4, email: ndf13@chmai.loxinfo.co.th
Northern Farmers Network, Fax : 66 53 212 617
Assembly of the Poor, Fax 66 2 281 1916, email:
fopthai@asiaaccess.net.th
*************
- Thailand: two approaches to forest conservation
During a high-level seminar on "The Forestry Department Chief's
Vision" held in March 21st Plodprasop Suraswadi , Head of the
Forestry Department, proposed giving logging concessions to companies
to develop degraded forests, arguing it would stem encroachment and
generate income for the state. To his view the problem with
deforestation was that the government was bound to yield eventually
to encroachers' demands and recognise them as rightful owners of
forest land. So instead of giving forest land away for the exclusive
use of a group of people, a concession should be made available so
all sides could benefit. Concessionaires should be large companies
with sound financial standing and should have to invest in tree-
planting in designated deteriorated forests. The companies should
also be required to function as cooperatives, allowing locals to take
up a stake and share in the returns when the trees matured and could
be felled and processed commercially. Wildlife conservation is
supposedly also taken into account by the proposal; for instance,
endangered species could be bred in these forests to be possibly sold
as pets.
Environmentalists and farmers' groups reacted considering his
proposal as "impossible" and "unrealistic". They think that such
measures would not solve the issue of forest encroachment, which is
actually a social problem, not a business conflict.
Decades of uncontrolled large scale logging have caused that forest
lands in Thailand decline from almost 60% to only 25%. Such extensive
destruction derived in devastating floods, which in turn resulted in
the loss of human lives and the destruction of villages and people's
livelihoods. The plantation of vast eucalyptus monocultures to
increase "forest cover" was not a solution to the problem. On the
contrary it brought many environmental and social problems with it.
The national parks policy adopted --supposedly aimed at ensuring the
conservation of forests-- focused exclusively on "nature protection"
and considered people living in the territories declared protected
areas as actors to be excluded and expelled from them. It proved to
be completely inadequate both for the forests and for the people.
During the Asian workshop on the underlying causes of deforestation
and forest degradation held last December in Berastagi, Indonesia, a
case study on Thailand was presented, that proposed a number of
solutions for the three communities studied. They included supporting
alternative agriculture, watershed management and networks, and
promoting good managing of forests by stopping removing people out of
the forest, supporting community forests and allowing local
communities and civil society to participate in natural resource
management at all levels. We believe this to be an equitable and
realistic way of addressing the problem: focusing on the local level,
taking into account local peoples' views and interests and having a
holistic approach to forests, that are not only wood factories.
Unfortunately, Thai authorities seem to prefer to make market-
oriented unrealistic proposals.
Source: Late Friday News, 33rd Edition, 27/3/99.
*************
- Thailand: Local people resist dams
Dams are one of the most important causes for forest and agricultural
land destruction, which usually goes together with the loss of their
land by local communities caused by forced displacement. This
unsustainable model is applied worldwide, from South America to Asia.
Thailand is not an exception.
On March 23, five thousand people from eight different groups
affected by existing dams, planned dams, and land rights issues
united in a struggle for justice by seizing the Pak Mun Dam in Ubon
Ratchathani Province. This dam was chosen because it has provoked and
continues to provoke serious negative environmental impacts on the
people of Isarn in North-East Thailand. For a long time villagers
have been suffering fresh drinking water shortage. They set up a
temporary village on the left bank of the Mun River and decided to
remain in the place until their demands have been met. The activists
are part of the Assembly of the Poor, a coalition of Thai peoples'
movements to fight for the rights of the people to participate in the
country's environmental and development policies.
Their most urgent demands are focusing on the solution to two
specific problems: the drastic reduction in the number of fish in the
Mun River, which affect the livelihoods of 3080 families since dam
construction, and health problems such as a 50% increase in the
incidence of intestinal fluke, an unknown increase in the incidence
of liver fluke, and a potential spread of schistosomiasis from snail
vectors inhabiting the reservoir. Demonstrators also demand land
compensation of 15 Rai (2.4 acres) per family for the lost fisheries
income.
Dams are nowadays a widespread problem all over the country.
Sirindhorn Dam, also situated in Ubon Ratchathani Province, is
damaging 2526 families, which have received no compensation since the
dam was built in 1969. Lam Can Chu Dam, in Chayapum Province, is
responsible for the loss of natural forest areas, which provided the
villagers with food and income, for water shortages downstream due to
the storage of water in the reservoir and river channelization, and
for the lack of an irrigation system in the downstream areas.
Additionally, the Royal Irrigation Department has never paid
compensation to the peasants for the loss of their land, fruit
orchards which resulted from the building of the dam. At the same
time villagers in Amnat Charoen Province are demanding land
compensation for the resettlement that followed the flooding of their
lands by Huai Pai Dam. In relation to the projected dams of .Phrong
Khun Phet in Chayaphum Province, and .Phrong Khun Phet in Ubon
Ratchathani Province, root based organizations are demanding that
they are definitively shelved.
Source: Aviva Imhof, South-East Asia Campaigns, International Rivers
Network, e-mail: aviva@irn.org, 26/3/99, 5/4/99.
*************
- Thailand: one year of struggle against Yadana gas pipeline
In late 1995 the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) started a
survey of the route for a gas pipeline between the western province
of Kanchanabuti and Myanmar (ancient Burma). It was only after eight
months that they admitted that the pipeline would be built. Since its
very beginning this project was strongly resisted by villagers living
near the route of the pipeline, who feared an explosion since the
required security standards have not been reached. Now resistance has
reached a national level and many civil society organizations have
joined to object its economic feasibility and to protest against the
environmental impact expected because of the works.
A seminar was held on March 7th in Bangkok to discuss on the polemic
pipeline. More than 300 people --among them members of various
environmental and grassroots organizations, representatives of ethnic
minority groups and student groups-- attended the event. The PTT and
the government were accused for the lack of transparency of the
project, for the agreement reached with a cruel dictatorship like
that ruling Myanmar, and for their non fulfilment of the promises
made regarding environmental restoration of the affected territory.
Vast areas of forests were felled to give place to the pipeline and
the authorities had promised that a reforestation plan was to be
undertaken.
Among the speakers was Sulak Sivaraksa, the social critic who
launched a solo sit-in protest at the pipeline site when it was being
constructed. He was sent to jail and charged with trespassing, and
his case is still pending in court. Mr Sulak said that the peaceful
struggle against the pipeline project had not ended, and that the PTT
must be forced to reveal fully what he called its "shameful contract"
to buy gas from the Yadana field in Burma. However, he said the "real
enemy" was not the PTT or the Thai government but transnational
corporations which intend to exploit the region's natural resources,
regardless of the peoples' interests.
Speaking on behalf of the anti-pipeline coalition --that is formed by
more than 500 different organizations-- leading opponent Pibhop
Dhongchai said that the problem arose due to lack of public
participation in the planning and implementation of the country's
energy policy and demanded that the public takes that role. The
coalition also demanded that the PTT and the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand postpone all their projects, including the
Thai-Malaysian joint development project in the Gulf of Thailand,
because it had become clear that there was an oversupply of gas and
electricity in the country. It also demanded the cancellation of the
three power plant projects in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Sources: Oilwatch Secretariat , 19/3/99,
based on: Bangkok Post, March 8, 1999; "Yadana pipeline: PTT is
telling us lies", Watershed Vol 3 Nr 1 July - October 1997.
************************************************************ -
Malaysia: opposition to dam megaproject
A big campaign is being pushed ahead to stop a dam project in
Selangor, Malaysia, which will not only destroy rainforest but also
evict indigenous people from their ancestral homelands. The campaign
is aimed at protecting 600 hectares of rainforest from being
devastated by this project.
The Sungai Selangor Dam, which is being projected to meet the
expected water demand in the States of Selangor and Wilayah
Persekutuan, will flood pristine forests, rubber plantations and
orchards. It will also inundate lowland forest, two thriving Orang
Asli villages, some private land, recreational and picnic spots along
the Sungai Selangor, a section of the Kuala Kubu Baru-Fraser's Hill
road, among other tracts of land. The area affected is the ancestral
heartland of the Temuan indigenous people. Its loss means the
disappearance of these people as a culture. According to a Temuan
legend: "When the Orang Asli (Original People) are no longer visible,
the world will end."
The residents of Kuala Kubu Baru remember the tragedy that occurred
over a century ago in 1883, when a much smaller dam across the
Selangor River burst and destroyed the entire town. Selangor is an
area where flash floods and landslides have increased dramatically in
recent years, due to irresponsible logging upstream. Local residents
will never again be able to sleep peacefully during the rainy season,
and property prices will plunge.
Not only local people will lose with the projected dam. With
pollution and stress levels rising in the Klang Valley, more and more
people have been seeking relief every weekend in the idyllic green
sanctuary of Pertak, Ulu Selangor. Once the dam is constructed, the
area will no longer be useful in this regard. Even if tasteful
landscaping turns the area surrounding the man-made lake into a
scenic park, it will no longer have the powerful healing effect that
only raw nature can provide. And since the Selangor Dam will only
supply the water needs of the Klang Valley for three to six years at
most, it cannot be regarded as a viable long-term solution.
The disastrous environmental impact of large dams has drawn heavy
criticism worldwide. Experts now admit that damming up rivers is
extremely destructive to our fragile ecosystemic equilibrium.
Tampering with the natural flow and topology of rivers is a very
dangerous business. The negative impact is far-reaching,
unpredictable, and usually irreversible.
In the case of the proposed Selangor Dam, it is quite possible that
the wetlands and famous firefly colony near Kuala Selangor will be
adversely affected. The negative impact of inundating nearly a
thousand hectares in montane forest of Pertak cannot be adequately
assessed or quantified.
The Selangor Dam will also have far reaching consequences on the
geomorphology and the hydrology of the area. It will distort the
geomagnetic field of the area, resulting in drastic long-term
climatic and seismological changes --including the possibility of
earth tremors in hitherto stable areas. Additionally the streams and
tributaries feeding the Selangor River --already polluted by recent
logging on the hillslopes-- will pour so much debris into the
reservoir that it will need to be desilted every two or three years,
adding to the enormous cost of maintaining the dam. Furthermore,
constructing a 5 km (3 mile) stretch of new road through hilly forest
reserves to replace the inundated stretch will cause further
environmental degradation, apart from greatly increasing the enormous
cost of the dam project.
The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) has studied the
Environmental Impact Assessment study [EIA] for the proposed
development that was prepared by SMHB Sdn. Bhd for the project
proponent, Konsortium TSWA-Gamuda-KDEB. According to CAP, there are
serious questions that need to be addressed before one can accept the
validity of the water demand projections, which is object to much
criticism because of their fundamental assumptions and methodology.
The project does not address at all the fundamental issue of long-
term, integrated, sustainable water resources planning and management
on a regional/national basis which has been identified as an urgent
priority for the country already in the early 1980s. The EIA in
particular has not addressed the capital issue of proposing
alternatives to dam construction.
The NGO Magick River, responsible for the campaign, is not only
strongly criticising the dam megaproject approach, but also putting
forward sustainable alternative solutions to water supply. They are
small scale, do not involve timber concessions or megaconstructions,
and respect the environmental and cultural vision of the Temuan.
Sources: Magick River web sites:
http://www.xlibris.de/magickriver/dam.htm;
http://www.xlibris.de/magickriver/doecap.htm; Mary Maguire, 24/3/99.
*************
- Dams generate environmental and social destruction in Laos
Hydropower megaprojects in several Southeast Asian countries are
frequently preceded by devastating logging operations in prospective
inundation zones. This kind of practices cause an extensive negative
environmental impact and damage indigenous communities, that are
forced to abandon their lands and are resettled somewhere else. In
Laos current and pending dam projects are being used as cover to
evict village people from intended reservoir areas and from upland
watersheds (see WRM Bulletin 8).
A report recently issued by International Rivers Network demands an
urgent rethink of the "one-sided" policies of the Laotian Government
and its United Nations, World Bank and Asian Development Bank
supporters.
According to the report, there are "fundamental problems" at all six
projects visited, including doubtful financial viability,
uncontrolled logging and growing mortality among ethnic minorities
forced to resettle, often with little or no compensation. Possible
starvation of fish ponds is feared. Social problems, as prostitution
of displaced indigenous women, have also been reported. "It is
irresponsible of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank to be
pushing ahead with the funding of individual hydroelectric power
projects as 'aid'" states the report.
The Laosian government intends to sell much of the power generated
by the Nam Leuk project to Thailand and possibly Vietnam. However,
the collapse of the Thai economy has forced the Electricity
Generating Authority of that country to reassess future demand
estimates and such sale is nowadays doubtful. The report warns that
the region's largest planned dam, the controversial Nam Theun Two
project on the Nakai Plateau in central Khammouane province, may not
even go ahead --despite the already widespread destruction of its
catchment area. The viability of the four other projects studied
remains also in doubt due to the economic crash, a fact that can be
considered positive since it can allow crucial room to manoeuvre in
carving out new more sustainable policies for the energy sector, the
people and the environment.
Source: Aviva Imhof, South-East Asia Campaigner International Rivers
Network, Email: viva@irn.org
*************
OCEANIA
- Papua New Guinea's Rainforests Threatened
Papua New Guinea constitutes another good (bad) example of current
trends regarding forest conservation. While the world declares its
concern over the rate of deforestation which affects the planet as a
whole, that same world does very little to address the problem. On
the contrary, apparently "neutral" forces such as "the macroeconomy"
or the "market forces" or "international trade" continue destroying
forests, while governments and international organizations continue
agreeing --on paper-- on the need to protect them. The result is not
development but further impoverishment of people, further degradation
of the resources they depend upon and further enrichment of
transnationals and local elites. Measures can and must be taken to
allow countries to be able to increase the quality of life of their
people while at the same time conserving the planet's life-support
systems. The world community should show its commitment to forest
conservation by assisting countries such as Papua New Guinea instead
of allowing a few transnationals to obtain large profits at their
expense.
In the next 2 to 3 months it will be decided whether Papua New Guinea
remains a contiguous, largely intact wilderness --one of the four
most important on the Planet-- or whether all the operable forests
are allocated and the destructive deforestation process begins. What
follows is a press release from the Committee for a Prosperous and
Sustainable PNG, which details the current dramatic situation:
March 28, 1999 (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea)-The government of
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has taken a series of actions over the past
months which severely weaken forest sector governance, while
seriously jeopardizing rainforest sustainability and its citizen's
future development potential.
Papua New Guinea's (PNG) rainforests are of global significance,
comprising one of the last major tropical rainforest wildernesses in
the World. This forest ecosystem is responsible for storing massive
amounts of carbon and regulating global climate. In merely 1% of the
world's land mass, it is estimated that PNG contains 5-8% of global
biodiversity.
In recent years, there had been some progress made in putting in
place legislation and institutions to regulate a timber industry that
had been described in the late 1980s as being composed of "robber-
barons".
Now PNG, faced with an economic crisis fuelled by years of poor
governance, has embraced a deliberative policy of liquidating its
forest resources in a desperate attempt to stabilize its economy. On
the advice of a high paid foreign economic advisor, the government is
pursuing a misguided forest and economic policy which allocates for
export logging essentially all major remaining forest resources-
primarily to maintain the value of its flagging currency.
Recent forest sector deterioration is indicative of ongoing and
worsening poor governance. Extremely valuable forest resources are
being illegally allocated with no public input and little if any
benefit to the country.
Details include:
Log Export Tax Eliminated. The rate of log export taxation was
reduced in late 1998 from an average rate of 33% to 0-5% today. PNG
log exporters are paying virtually no log export tax, and thus
government revenues have plunged.
800,000 Hectare Give Away. The Forestry Board has decided to grant
800,000 hectares (about 2 million acre) in Western Province, known as
Kumula Doso, as an "extension" to an existing 600,000 hectare logging
area held by the Malaysian logging company which dominates the
industry. This huge and highly valuable resource area is being
tendered non-competitively. This extension lies within one of the
largest and most significant remaining lowland rainforests in the
Asia-Pacific, and effectively guts the area, ensuring eventually that
the whole area will be logged-one huge extension at a time.
Ilegal Logging Area Allocation. At least 12 new industrial logging
operations, and perhaps as many as 17, are being "fast-tracked".
This means that on the instructions of the current government,
millions of hectares of priceless rainforest --most of the country's
remaining rainforest resources-- are to be allocated with great
haste, and outside of forest legislation and regulations. It is
expected, and there are already indications, that exasperation over
the slow pace of approving these projects is leading to concerted
efforts by the Forest Minister to weaken forest legislation and
regulations.
No Export Log Monitoring. For the past several years, log exports
have been independently monitored by SGS, the Swiss inspection and
monitoring firm. This had proven to be one of the most successful
efforts to reform an out of control timber industry. The government
has chosen to not renew the contract, despite the fact that it is
estimated that the monitoring pays for itself many times over in
increased revenue collection. As of April 1st, there will be no
monitoring of log exports --and it is fully expected that illegal
misdeclaration of exports and other frauds will escalate.
Dismantling of Professional Forest Service. Those within the Forest
Service that insist upon proper forest allocation procedures are
being demoted or otherwise silenced. The widely respected General
Manager of the Forest Authority, who has insisted upon adherence to
correct procedures and has worked hard to maintain a log export
monitoring capability, has been demoted within the past week --it
appears without proper process.
After several years of improvement in forest sector management, PNG
is poised to return to the days where its timber industry runs
rampant with essentially no benefits for the country. This is both a
national and global catastrophe, for which many generations to come
will pay.
ACTION ALERT: Concerned about the situation? Forward the above
press release to media organizations in your area. Write polite yet
forceful letters to the Prime Minister of PNG, to the World Bank's
President and to the PNG media using the information above. The
situation continues to deteriorate daily, so there is a strong sense
of urgency to get your letters out as soon as possible to:
Prime Minister Bill Skate
Morauta House
PO Box 639
Waigani, Papua New Guinea
Fax: 675 (country code) 327 6630
Senator the Hon. Robert Hill
Minister for Environment and Heritage
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 7640
Fax: 02 6273 6101
You can also send your comments to
http://www.environment.gov.au/environment/search/feedback.html
Source: Forests.org, Inc. For
additional information, contact Brian Brunton.
*************
SOUTH AMERICA
- Brazil: The power of Aracruz Celulose
On March 23rd the Government of the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil,
issued Decree 4428 with new regulations related to "reforestation"
(plantations) in that state. Plantations occupying an area of more
that 100 hectares will require a permit form the Agriculture and
Forestry Defence Institute (IDAF), while plantations of less than
that area will not need a permit. Additionally, the decree
establishes maximum percentages for plantations in different zones,
which can reach 50% in the central hilly, extreme northern and north-
western regions. According to the text, the aim of the norm is that
the area of "planted forests" in the state increase from 3 to 6%.
High priority is given to eucalyptus, that already represents 97,8%
of existing plantations.
The following day, State Parliamentarian Claudio Vereza presented a
draft bill proposing the cancellation of the above referred decree.
To his view, the decree elaborated by the Secretary for Agriculture
contravenes the Environmental Law of Espirito Santo, which
establishes that an environmental impact assessment is to be
performed in the following cases: plantations that exceed 100
hectares, plantations that occupy a significant percentage of land
area regardless of their extension, and plantations established in
environmentally sensitive areas. According to the new decree, a
plantation company can even set up, for example, 100 different
plantations of 50 hectares each --reaching a total of 5000 hectares--
without needing a permit! Additionally, according to Mr Vereza, the
Constitution of the State establishes that every activity of
exploitation of forest resources involving areas of more than 100
hectares need a permit from the Agriculture and Environment
Commission of the Legislative Assembly. Biologists and
environmentalists have also expressed their concern for the expressed
objective of promoting eucalyptus plantations in the extreme northern
region of the state to cover 50% of its total area, considering that
this region is prone to intense droughts.
It is important to highlight that the main plantation company in
Espirito Santo is Aracruz Celulose, which owns 70% of the plantations
in the state. It is also remarkable that the Secretary for
Agriculture, Mr. Pedro de Faria Burnier, reponsible for Decree
4428/99, is former executive of Aracruz Celulose. He efficiently
served the company in that position and now continues to do so!
Aracruz Celulose launched an aggressive media campaign trying to show
that there is no doubt that eucalyptus do not cause any negative
impact on the environment. According to one of the company's
foresters, the opposite is true: eucalyptus can be a solution for the
northern region, highly affected by drought and could even "improve
rain distribution in the region, that would become constant instead
of being concentrated only during some months of the year".
Additionally, to the company's view, producing eucalyptus is much
more profitable than growing traditional crops.
Following an initiative from Member of Parliament Vereza, on April
15th a public audience of the Legislative Assembly of the State was
held. During the audience, both Mr Vereza and members of civil
society strongly criticized the new decree. The Federation of Rural
Farmers of Espirito Santo also condemned the norm. They consider that
the production of food for the market should be given priority to the
production of eucalytpus for Aracruz. The Attorney General also
expressed criticism to the decree considering it unconstitutional. As
only three representatives of civil society were given the
opportunity to speak during the event, Mr Vereza requested a new
audience.
It seems difficult that the opposition to the decree will be able to
achieve its cancellation, considering the close relationship existing
between Aracruz Celulose, the government of the state, the
Legislative Assembly, industry, the Association of Foresters and the
media. The power of the company is so strong, that the media decided
to boycott the public audience of April 15th, which went practically
unnoticed in the newspapers. In short, the power of Aracruz Celulose
now extends itself all over the state of Espirito Santo. This
explains the difficulties which the local indigenous Tupinikim and
Guarani peoples have faced in trying to get their lands back from
this company, whose struggle has been highlighted in numerous
articles in the WRM bulletin (for an overview on the issue, see WRM
Bulletin 13).
Source: Conselho Indigenista Mission rio - Esp-rito Santo
*************
- Chile: establishment experts and reality
During the "Intersessional experts meeting on the role of planted
forests in sustainable development" held in Santiago, Chile, from 6
to 10 April 1999 several voices, from governments and forestry
companies, advocated in favour of tree plantations (See "Our
viewpoint" in this issue). In this regard, the representative of
CORMA (Wood Corporation of Chile) Mr Fernando Raga made a
presentation highlighting the role of "forest plantations" as "an
effective and ecoefficient response to the human beings with
sustainable volumes of timber, as they are established on relatively
small spaces of land". He also stated that tree plantations
"contribute to the conservation of vast expanses of natural forests
that satisfy the need of soil conservation, biodiversity, recreation
and other services". The harmonization between tree monocultures and
natural forests, that seems to be the new strategy adopted in the
discourse of the promoters of plantations, can be considered
interesting and even appealing. Nevertheless it does not to
correspond to what is happening on the ground.
While the meeting was taking place in the capital, the conflict
resulting from the expansion of plantations in the Southern region of
the country, which invaded territories that traditionally belonged to
the Mapuche people was going on: land occupations by groups of
indigenous men, women and children; confrontations between the
occupants and police forces that defended the interests of forest
companies; unrest among peasants that feared occupations; a peaceful
demonstration by a group of Mapuche in the Metropolitan Cathedral of
Santiago during Easter trying to call the attention of the Catholic
Church on their tragedy; the hunger strike of seven Mapuche people at
the Workers Union headquarters in Concepcion, supporting their
peoples' struggle; arbitrary detentions, violation of Human Rights
and accusations of subversion against Mapuche activists.
Nevertheless the "experts" as well as Chilean authorities -the CONADI
(National Indigenous Corporation) included - chose to turn a blind
eye to such reality.
In an open letter dated April 11th Arnaud Fuentes, researcher of the
University of Perpignan, France, who visited the southern IX Region
of Chile as part of his study of the historial process of land
expropriations to the detriment of the Mapuche people, denounces the
abuses performed by the police against the Mapuche of Temulemu and on
himself during his one and a half month long stay in the region. The
area, that is the scenario of strong conflicts between the indigenous
communities and Forestal Mininco, belonged to the Mapuche till 1979.
A law promoted by the military dictatorship dispossessed the
communities of their land and paved the way to its appropriation by
the company. As a result of Mr Fuentes' declarations, the authorities
of the IX Region started procedures for his expulsion from the
country, accusing him of subversion. In spite of those pressures, the
Chilean Court of Justice ruled in his favour.
Conflicts caused by tree monoculture plantations in Chile are not
new. Nor is the tragedy of the Mapuche nation, now linked to their
expansion.
Chilean temperate forests have suffered a severe reduction in their
area to the hands of plantation companies. Their biodiversity is
being progressively substituted by green deserts of trees. The
claimed harmonization between plantations and natural forests does
not actually occur, neither in temperate nor in tropical areas. As a
matter of fact --as stated by the members of the NGO Forest Working
Group present at the Santiago experts meeting-- large scale
commercial plantations are a major direct cause for deforestation in
many Southern countries. Additionally, the argument that plantations
only occupy "small spaces of land" is false; on the one hand, because
the area of plantations has been rapidly increasing and on the other
hand, because the problem is not how many hectares are planted at the
global level, but to what extent plantations affect people and the
environment at the local and regional level, regardless of their area
in absolute or percentual figures.
The Chilean case exemplifies --among many other things-- the role of
hired "experts": to justify "scientifically" what needs to be
justified to favour either the forestry profession's corporate
interest or, more importantly, the interests of large forestry
corporations. All arguments against plantations --their impacts on
people, water, biodiversity, soils-- will be dismissed by them as
"scientifically unproven", even when supported by empirical evidence.
Fortunately, there are also in Chile other experts, whose work is
aimed at protecting the environment and at supporting local peoples'
rights. Among these, we wish to highlight Rodrigo Catalan and Ruperto
Ramos, whose presentation at the Latin American Workshop on
Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation (available
in WRM's web page), highlight the negative social and environmental
impacts of plantations in Chile. This proves that, in spite of the
establishment experts' hard work, reality is proving hard to be
hidden much longer and the Chilean people are becoming increasingly
aware of the lies which they have been fed with to support a socially
and environmentally unsustainable forestry model.
Sources: "Plantations and sustainable development: the case of
Chile", Fernando Raga, CORMA, March 1999; "How to see the forest
through the trees", A contribution of the NGO Forest Working Group,
Santiago de Chile, 6-10 April 1999; Mapulink, 13/4/99; Jorge
Calbucura, 1/4/99, 3/4/99, 7/4/99.
*************- Chile: more than scientific evidence on plantations' impacts
When confronted with allegations that plantations entail social and
environmental impacts, most foresters will argue that there's no
scientific evidence to support such allegations. For us, the
following testimony from Ruperto Ramos Antiqueo, a Mapuche from
Southern Chile, has much more weight than most so-called scientific
studies:
"When in past times I visited those mountains, there was an abundance
of native trees everywhere: elm, 'hualle', oak, hazel. As plantations
arrived the forest was lost. We used to walk about eight kilometres
to arrive there. We went there to get plants, fruits and animals for
food, such as rabbits, hares and birds. There were many. Nowadays,
because of plantations, the birds have disappeared. I feel sad when I
go there. There used to be deep water, good for bathing and drinking.
We strolled all day long looking for fruits and enjoying nature since
that was nice; everything was normal. There was no reason for fear.
All was peaceful. But now, as soon as one enters the area, one can
feel the danger, because the guard can seize you, or make his dogs
attack you or shoot you. This is what they do nowadays. There is a
water shortage for the communities living downstream, where there
used to be wetlands that could be crossed only through bridges. Now
one can easily cross them walking on the stone beds. Communities now
lack water and for that reason families are abandoning their lands.
Plantations have invaded them. Birds are also flying away because
there is no place for them, there is no food because the trees that
provided them with fruit have turned into pines and eucalyptus. There
is no more food for them. Several species of birds have disappeared,
especially pigeons and 'chucaos' that are nowhere to be seen.
Foxes are also rarely seen. It is a sad thing to go there, to observe
how it used to be and what it is like now. One can see entire
mountains that have been set on fire, their waters have gone . . ."
Source: "Pueblo mapuche, bosque nativo y plantaciones forestales", by
Rodrigo Catal n and Ruperto Ramos (forthcoming book)
*************
- Venezuela: Smurfit's changing strategy
After years facing strong opposition from local communities resulting
from the social and environmental impacts of its activities in the
State of Portuguesa, Smurfit Carton is now trying to profit from the
recent political changes in Venezuela. Strange as it might seem this
company, which short time ago was a declared enemy of today's
President Hugo Chavez, is trying to use the "Plan Bol-var 2000", a
social initiative launched by the new government, with the aim of
weakening the peasants' organization and opposition to its
monoculture tree plantations.
Through "Plan Bol-var 2000" the government is using military
contingents in community work in poor neighbourhoods and rural
communities to assist them in the sanitary and infrastructure fields.
Smurfit, that in 1997 and 1998 opposed Chavez and its political
movement and even developed espionage activities on him, is now
sponsoring the government's assistance plan. The implementation of
such plan started on February 27th in Morador.
Smurfit has donated medicines and is involved in the reparation of
the local school as a way of showing a new image of the company to
the community. Peasants and environmental organizations have warned
that this is not but a new misleading strategy of the company, which
is highly interested in eliminating social unrest in the area only to
continue with business as usual. The serious economic situation that
Venezuela is facing is a threat to the company's expectations
regarding high revenues. It seems difficult that this year's economic
results for Smurfit will be as good as in 1997 and 1998, though not
only because of recession but also due to the fact that strong
opposition from local communities, has forced the company to halt its
deforestation activities and therefore has limited its access to
cheap raw material from tropical forests.
The communities of Morador and Tierra Buena have obtained national
and international support to their struggle. In the neighbouring
cities of Guanare, Acarigua and Ospino, graffitti have appeared
claiming that lands are granted to the peasants and that
deforestation and plantations by Smurfit are definitively halted.
Responding to the request of local communities and organizations, the
WRM has started an international campaign to call President Chavez's
attention on this problematic situation (see sign-on letter in this
issue).
Our readers are kindly asked to address the Venezuelan Embassy in
their respective countries expressing their support to Morador and
Tierra Buena communities' demands and enclosing a reprint of the two
relevant articles published in this issue of WRM Bulletin.
Sources: Asociaci>n Civil Comisi>n de Arborizaci>n, Grupo Ecol>gico
Tacamajaca, Grupo Ecol>gico Morador, Comit, de Tierras de Morador y
Tierra Buena, Junta para la Conservaci>n, Defensa y Mejoramiento del
Ambiente del Municipio Ospino, 16/4/99.
*************
- Venezuela: sign-on letter to President on Smurfit
On April 8th, the WRM sent the following letter to Venezuela's new
President Hugo Chavez. Our Venezuelan friends request your support by
adding your signature to the letter, which will be resent to the
President followed by the signatures of all those who are willing to
support it. Please include name, organization and country and send
that data to: wrm@chasque.apc.org
LETTER TO PRESIDENT CHAVEZ (translation of Spanish original)
We would like to express our concern regarding an issue which we
consider to be extremely important, while at the same time we request
you to personally intervene to find a solution to a conflict in the
State of Portuguesa.
For a long time, peasants from that State and specifically those from
the villages of Morador and Tierra Buena have been in conflict with
Smurfit Carton of Venezuela, a subsidiary of the Ireland-based
transnational Jefferson Smurfit.
Among the multiple problems generated by this corporation in that
region, the more apparent are those related to the impacts of its
extensive monoculture tree plantations on water, flora and wildlife,
which result in serious problems for local peoples' livelihoods.
Moreover, there is ample evidence that the company has been
deforesting, both directly or though third party agents, the few
remaining forests of this Venezuelan State, with the aim of supplying
raw material to its pulp plant located in Yaracuy State (MOCARPEL).
As a last resort to put a stop to this predatory activity, a group of
over a hundred people blockaded a national highway in January this
year to denounce this fact and the National Guard thereby detained a
dozen of trucks loaded with tropical wood which were on their way to
Smurfit's industrial plant.
Even worse, the company is implementing plantations in clear
violation of the legal regulations, because the authorization to
occupy the territory provided to Smurfit by the Ministry of the
Environment is illegal, given that it allows afforestation in areas
of clear agricultural land use, thus violating the State of
Portuguesa's Territorial Management Plan. In addition, the
authorization was issued by government officials with no authority
over the matter. Additionally, there is also a violation of the
constitutional precept which bans the existence of large estates,
given that the corporation currently owns 34,000 hectares of land in
the States of Portuguesa, Lara and Cojedes. The purchase of the
estate "La Portuguesa" (2,700 hectares) by Smurfit resulted in its
peaceful occupation by local peasants on July 14 1997, with the aim
of obtaining from the government the allocation of the land which
they require for their survival. However, the response was a brutal
repression from the National Guard and many of the consequences are
still being suffered by those who participated in the action.
All the above and much more has been duly investigated and documented
by the Environment Committee of the Venezuelan Senate. In spite of
this, a solution seems impossible, because the company and local
people are in a situation of confrontation, while the State
Government and the National Guard of Portuguesa seem to have taken a
position in favour of the company, without taking into account the
needs and rights of peasants or the environmental impacts of the
company's activities. Consequently, if a solution is to be found, it
appears to be necessary that the peasants' desire to be allocated
land in "La Productora" estate is fulfilled --which we believe to be
in accordance with the advanced agrarian legislation of Venezuela--
and that the aggressions to the environment resulting from the
activities of this company be halted.
On the other hand, we feel that it is relevant to highlight that this
problem is a consequence --common in many Southern countries-- of the
large scale tree plantation model, which is everywhere creating
problems similar to those which have occurred in the State of
Portuguesa, as well as similar confrontational situations.
In accordance with the above, we are confident that the government
which you preside will take matters into its hands and will be able
to revert a situation which, in case of continuing in its current
course, will only lead to confrontations which will benefit no-one.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
*************
- Venezuela: social and environmental demands to new President
On 22 April (Earth Day), a demonstration was staged in Caracas to put
pressure on the new government on a number of crucial social and
environmental issues. The demonstration included environmental and
other groups, as well as representatives from indigenous communities
facing the destruction of their forests, rivers and culture resulting
from the activities of mining, oil, logging and electricity
corporations. Indigenous peoples' delegates came from their faraway
communities in Gran Sabana, Imataca and the Orinoco Delta. Some of
the slogans voiced during the demonstration --which received support
and applause from the public-- reflect the different types of
problems which need to be addressed by the government:
"President Ch vez: a new type of country is impossible without
environmental conscience"; "Solidarity with the Yupca, Bari, Pemon
and Warao indigenous peoples in defence of their environmental and
cultural heritage"; "Economic development is impossible if Nature is
destroyed"; "Water, forests and soils are the true riches"; "Imataca
yes, transnationals no"; "Respect for indigenous territories".
The demonstrators reached the Presidential Palace and given the
absence of the President, continued their march to the Foreign
Office, where the Chancellor agreed to meet them and expressed his
support for an open dialogue between the relevant government
officials and the organizations involved in the issues raised at the
demonstration.
Among the main issues to be addressed in such dialogue are: the
support of the Governor of Zulia to activities damaging to the
indigenous peoples of Sierra de Piraj ; President Ch vez's support
for mining in the Imataca reserve, the government's support to coal
and other mining activities in different regions, the lack of
government policies to help the poorest State of Venezuela (Delta
Amacuro) and the widespread problems derived from oil exploitation
activities.
Source: AMIGRANSA, 23/4/99; e- mail: amigrans@ccs.internet.ve
*************
- Support to the U'wa people in Colombia
The U'wa of the Colombian cloud forest are in a life-and-death
struggle to protect their traditional culture and sacred homeland
from an oil project slated to begin on their land at anytime. The
U'wa are adamantly opposed to the drilling and warn that the project
will lead to an increase in violence as seen in other oil regions of
Colombia. Despite this, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and
the Colombian government continue to move forward with plans to
drill. The U'wa have made a call for international support; now is
the time for us to answer.
The U'wa's opposition to the oil project is so strong that they have
vowed to commit collective suicide if Occidental Petroleum and the
Colombian government proceed with the oil project on their ancestral
lands. The U'wa, a traditional people some 5,000 members strong,
explain they prefer a death by their own hand than the slow death to
their environment and culture oil will bring. A core tenet of U'wa
culture and spirituality is the belief that the land that has
sustained them for centuries is sacred. They strongly believe that to
permit oil exploration on these sacred lands would upset the balance
of the world. In the words of the U'wa, "Oil is the blood of Mother
Earth...to take the oil is, for us, worse than killing your own
mother. If you kill the Earth, then no one will live."
The U'wa people's struggle recently exploded into the public arena
with the tragic March 5th murders in Colombia of three indigenous
rights activists: Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and
Lahe'ane'e Gay. Terence had devoted the last two years of his life to
supporting the U'wa in their campaign to stop Occidental's oil
project, reclaim their ancestral homeland and protect their
traditional culture. Ingrid and Lahe'ane'e were coordinating with the
U'wa to launch an educational project designed to maintain and
promote the U'wa's traditional way-of-life.
The U'wa fear that the recent murders are but a harbinger of the
wider physical violence the oil project bring to their people.
Throughout Colombia, oil and violence are linked inextricably.
Occidental's Cano Limon pipeline, just north of U'wa territory, has
been attacked by leftist guerillas more than 500 times in its 12
years of existence, spilling some 1.7 million barrels of crude oil
into the soil and rivers. The Colombian government has militarized
oil production and pipeline zones, often persecuting local
populations the government assumes are helping the guerrillas. Oil
projects have already taken their toll on many other indigenous
peoples of Colombia, including the Yarique, Kofan and Secoya.
The current drilling plans threaten the survival of both the U'wa and
their environment. The U'wa's cloud forest homeland in the Sierra
Nevada de Cocuy mountains near the Venezuelan border is one of the
most delicate, endangered forest ecosystems on the planet. It is an
area rich in plant and animal life unique to the region, and the U'wa
depend on the balance and bounty of the forest for their survival.
Where oil companies have operated in other regions of the Amazon
basin, cultural decay, toxic pollution, land invasions and massive
deforestation have followed.
Occidental first received an exploration license for the 2 billion
barrels oil field the equivalent of three months of U.S. consumption-
- in 1992. Since then, the U'wa have voiced their consistent
opposition to the oil project. They have taken a variety of actions
to halt the project including the filing of lawsuits against the
government in Colombia, petitioning the Organization of American
States to intervene, appealing directly with Occidental's top
executives, and reaching out to company shareholders. Currently,
Colombia's Ministry of the Environment is considering Occidental's
application for a drilling license, the next hurdle the company must
clear to proceed with the project. In the face of mounting violence
in the region and Occidental's pressure on the government to approve
the drilling permit, the urgency of the U'wa's struggle has never
been so great.
"We are seeking an explanation for this 'progress' that goes against
life. We are demanding that this kind of progress stop, that oil
exploitation in the heart of the Earth is halted, that the deliberate
bleeding of the Earth stop." --Statement of the U'wa people, August,
1999
A number of actions are being organized by the U'wa Defense Working
Group, whose members are: Amazon Coalition, Amazon Watch, Action
Resource Center, Earthjustice Legal, Defense Fund, EarthWays
Foundation, International Law Project for Human Environmental &
Economic Defense, Project Underground, Rainforest Action Network, Sol
Communications. Those interested in participating in these actions,
please contact any of those organizations.
Source: Rainforest Action Network U'wa Work. For additional
information: email or web page www. ran.org
*************
- Bolivia: concern over the fate of forests
During a meeting held on March 16th in La Paz, with the participation
of NGO representatives and government officials on the situation and
perspectives of forests in Bolivia and on the draft decree for
awarding concessions for the exploitation of most forest lands, a
number of concerns were raised on the policy regarding forest
conservation in that country. It was pointed out that there are no
clear objectives in this regard. The participation of civil society
was considered vital in the formulation and implementation of such a
policy, that should always give priority to the interests of local
communities and to the promotion of sustainability. Revealing
mistakes were detected in the draft version of the decree. It was
detected that even if a Forestry Law and other norms exist on paper,
there is a lack of political will to implement them. In the meantime,
the country's forests are being destroyed. It is feared that new
concessions will mean uncontrolled exploitation and further
deforestation.
Additionally, communities of the provinces of Beni and Pando have
denounced that the problem of property rights on forest lands has not
been adequately solved. Community property rights over forests are
not recognized, while large landowners occupy more and more lands and
threaten peasants' livelihoods. The process of land concessions in
that province lacks transparency and usually large companies invade
peasants lands, as recently happened in the region of Puerto Rico and
Conquista.
The Bolivian lowlands are covered by 440,000 km2 of rain tropical
forests which represents 57% of the lowlands total surface. The
country's deforestation rates are of 168,000 hectares/year
(0.3%/year) and the promotion of export crops has been identified as
its main cause.
Source: Bolivian Forum for Environment and Development (FOBOMADE),
5/4/99. e-mail: fobomade@mail.megalink.com. Pablo Pacheco B., "Extent
and causes of deforestation and forest degradation in Bolivia", Case
Study. Underlying causes of deforestation and forests degradation,
1998.
*************
CENTRAL AMERICA
- Pristine Belize forests threatened by dam project
With 22,960 square kilometres and 220,000 inhabitants Belize is the
smallest and less populated country in Central America. 83% of its
territory is covered by forests, most of them in a pristine state,
and 40% of the country is now protected as parks and reserves. As in
many other Southern countries dam megaprojects are a major problem
for Belize's forests and people.
The Chalillo Dam projected in Belize would flood 1,100 hectares
(2,718 acres) of primary forest, engulfing the valleys of the Macal
and Raspaculo rivers in the Central Maya mountains, near the
Guatemalan border. The works would destroy this fragile ecosystem
that is a site very rich in biodiversity. The dam's flood waters
would also bury archaeological sites of the Maya civilization dating
from the 5th century.
Opponents to the project argue that there are alternative answers to
the country's energy needs, such as better energy collaboration
policies with neighbouring Mexico. A 1992 Environmental Impact
Assessment produced by Agra CI Power Ltd., estimated that "over 90
percent of the riparian habitats would be destroyed," if the dam were
built. The report also predicted that serious environmental damage
would occur downstream from the proposed dam site, impacting the
lives of rural villages which depend on the river for sustenance. The
assessment also found that the dam could kill fish by generating
sulphide gases as vegetation rotted in the reservoir, and by changing
seasonal river flows. Ecotourism, which is one of the largest
contributors to Belize's GNP will also be affected by the project.
Source: Sharon Guynup, web site:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-06-01.html. Olman Segura et
al, "Politicas forestales en Centro America", IICA, San Salvador,
1997.
*************
- Prize to Honduran activist
Jorge Varela, co-founder of the Committee for the Defence and
Development of Flora and Fauna of the Fonseca Gulf (CODEFFAGOLF), a
grassroot organization of small fishers and peasants in Honduras, is
one of the seven environmental and human rights activists that have
been awarded with the Goldman Prize 1999. This NGO has focused its
activities in the defence of the Fonseca Gulf area against industrial
shrimp farming, that has provoked the destruction of mangroves and
other coastal wetlands, the pollution of estuaries, the loss of
fisheries and the shortage of food for local villagers. As concrete
results of its struggle CODEFFAGOLF has achieved two moratorium to
temporarily halt shrimp farms' activities and is about to obtain the
declaration by the government of 107,000 hectares of coastal wetlands
and marine ecosystems as protected areas.
Additionally, the organization has played a crucial role in helping
the population affected by Hurricane Mitch. In July 1997 the Oxford
Office of the WRM addressed the president of Honduras asking him an
extension of the moratorium on shrimp farming in the area. In
December 1997 by means of a letter addressed to the National Congress
of Honduras, the WRM International Secretariat supported the
inclusion of the Fonseca Gulf into the National Protected Areas
System.
Every year, the Goldman Environmental Foundation, based in San
Francisco, USA, gives awards to anonymous activists engaged in the
defence of human and environmental worldwide. A Canadian fisherman
advocating for sustainable exploitation of codfish in Terranova, two
aboriginal women of Australia that have faced uranium mining
activities in Jabiluka, a young woman belonging to the Karen ethnic
minority in Burma engaged in the defence of her country's people and
forests, an activist of Cameroon who defends the second largest
tropical forest in the world, and a Slovakian hydrologist that is
opposing a dam megaproject are the other individuals that will
receive the Goldman Prize 1999. A token of the thousands of activists
at different levels that fight for a more sustainable and humane
world.
Source: Honduras Popular Support Group, 22/4/99; e-mail:
gaph@ea.oac.uci.edu
*************
NORTH AMERICA
- Mexico: mangrove destruction by tourism and shrimp farming
The expansion of tourism has meant the increase of the possibility of
enjoying leisure time for many people wordwide. Nevertheless, tourism
usually brings negative social and environmental consequences with it
and more so in the case of the fragile mangrove ecosystems.
The mangroves and beaches off the Caribbean Coast of Mexico, known as
the Maya Riviera, are being destroyed by more and more infrastructure
for tourism built at a quick pace. Some people consider that this may
benefit --at least temporally-- the local economy as this creates
jobs and stimulates cash flow, but the long range results are
devastating. In one weekend, working night and day, an entire
building site can take over a healthy thriving mangrove. This aquatic
forest ecosystem, vital to the life of the coast, reef, and food
chain to so many mammals, is being sacrified for the benefit of
investors in hotels, malls, golf courses, convention halls, and
shopping centres that are being erected at the cost of one of the
world's precious natural resources. Even if these developments were
to be placed on the hard land, behind the mangrove wetlands, negative
effects can be expected, due to the runoff downstream of chemical and
pesticide effluents.
The NGO People of the Mayan Cancun Corridor, with the support of
Mangrove Action Project, are leading a campaign to halt the project
to build a big hotel that will affect the Quintana Roo's mangroves in
the Caribbean Coast. They are asking all interested people to address
the following Mexican authorities expressing their concern for the
fate of this fragile area:
1. President Ernesto Zedillo, Residencia Oficial de los Pinos;
Puerto Central, Primer Piso, Col. San Miguel; Chapultepec, CP11850,
Mexico D.F. MEXICO Coordinadora de Atencion Cuidadana phone 515-
4406 / 515-5714
2. Julia Carabias, President of Semernap
arabias@servidor.dgsca.unam.mx
3. Sr. Oscar Espinosa, Secretaria de Turismo; Avenida Presidente
Masarik, 178-8 Colonia Palanco; Mexico D.F. MEXICO 4. Gobernador
Hendricks; Calle 22 de Enero: s/n Palacio de Gobierno; Chetumal,
Quintana Roo - 07000 MEXICO
Mangroves at the Pacific coast are also menaced. The situation in San
Blas Nayarit in the area of Marismas Nacionales (National Swamps) is
continuing to be critical, partly as a consequence of the
indifference shown by the authorities. The international agreements
for the protection of this fragile area are not enforced. The Grupo
Ecol>gico Manglar has denounced that in this case the direct
responsible for destruction is the shrimp farming company Aquanova
Farms. Only once -in October 1998- the authorities gave a response to
the many complaints expressed by the environmentalists, and it
consisted of a justification of the firm's activities, since it
stated that the official investigation found insufficient proof that
violations occurred, and for that reason the case was closed.
Additionally the case was submitted to the Commission of
Environmental Cooperation Canada-USA-Mexico, that committed itself to
study it. Meanwhile a large area of mangroves is being lost every day
because of the drying of waterways and lagoons caused by the
expansion of Aquanova's shrimp cultivation ponds.
Source: Late Friday News, 33rd Edition, 27/3/99
*************
GENERAL
The Penang Declaration: 10 years later
Ten years ago, the World Rainforest Movement met in Malaysia and
issued the Penang Declaration. Much of what it stated was at the time
original thinking and challenged the "received wisdom" of most
national and international experts. It is therefore important to take
stock of the changes that have occurred since then in order to
identify the changes that still need to be implemented to save the
world's endangered forests and to ensure the livelihood of the people
that depend on them.
The Penang Declaration begins by stating that "Forests, both
temperate and tropical, are an integral part of the life support
systems of the planet, performing numerous ecological and social
functions that are essential for the continuation of life as we know
it on earth. Those functions include: regulating climate at both the
regional and global level; providing a habitat for the majority of
species on earth; providing a homeland and spiritual basis for
millions of forest peoples; maintaining and conserving soils;
regulating hydrological cycles and ensuring water supplies."
The above quote is now accepted by most people. In practice, however,
many decision-makers continue visualizing forests as either wood for
industry or as occupying a space which can be dedicated to other
productive activities.
Such attitude is accounted for in the Penang Declaration which states
that "The current social and economic policies and practices that
lead to deforestation throughout the world in the name of development
are directly responsible for the annihilation of the earth's forests,
bringing poverty and misery to millions and threatening global
ecosystems with collapse. Such policies and practices include:
plantations, both for industrial forestry and for export crops;
ranching schemes; dam projects; commercial logging; colonisation
schemes; mining and industry; the dispossession of peasants and
indigenous peoples; roads; pollution; tourism."
All the above practices continue being major causes of deforestation.
However, there has been an important shift in opinion. Ten years ago,
those practices were accepted by most people as necessary to achieve
development. Nowadays, there is strong and growing opposition to such
"development" activities, which in many cases has succeeded to impede
their implementation. At the same time, many international
organizations and processes have accepted their responsibility over
forest destruction and have taken some --yet insufficient-- steps to
modify some of their destructive activities. The World Bank, for
instance, has recognized the negative impacts on forests of some of
its policies and projects and has incorporated environmental and
social guidelines to its lending activities in some forest-related
sectors. The FAO has to a certain extent modified a type of forestry
thinking which was in fact leading to deforestation and which sparked
the creation of the World Rainforest Movement to counter it.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests has come up with a set of
proposals for action to save the world's forests and the
Intergovernmental Forum on Forests is now working on their
implementation. Although much more needs to be done, the above can be
seen as signals that the times have changed.
Regarding the consequences of deforestation, what the Penang
Declaration said ten years ago is now widely acknowledged as almost
common sense by most people. This is another major change, which
paves the way to finding solutions. The Declaration stated that "The
immediate and long-term consequences of global deforestation threaten
the very survival of life as we know it on earth. Indeed, the scale
of deforestation and its impact now represents one of the gravest
emergencies ever to face the human race. Such consequences include:
the disruption of climatic equilibrium and the acceleration of global
warming; a loss of biological diversity on an unprecedented scale;
the destruction of forest-based societies; increasing droughts,
floods, soil erosion and desertification; the dispossession and
displacement of peasants and forest peoples through floods and the
other ecological impacts of deforestation."
As respects to solutions, there has also been a major shift from the
situation at the time, which denounced that "Official solutions to
the problem of deforestation have ignored or played down the
fundamental causes of deforestation and have instead adopted policies
that blame the victims of deforestation for their plight, while
simultaneously pursuing solutions that can only result in the further
degradation of forests and croplands through the promotion of
industrialised forestry."
Although there are still some supporters of the "blame-the-victim"
approach, they have become increasingly isolated and there is now
broad consensus over what are currently called the underlying causes
of deforestation and forest degradation, which include --amongst
others-- causes such as external debt, international trade rules,
overconsumption, structural adjustment, agicultural policies, land
concentration and landlessness, which are now being viewed as some of
the root causes of deforestation processes.
What remains almost identical from ten years ago is the fact that
"Throughout the world, the victims of these policies are taking
action to arrest deforestation and reverse the process of
destruction. In Sarawak, Amazonia, the Himalayas, Thailand, the
Philippines and elsewhere, people are standing up to protect the
forests and their societies. Such peoples have proved that they are
able to use the forests in the only way that is compatible with their
preservation. It is not corporations, aid agencies and banks, which
should be entrusted with the design and implementation of the
protection and regeneration of the forest wealth of the planet."
Almost identical is also the dispossession --and frequently the
repression-- carried out against local people by many governments to
hand out the forests and forest lands to corporations, with support
from aid agencies and multilateral banks. The difference lies in the
fact that such actions are becoming known worldwide and that
networking efforts are linking those struggles and facilitating
support to the plight of local communities.
With regards to solutions, the Penang Declaration urged "the United
Nations and national governments to take urgent steps:
- To restore ecological justice and integrity to humanity by
returning to the millions of people both who live in the forest and
who depend upon it, their right to sustainable livelihood.
- To restore ecological justice and integrity to life on earth
through ceasing further forest destruction and regenerating damaged
forest lands through the guidance of indigenous peoples, peasants,
and local communities, planting only their choice of trees and
plants, with the aim of restoring ecological diversity and the
survival of indigenous societies.
- To restrain the overconsumption and wastage of resources by the
world's privileged groups through making the necessary changes in
lifestyle and consumption patterns consistent with the development of
sustainable livelihoods throughout the globe, in order to satisfy the
ecological, spiritual, social and aesthetic needs of people
everywhere."
Specifically, the Penang Declaration called "upon the United Nations
and national governments:
-To empower forest peoples and those who depend upon the forests for
their livelihood with the responsibility for safe-guarding the
forests and ensuring their regeneration by:
a) achieving land security for rural peoples , both through revising
land tenure legislation and through land reform, as recommended in
the Brundtland report;
b) empowering local people with the right to a decisive voice in
formulating policies for their areas;
c) rejecting social and economic policies based on the assumed
cultural superiority of non-forest peoples.
- To halt all those practices and projects which would contribute
either directly or indirectly to further forest loss. Such projects
would include: plantation schemes, dams, ranching schemes, mining and
industrial projects, commercial logging, the Tropical Forest Action
Plan, etc.
- To revise radically the policies of those agencies that currently
finance the projects and practices causing deforestation. Funding for
such projects should be ceased and instead directed towards projects
that promote the protection and regeneration of forests. The agencies
involved include: the multilateral aid agencies and banks, such as
the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian
Development Bank; the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the
United Nations Development Programme; the overseas aid agencies of
the developed countries; and major international corporations.
- To implement, through the agency of forest peoples and under their
direction, a programme for regenerating degraded forest lands and
reinvigorating local cultures;
- To take immediate steps to curb the wastage, misuse and over-
consumption of timber products.
- To ban all imports of tropical timber from natural forests and
tropical woods products.
- To take immediate steps to cut down the consumption of imported
beef from tropical forest areas.
- To restructure the present unequal world economic system which is
dominated by institutions and practices that favour the developed
countries at the expense of the poor of the Third World. This global
system at present enables the developed countries to control and use
an overwhelming and disproportionately high share of the world's
natural resources. A fairer and more equitable economic system is
therefore fundamental to any strategy for saving and regenerating the
world's forests.
- To initiate a global shift towards developing sustainable
livelihoods.
The basic goals of such a shift would be developing systems of
production that are ecologically and socially sustainable. This will
require:
a) reducing the scale at which production is carried out and adopting
practices which minimise the impact of production on the environment;
b) maximising local self-sufficiency;
c) and assuring that economic activities are subordinated to social
and ecological ends."
Summing up, we believe that the above shows that the Declaration
issued ten years ago in Penang contained both an accurate analysis on
the forest crisis and a way forward regarding solutions. Although the
forest crisis is far from being solved, there is growing agreement at
most levels with the above analysis and solutions and this
constitutes a major step in the right direction. Much needs to be
done, but given that the main causes and agents of forest destruction
have been clearly identified and given the public concern, awareness
and involvement on the issue, it has become increasingly wrong and
intolerable for governments, international agencies and corporations
to continue business as usual. Business as usual means death as usual
- death to entire ecological systems, precious plant and animal
species, and cultural diversity. Such changes will encourage all
those concerned over forest destruction to increase the pressure on
the relevant national and international bodies to make them implement
solutions to address the problem in an equitable manner. We therefore
call upon all concerned organizations and individuals to work
together to ensure that those solutions be fully implemented at all
levels to save the endangered world's forests. If we do not, history
will judge us accordingly.
Note: The complete text of the Penang Declaration is available in the
WRM web page
*************
- Certification debate in Europe: PEFC vs. FSC
The Pan European Forest Certification Scheme (PEFC) was presented on
April 20 at a seminar in Wuerzburg Germany. The scheme, set up by
forest owners and part of forestry industries, is meant to present an
alternative to the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council Scheme) scheme.
Forest owners claim the FSC scheme is not suitable to deal with
small-scale forestry, and is too much led by NGOs.
However, environmental NGOs as well as some sectors of the forestry
industry and the unions have expressed strong reservations about the
scheme. They say it is not clear yet whether this scheme will lead to
an improvement of forest management in Europe.
The two-day seminar consisted of a day of lectures, comprising over
20 lectures in one day, and a day of consultative workshops. It was
made clear by the president of the German Forestry Council, Hermann
Ilander, and several other speakers representing the PEFC that there
was a strong feeling among forest owners that 'after 9 months of hard
work' the baby was born. It was therefore with some proud that they
presented a PEFC logo. However, a joint press release launched that
same morning, by German NGOs made clear that these NGOs felt there
was no reason yet to celebrate as they denounced the initiative.
What became apparent was that, although the PEFC has been officially
presented, there is as yet no system in place. There are no
certification standards, no chain of custody and no control
mechanism. The different national schemes which will fall under the
PEFC umbrella are yet too far apart to find a common standard, with
the Nordic countries well ahead of the rest.
The most surprising speaker of the first day was Christian Anz who
spoke on behalf of the European Commission. Although he stated that
the European Commission cannot support only one scheme, he expressed
strong support for this scheme, naming it credible and transparent.
The only conclusion one can reach is that he had not read any of the
accompanying documents.
The Forest Movement Europe's (FME) position was explained by Saskia
Ozinga. She made clear that none of the European NGOs in the FME
could support this scheme, as it lacked the basic elements any
certification scheme should have. She encouraged forest owners to
join the FSC process, thereby ensuring it would meet their needs. The
UK was held up as an example, where over the last three years bridges
have been built between the NGO community and the forest owners and
forestry industry in developing compatible standards of sustainable
forest management for the UK.
Source: FERN/WRM Northern Office 27/4/99
*************WRM GENERAL ACTIVITIES
*************
On April 7th we endorsed a letter signed by a number of international
civil society organizations and addressed to the World Trade
Organization's Third Ministerial Conference to be held next November
in Seattle, USA, which expresses opposition to the expansion of the
powers of the WTO through a new comprehensive round of trade
liberalisation, and asks governments to review and rectify the
deficiencies and injustices of the present trade system and the WTO
regime itself.
By means of a fax dated April 8th the WRM International Secretariat
addressed Mr Fernando H. Cardozo, President of Brazil, expressing its
satisfaction for the Brazilian government's decision to demarcate the
Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area in the Amazonian region of
Roraima State. We also asked for the prompt completion of the
demarcation process through Presidential ratification of the
demarcation and subsequent registration at the land registry.
On April 8th we sent a letter to President Ch vez of Venezuela,
requesting him to intervene in the conflicting situation in the State
of Portuguesa between the pulp and paper transnational Jefferson
Smurfit and local communities and environmentalists.
On April 19th the WRM sent a letter of support to the campaign
"Help Protect America's Heritage Forests" launched by Global Response
and aimed to protect these vast forests from logging, mineral
development, and other destructive activities that are threatening
them.
The WRM held its Steering Committee and annual meetings in Enkhuisen,
The Netherlands, from 30 March to 2 April. The meeting discussed a
number of areas of concern of WRM, which are affecting forests and
people. Presentations and discussions ranged from the broader issues
of international trade (WTO), the climate negotiations, the
Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, the World Bank's Forest Policy
Strategic Plan and Implementation Review, to more specific issues
such as oil exploitation, large scale tree monocultures (including
oil palm plantations), national parks and people, export-credit
agencies and the forest situation in Africa. A plan for future
activities related with all those issues was drawn up, taking
advantage of the networks in which WRM affiliates and friends are
actively involved in.
Ricardo Carrere participated in an intersessional of the
Intergovernmental Forum on Forests organized by the governments of
Chile, New Zealand, Denmark, Portugal, India and Zimbabwe. The
meeting (International Expert Meeting on the Role of Planted Forests
for Sustainable Development), was held in Santiago, Chile, from 6-10
April and was also attended by some NGO delegates from Indonesia,
South Africa, Denmark, Chile, Paraguay, Costa Rica and IUCN-South.
Comments on the meeting are expressed in the current issue's section
"Our Viewpoint."