WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
MOVIMIENTO MUNDIAL POR LOS BOSQUES
International Secretariat Maldonado 1858, CP 11200 Montevideo Uruguay
Ph +598 2 403 2989 Fax +598 2 408 0762 
E-mail: wrm@wrm.org.uy 
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy
December 20, 2000

OUR VIEWPOINT

To UNFF or not to UNFF

LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

AFRICA

Nothing much at the Central African forestry ministerial conference held in Cameroon

Chad: The World Bank, weapons and oil "development"

Ghana: The impacts of mining

Nigeria: Malaysian corporation to invest in palm oil production

ASIA

Indonesia: The pulp and paper sector's unsustainable growth

Laos stops World Bank forestry programme

Malaysia: The true responsible for the 'Penan problem' in Sarawak

Malaysia: Penan letter on Bruno Manser, missing in Sarawak

Thailand: State-owned forestry industry fuels controversy with forestry certification

Vietnam: Road-building threatens Phong Nha Nature Reserve

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras: Struggle against shrimp farming gaining ground

NORTH AMERICA

Mexico: International appeal for the release of Montiel and Cabrera

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina: Public pressure halts carbon sink project

Brazil: The struggle of the Pataxo indigenous peoples in Bahia

Chile: The debate about tree plantations heats up

Uruguay: No transgenic trees ... for the time being

OCEANIA

Papua New Guinea: NGOs call for reform of forest industry

Solomon Islands: A sustainable alternative to unsustainable logging

GENERAL

World Bank foresters deny that plantations alleviate pressures on forests

International Prize awarded to two Mapuche women

OUR VIEWPOINT

To UNFF or not to UNFF

There is an increasing and worrying gap --in international processes-- between stated objectives and actual action. This was clearly perceived during the recent Climate Change Convention conference in the Hague, where the actual mandate --to find solutions to climate change-- was mostly absent in the discussions.

A similar situation is occuring within the UN process to address the issue of deforestation. Governments agreed that this was a very serious problem that needed to be addressed. They subsequently created the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, which after a number of meetings came up with more than a hundred Proposals for Action for addressing the problem. The assumption was that governments would immediately begin to implement the proposals that they themselves had agreed upon. Mistake. In fact, almost nothing happened.

The only two things that actually happened were both driven by NGOs and Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs), with support from a few governments, a few people from the IPF secretariat and some representatives from international organizations.

The first one was the "Underlying Causes Initiative". One of the IPF proposals for action was to organize a global workshop on the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation. For NGOs and IPOs, this was obviously the crucial issue: to first understand and then to remove the underlying causes leading to deforestation. But NGOs and IPOs went much further: they carried out detailed country research, organized regional and IPO workshops and finally organized the global workshop in Costa Rica. What happened with all those findings within the IPF's successor, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests? They were shelved.

The second important thing that happened was a process to assess actual implementation of the IPF's proposals for action. This was also carried out by NGOs and IPOs, which were able to detect how little was being done regarding implementation at the country level. In many cases, government officials in relevant offices weren't even aware of the proposals for action and when they were, they had little to show on actual implementation.

After four sessions, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests' work was finalized and the process seemed to have moved more backwards than forward. A new body was then created --the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), which will hold its first meeting next February. But the future is gloomy, particularly after the so-called 8-Country Initiative, which took place in Bonn from 27 November to 1 December 2000 to discuss "Shaping the programme of work for the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)."

For anyone interested in forests the issue can be summarized as follows:

deforestation is a problem 2) it needs to be addressed 3) governments have agreed on a number of proposals for action 4) those proposals need to be implemented 5) implementation needs to be monitored and reported 6) implementation, monitoring and reporting need to be participatory.

Those simple facts were put forward time and time again by NGO/IPO delegates in Bonn. But time and time again they were rejected by government representatives. Instead, they spoke about "harmonization of criteria and indicators", definitions of "sustainable forest management", channelling of funds and other issues having little relationship with implementation, monitoring, reporting, and participation.

If this is how they will shape the work of the UNFF, then little can be expected from this process. We hope that reason and public pressure will make governments change their minds and that they will shape the UNFF in a way which may lead to the conservation of the world's forests. That is their mandate. Whether they like it or not.

LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

AFRICA

Nothing much at the Central African forestry ministerial conference held in Cameroon

The first conference of Central African forestry ministers took place in Yaounde from 4-7 December, within the framework of the follow-up of the implementation of the decisions of the Heads of States Summit held in Yaounde in March 1999. The ministerial meeting had been preceded in September by a meeting of experts from the forestry departments of the Central African countries. The aims of the organizers of the event --as could be perceived clearly from the agenda-- were the following:

The adoption of a sub-regional action plan for the sustainable management of forests. The plan --described as a convergence plan-- aimed at defining realistic objectives for the sub-region, also indicating national activities to be carried out by each State aimed at moving towards the objective. The need for convergence is explained by the differences in the levels of forestry development in the different countries of the region.

The adoption of a monitoring mechanism to coordinate the implementation of the convergence plan.The option for a flexible and agile executive secretariat (composed by one or two persons) was put forward, particularly for budgetary reasons. The organizational structure included the following authorities: the heads of states summit, the ministerial conference (every two years), the executive secretariat, a consultative sub-regional expert forum with participation of the forestry experts of the sub-region, role currently played by CEFDHAC (Conference on Central African Moist-Forest Ecosystems), and national fora.

The adoption of a funding mechanism for the convergence plan. The main issue was that of finding a long-lasting funding mechanism, in order to reduce dependence in relation with funders. There was a proposal for the creation of a fiduciary fund.

The signing of the Yaounde Declaration by the Democratic Republic of Congo, which expressed its wish to join the process.

The decision on the place were the next ministerial meeting would take place, which would be the starting point for a feeling of ownership of the process by the other countries of the sub-region (until now, all meetings have been held in Cameroon).

The meeting was a failure for the following reasons:

From the participation point of view. Seven delegations were expected, headed by their ministers. Six delegations were present and actually only three headed by their ministers (Cameroon, Congo, and Central African Republic). The Central African Republic minister could only attend thanks to a special plane sent by WWF. The ministers from Chad and Gabon sent their excuses at the last minute without explaining their reasons. Some sources expressed that the Gabonese minister had been disuaded to participate by his staff (which had preceded him to the meeting) to come to Yaounde. The minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo could not attend the meeting because he had been appointed to office only two weeks before the meeting. It is quite clear that the Central African States lack the political will to make this process move forward and to truly work for the promotion of the sustainable management of forests.

From a substance point of view. The main documents were not adopted. The convergence plan was not really discussed. The main actions to be implemented at the national level were identified. Aditionally, the ministers could not reach an agreement either on the monitoring or on the funding mechanisms. In relation with the funding mechanisms, the ministers ordered a supplementary study in order to be able to better understand the way in which the fiduciary fund would work.

The adjournment until March. The ministers decided to meet again in March 2001 to analyse the issues not agreed upon during this meeting, which will delay the process in at least three months.

Finally, it is important to highlight that while the "convergence plan" may have some positive aspects, it almost totally ignores the role and rights of local populations, as well as the role of civil society in general in relation with the management of forests. Such attitude, linked to the fact that the central issue of governance in the forestry sector is not included in the plan's objectives and coupled with the obvious lack of the governments' political will, provides little hope for sustainable forest management in the region.

Article based on summary report on the meeting produced by Samuel Nguiffo, e-mail: snguiffo@cedcam.org

Chad: The World Bank, weapons and oil "development"

By mid 2000 the World Bank approved a polemic 650-mile oil pipeline project to link the Doba oil fields in southern Chad with the Cameroon's Atlantic coast. The project, led by Exxon-Mobil, and sponsored by Chevron and the Malaysian state-owned company Petronas, is the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. In spite of the strong opposition by local and international organizations, which feared the impacts of the megaproject on people and the environment, the Bank finally approved the project, claiming that oil revenues would help to alleviate extreme poverty in Chad and that the environmental impacts of the megaproject could be mitigated (see WRM Bulletin 35).

However, it didn't take too long to show that the decision was a big mistake. Even though the Bank had argued that a special accounting system for oil revenues would be established so that those incomes were spent on education, health and other social services, the government showed almost immediately what it understands by "development". In fact, last November Chadian President Idriss Deby declared that he had used $4.5 million of the government's first oil receipts to buy weapons! "It is patently obvious that without security there can be no development programs," Deby said.

Organizations that campaigned against the Bank's involvement in this project have proven that their concerns were well founded and that it will increase local peoples' problems. Not only will they suffer from the impacts of oil exploitation, but also from the increased "security" that the government will provide --with more weapons-- to the oil companies against its own people. Arms traders, corrupt government officials and oil companies will greatly benefit, and the World Bank --whether it likes it or not-- will be backing all of this. If it wants to at least preserve its image, the Bank must immediately withdraw its support to this project, which is totally contrary to its social and environmental mandate.

Article based on information from: Douglas Farah and David B. Ottaway, 'World Bank Reassesses Chad Pipeline Deal', The Washington Post, 5/12/00

Ghana: The impacts of mining

In many tropical areas mining is a major cause of deforestation and forest degradation, generating a large number of social and environmental impacts. A recent study published by Third World Network-Africa provides a detailed picture of those impacts in the Wassa West District of Ghana. What follows has been extracted from that publication.

The main minerals being mined in Ghana are gold, diamonds, bauxite and manganese, but the most dominant mineral commodity is gold. The ownership structure of the mining industry is mixed, but foreign companies control an average of about 70% shares in these mines. The dominant players are mainly junior companies from Canada, Australia and South Africa, but there are also investments from United States, United Kingdom, Norway and China. While major foreign companies own most mines, prospecting is normally undertaken by junior companies, largely local, Canadian and Australian.

In the specific case of forests, those investment have proven to be devastating. Surface mining represents a serious threat to the last vestiges of Ghana's forest resources and threatens the rich biodiversity of the country's tropical rainforest. There is a growing conflict between sustainable forest management and mining activities. The Tarkwa area --where the research was carried out-- lies in the prime timber-producing region with a good overlay of forest reserves. The area is said to contain 44% of the country's closed forest. In primary forest areas, trees reach heights of up to 45 metres, but these are at the summit of hills where mining has not yet reached. Ironically, it has the highest concentration of surface mines and exploration companies --8 of the country's 14 large-scale mines are located in the area-- some of which with licenses to operate in known forest reserves.

The removal of the forest cover is rapidly drying up rivers and streams, leading to the extinction of river hosted animal and plant species. Protected species such as the Red River hog, the roan antelope, the red Colobus monkey and the black Colobus monkeys are some of the species associated with tropical rainforest. At the community level, the threat to ecological biodiversity has economic implications: increased mining activities in the area have partly led to the reduction or extinction of certain flora and fauna species that the communities depend on. Many communities complain that snails, mushrooms, medicial plants, etc. are no longer available in the area due partly to mining activities.

Additionally, mining has led to growing conflicts among communities displaced by mining operations, as well as to serious mining-related health and social problems (such as malaria, tuberculosis, conjunctivitis, skin diseases, prostitution, drug abuse, high cost of living, inadequate shelter, etc.) and impacts such as polluted community water sources, air and noise pollution, depletion of underground water resources, etc.

As the author of the study says, "while the policy changes introduced generous incentives to investors, the benefits of such investments to the nation are quite doubtful."

Article based on information from: Thomas M. Akabzaa, "Boom and Dislocation: The environmental and social impacts of mining in the Wassa

West District of Ghana", Accra, Third World Network-Africa, 2000

Nigeria: Malaysian corporation to invest in palm oil production

Malaysia is the world's top producer and exporter of palm oil, generating fifty percent of the global output, of which 85% is exported. Within the African continent, Nigeria is the country having the more extensive oil palm plantations, with at least 350,000 hectares planted to this crop. According to recent news, a Malaysian corporation will begin to invest in Nigeria's palm oil sector, with government support from both countries.

Sime Darby Plantations --the largest oil palm producing company in Malaysia-- will soon establish an oil palm processing refinery in Nigeria's Cross River State. This is the result of the five days visit to Cross River State by a delegation from Malaysia, which was a follow up to that by the state governor to that country some months ago and is at the instance of the prime minister of Malaysia.

The leader of the Malaysian delegation announced the intention to establish an oil palm processing refinery shortly after inspecting oil palm plantations in various parts of Cross River State. He revealed that it was the intention of Sime Darby Plantations to bring some of the new technological know-how in oil palm processing to the state and regretted the state of obsolete equipment in some of the oil estates visited.

He commended the Cross River State government for promoting and providing the enabling environment for business transactions in the state. The delegation visited the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), where its general manager assured the team of free imports and exports. They also visited the Calabar seaport.

So everything seems to be set for this investment. There are however two questions that need to be posed. The first one is related to the Malaysian firm itself: what is Sime Darby's business? According to the company's own web page, it is "Malaysia's largest and oldest conglomerate" and "owns or has interests in more than 270 companies, primarily in Asia. Its core business activities include the distribution of autos (BMW, Ford, Land Rover) and heavy equipment (Caterpillar); the manufacture of finished rubber products (mainly tires); plantations (oil palm, rubber, cocoa, and fruit crops); property development; and trading. Sime Darby is also acquiring generation assets."

In relation with oil palm, the following is revealing: "The company is trusting that the diversity of its holdings will secure growth. While palm oil prices are falling, hurting the plantation business, there is increasing demand for Sime Darby-supplied automobiles and heavy equipment." The Nigerian government should take that into account before subsidising the company with "free imports and exports." If palm oil prices fall, Sime Darby will earn money through its other activities, but what about Nigeria?

The second question is related to oil palm itself. Oil palm plantations are spreading throughout the tropics and in all cases where large scale plantations of this crop are implemented there are reports of important social and environmental impacts. The jobs they generate are few, seasonal, badly paid and in bad working conditions. Local peoples are deprived of their livelihoods and the overall employment tends to decrease at the local level. Impacts on water, soils and biodiversity are widespread and in many cases lead to high deforestation rates. Can this be called development?

Article based on information from: Jude Okwe, 'CRS To Benefit From Promoting Enabling Environment For Investment Soon', Post Express (Lagos), December 13, 2000; Sime Darby web page: http://www.simenet.com/home.html

ASIA

Indonesia: The pulp and paper sector's unsustainable growth

A recent study, sponsored by CIFOR and WWF International's Macroeconomics Program Office, provides an in-depth analysis of the features and consequences of the rapid expansion of the pulp and paper sector in Indonesia during the last decade.

Concerned Indonesian NGOs have for years been denouncing the severe process of deforestation and forest degradation affecting the country and the role played by the pulp and paper industry in this respect. The CIFOR/WWF-sponsored study reveals some interesting facts and figures, which show that such allegations were well founded. Since the late 1980s, the Indonesian pulp and paper industry has grown by nearly 700 %. Investments in pulp and paper processing capacity have far outpaced the development of pulpwood plantations and as a result, most of the raw material has come from the clear-cutting of forest --mostly illegally-- resulting in the deforestation of over 800,000 hectares per year. To understand the importance of the pulp and paper sector in the country's overall deforestation, it is important to point out that according to the World Bank, deforestation rates reach one million hectares annually, which would mean that this sector is the major actor in the destruction of Indonesia's forests. Even taking into account the NGO figures on deforestation --which they estimate in some 2.4 million hectares/year-- this sector would also be considered at the top of the list. The study states that the sector will suffer a growing fibre supply deficit over the next 5-7 years, which will have further implications for the country's forests.

The study reveals that many pulp and papers projects now in operation entail a substantial decree of financial risk, since several companies have made investments in infrastructure without first securing a legal and sustainable raw material supply. The seemingly irrational behaviour of the investors is explained by the fact that the owners have been able to avoid much of the financial risk involved by taking advantage of the government's subsidies, including the provision of pulpwood fibre at costs well below its value, the weak regulations reigning in the country for the financial sector and the failure on the part of international financial institutions to adequately assess the risks involved in pulp and paper industry investments. Poor corporate governance of large-scale pulp and paper companies --promoted by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which allowed companies in bankruptcy to continue operating under their pre-crisis management teams-- is also mentioned as a factor for the present crisis.

In sum, the research illustrates on how unsustainable the "Indonesian economic miracle" in the pulp and paper sector has been. After a decade of unbridled growth, based on the destruction of the country's forest heritage, the expansion of tree monocultures, the violation of indigenous peoples' land rights, and the spread of social conflicts between local peasants and industrial workers, the result is negative even adopting the limited approach of conventional economy.

The case of Indonesia shows clearly that the much publicized myth that plantations help to alleviate pressures on native forests and consequently help to preserve them is totally false. On the contrary, they constitute a major factor for their destruction, given that enormous areas of forests are actually being cut and set on fire to make way for pulpwood plantations.

Article based on information from: "Profits on Paper: Fiber, Finance, and Debt in Indonesia's Pulp and Paper Industry by Christopher Barr, CIFOR, November 2000. E-mail: C.Barr@cgiar.org

Laos stops World Bank forestry programme

The Government of Laos (GoL) has halted the Forest Management and Conservation Programme (FOMACOP) after the first five-year phase because of difficulties between the GoL and external actors including the World Bank over the management of logging revenues from the programme.

Initiated by the GoL to promote "Sustainable Forest Management", the Fomacop was planned to be a 10-15 years programme with the first phase beginning in January 1995 and ending in September 2000. Fomacop had two subprogrammes: forest management and biodiversity conservation. The forest management programme consisted of "Village Forestry" in 60 villages comprising 20,000 village people and 145,000 hectares (ha) of land and forests in the Savannakhet and Khammoune provinces.

Fomacop started with a total budget of US$20.3 million financed by a loan of $8.3 million from the World Bank, $5.6 million for technical assistance from the Government of Finland, a grant of $5 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and $1 million from the GoL. Implemented by the Department of Forestry and the district forestry offices, the consultants for Fomacop were the Finland-based Jaakko Poyry Consulting (of Finland), CARE International and Burapha Consultants in Laos.

One of the main features of the programme was the establishment of Village Forestry Associations (VFAs) that consisted of training local communities in "village forestry" that including logging of "village forest management areas" ranging in size from 400 to 600 ha. While the forests remained under state ownership, the village people in the programme areas would keep the revenue from logging "after paying royalties and other taxes".

The programme ran into difficulties in early 2000, after a World Bank Evaluation Mission reported in its Mission Aide-Memoire dated February 5, 2000 that: "Accompanying the investment program, the project design anticipated significant reforms in the policy framework. These included preparation of sector legislation, deregulation of market controls on wood to ensure export parity pricing of timber and issuance of implementing regulations, satisfactory to the Bank, for forest management. Compliance with these measures has been slow and partial…"The timeline shows a persistent pattern of policy changes, incomplete and inconsistent directions and excessive intrusion into the management and commercial practices of the VFAs…. These doubts are consistent with the mission's assessment of the revenue foregone by virtue of the timber sales procedure imposed by the Government…. it can be estimated that foregone Government revenues will amount to approximately US$800,000 and losses to VFAs … to nearly US$700,000…"… losses of this magnitude are not justifiable. They are suggestive of aggressive rent-seeking and preferential treatment of favored local timber purchasers at significant cost to the economy and intended project beneficiaries."The Aide-Memoire also warned that: "the village forestry model … has enormous potential to contribute to sustainable poverty alleviation and Government revenue mobilization. The prospect that this potential will be ignored is deeply troubling and will be raised by the mission with the World Bank Management and Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs."Marko Katila, Former Chief Technical Adviser of Fomacop, stated that with the village forestry management, "the villagers can sell the logs, and pay taxes like everyone else. They can keep the balance for communal development purposes only and to finance their future conservation and management efforts. On average, each village has received about US$3000 per year, which may not sound a lot of money but for villagers it is quite a lot."

About the reasons for GoL halting the programme, Katila said: "The main problems have been mainly at the policy level. Fomacop has been in many ways a pioneering project in Laos in the area of community forestry. For many government forestry officers and industry people, the idea of community/village forestry was so new that they have been slow to accept it, which in way is understandable, because traditionally forestry has been state-driven and industry-oriented in Laos."

"Also, Fomacop has been a pilot project so maybe it is not realistic to expect a single project to change things so quickly. However, that fact is some groups have wanted to continue practising forestry as "business as usual", which of course has created problems in the project area e.g. in the areas of log sales. One problem is that Laos still does not a have a clear policy and legal framework that would recognize village forestry and villagers' rights and also duties regarding forest resources, especially when it comes to natural production forests."

The programme spent only US$1.8 million of the $8.3 million credit during the six years of Phase I; the GoL has returned the remaining funds to the World Bank. Although the programme is now stopped, the Finnish government has offered to provide a grant of US$18,000 for the government to continue with the work started by Fomacop, said Mr. Buahong Phantanusi, former head of the Forest Management and Conservation Project in Laos.

By: Noel Rajesh, TERRA, e-mail: terraper@comnet.ksc.net.th

Malaysia: The true responsible for the 'Penan problem' in Sarawak

Nowadays only about 10,000 Penans remain in Sarawak and very few of them are still able to carry out their nomadic lifestyles. As well as other Dayak people, they have been and still are the victims of all kinds of abuses by the State police and the timber companies themselves. That of the Penans indigenous people in Sarawak is a paradigmatic example of a long and unsolved conflict involving territorial rights. To the official viewpoint there is a 'Penan problem' originated by the resistance the Penans have opposed to the destruction of their lands and rainforests, setting up blockades to prevent the transit of logging machinery and trucks. Nevertheless, this approach ignores the root of the problem, which lies in the non recognition by the government of the indigenous peoples' rights over their lands and resources.

During a panel discussion that took place in the framework of the NGO national conference on "People Before Profits: Development For Communities", held on November 4th and 5th 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, Balang Nalan --member of the delegation of the Penans of Ulu Raram-- expressed that his people consider the forest a "God's gift, which serves as our source of life", and wondered: "Why have we Penans set up blockades during the last 20 years? Because we want to destroy the forest?". Balang was responding to the FOMISS Project representative who had claimed that Penan people, who rejected that project, do not know how to manage the forest sustainably. This initiative was a bilateral technical cooperation programme between the German Development Agency (GTZ) and the government of Malaysia, launched in 1995 allegedly to introduce Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Sarawak. In the real world, this nice wording just meant the opening of 169,000 hectares of forests in the Upper Baram Region of northern Sarawak to Samling Strategic Corporation, one of the major and most influential timber companies in the country. After a strong resistance to the project by the Penans, who feared that it would restrict hunting and food gathering activities that constitute the livelihoods of the Penan population, and confronted with the reluctance of the Malaysian authorities to address the socioecononomic component of the project, GTZ decided to withdraw from the project (see WRM Bulletin 33).

For the Penans the forest is their home and store. Their harvesting strategy is based on the concept of 'molong', which means the fostering of a variety of forest resources for the future. This concept is at odds with large-scale logging operations and for years the Penan have been opposing them through different means, of which the most widespread has been that of blockading roads leading to the forest.

"The government does not acknowledge that logging companies are destroying the forest and our lives, as they penetrate further into the interior. Instead, government officials blame us for obstructing the activities of logging companies and arrested many of us. But our blockades have continued," voiced out the Ulu Baram delegates at press conferences and dialogues with NGOs during the national conference.

Logging companies have the capacity and resources to obtain timber permits from the Sarawak state government, who has the ultimate right to issue these permits to companies to take timber or undertake development schemes. At the same time, the government has the capacity to pass laws to protect the companies' interests against the rights of the local peoples.

In this respect, legislations hastily implemented or amended without any consultation with the Penans and other ethnic groups have been passed to curtail indigenous land and forest rights as, for instance, the Sarawak Forest Ordinance 1953 (amended 1987), Section 90 (B) (1). These amendments make it a criminal offence to set up a blockade on any road constructed or maintained by the holder of a licence or permit and/or preventing any forest or police officer, or licence or permit holder, from removing the blockade. The punishment for an offender is a jail sentence of up to two years and a fine of RM6,000 and a further fine of RM50 for every subsequent offence.

The so called 'Penan problem' is thus not a product of the indigenous peoples' activities and resistance. The 'problem' only began when logging companies invaded their ancestral lands and started the devastation of the forests on a massive scale. Timber corporations, the government and foreign "development" agencies --all of whom sharing the view of forests as a mere source of roundwood-- are the true and sole problem.

Article based on information from: "Bulldozer colonists in Penan country" by Carol Yong, 25/11/2000,

http://www.malaysiakini.com/News/2000/11/2000112508.php3 sent by: Antares@tm.net.my

Malaysia: Penan letter on Bruno Manser, missing in Sarawak

Bruno Manser is still missing. The Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia officially requested now the Government of Malaysia to assist in the search and rescue of Bruno Manser, the indigenous peoples rights activist and special envoy in the struggle of the Penan People, who went missing in Sarawak over six months ago and whose presence in Sarawak was denied earlier by the Malaysian authorities.

The traditional Penan people of Sarawak, whom Bruno Manser supported for so many years, have now written a letter to the international community. Please read it and distribute their message widely.

"On behalf of the Penan people in Sarawak we write to all of you including relatives and friends of Bruno. We the Penan are his best brothers and sisters and friends with whom he stayed 6 years. Even though he is from another part of the world, we are very close to him, we treat him as our great grandparent and great leader.

He has now been missing for a few months. When we first heard the message of his missing, we all were worried and felt sad and lonely. However we keep on praying every time and ask for his safety. And we continue to search for him since the beginning until now, we will continue and try our best.

Here once again we want to remind you all brothers, sisters and friends:

Whatever happened to him, please don't give up. Continue the struggle and carry on his good work until we can gain the victory for his behalf and our people.

We are putting a great hope on you all to continue to support us in this situation.

Keep strong, all of us should continue his vision hand in hand. Even though he is no more to be seen, in our heart and mind he is still with us and shares everything with us. We hope he is still alive and will return to us again.

Whenever we think of him, we feel sad and lonely. Because we put our hope in him as a great person to bring change for our people and the world one day. Now we hope you all are still standing beside us with great spirit. Mountain and sea are between us and keep us apart, but in our heart and struggle we are one and close to you.

We promised to ourselves to keep this struggle continuing and to remember him in our life forever until our next generations.

We hope people all over the world are putting pressure on Taib Mahmud and the Malaysian authorities and logging companies because of his disappearance.

We hope more people visit the place where he went missing and help us search, though for sure the authorities must blame us for this, but we hope you all will support us.

These are our words. We are still strong and speak with one voice.

We the 17 headmen having signed above on behalf of all Penan communities in Sarawak with one heart and struggle to assert our support and keep on our fight to continue his mission and vision.

May God hold his hand and keep him alive."

Article based on information from: "Update: Bruno Manser still missing", ECOTERRA, e-mail: wildnet@ecoterra.net ; Tonga Tana, BMF Newsletter, http://www.bmf.ch

Thailand: State-owned forestry industry fuels controversy with forestry certification

Thailand's main logging agency, the state-owned Forestry Industry Organisation (FIO), is looking to certification of its tree plantations and ecotourism as a way out of its financial troubles as well as to cover-up its infamous past.

Founded in 1947 as a state-owned forestry enterprise with the mandate to manage logging concessions in Thailand's forests, the FIO operates under the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. At the time of its establishment, the agency had three main operations: logging of teak and non-teak tree species in concession areas; logging in non-concession areas that include the sites of proposed reservoirs and dams, and the use or sale of confiscated wood cut or imported illegally into Thailand.

In 1988, the agency had a total income of US$37 million and annual profits of about US$4 million. But in 1989, the Thai government declared a nation-wide ban on logging concessions, depriving the agency of logging opportunities in natural forests. With declining logging revenues, the agency had accumulated debts of about US$11.6 million by early-2000.

Over the years, the FIO has been involved in a number of controversies over its logging plans and activities. One of the most controversial was the FIO plan to clearcut 24,000 hectares of old-growth pine forests in Ban Wat Chan in Chiang Mai province in north Thailand in the early 1990s. The plan was eventually cancelled after strong opposition by 4,000 Karen ethnic communities who had lived in the area for more than 100 years and were concerned about the impacts on their livelihoods from the logging of their watershed forests.

In 1994, police investigating logs found in a protected forest area in Thailand discovered that the wood belonged to the FIO, and brought charges against the agency, alleging that it was involved in illegal logging practices.

In the post-logging ban era, apart from the auction of illegal timber, the FIO has focused on commercial tree plantations and timber processing. Presently, the agency has a total of 160,000 hectares of tree plantations, mainly of teak, rubber, and eucalyptus. The FIO owns also three sawmills for processing teak and non-teak tree species and for producing furniture, doors and windows for the local market. Apart from these sawmills, the FIO is the majority shareholder in the Thai Plywood Company that was set up as a separate company under the FIO to undertake wood production.

The agency plants commercial tree species such as teak and eucalyptus on large areas of "degraded" forest, which are often areas of forest degraded by logging concessions granted by the FIO and the RFD. The agency uses the labour of the village people near its plantation areas to secure a continuous supply of timber from its tree plantations.

Since the 1980s, Thailand's local communities have strongly opposed large-scale tree plantations --particularly of eucalyptus-- that expropriate village farmlands and replace common forest areas, lead to water scarcity and soil erosion. Since 1996, many communities in northeastern Thailand have also succeeded in forcing the government to remove the eucalyptus trees and return the lands for village farming and recovery of community forests. Some of these areas include the FIO's eucalyptus plantations.

But remaining oblivious to the controversy over its industrial tree plantations, the FIO plans to establish 240,000 hectares of commercial tree plantations of teak, eucalyptus and other species throughout Thailand. Presently, the FIO is looking to the certification of its timber and forest products as a long-term solution for its financial problems.

It has chosen two teak plantations totalling over 320 hectares in Kanchanaburi and Phitsanulok provinces for "certification". SmartWood, a not-for-profit environmental group accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), is undertaking the certification process. FSC certification would enable the FIO to obtain access to markets in industrialized countries seeking timber from "sustainable" and "well-managed" sources.

From 1-7 October 2000, a team from SmartWood visited Thailand in order to assess the two FIO plantations. SmartWood will write up a report and decide whether or not the two plantations can be certified by the end of 2000. If the accreditation is successful, the FIO plans to extend it to all of its 138 tree plantations in the next five years. Presently, SmartWood has submitted its report to the FIO for clarifications from the agency. FIO expects that certification will be successfully completed by the end of the year.

Whether controversies and scandals relating to the FIO's previous logging and plantation projects would figure in the assessment, Mr. Jay Blakeney, the leader of SmartWood's FIO tree plantations assessment team, said: "SmartWood assessment is usually focused at the forestry management unit. The system of assessment doesn't look at the historical and other institutional mistakes."

Meanwhile, the FIO has been drafting a management plan with SSC Natura (Scandiaconsult Natura, formerly Swedforest International AB), a Swedish forestry consultant company since 1993. Supported by a Swedish government grant of US$400,000, the management plan envisages the FIO entering the ecotourism business. The FIO would seek funding for its ecotourism plan from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) that will be used to create jobs in protected forest areas designated for tourism.

In cooperation with the Thailand Authority on Tourism (TAT), the FIO has already begun to build four ecotourism centres at US$3.3 million each, one of which will be located in the Ban Wat Chan forest. Local communities and concerned NGOs in Ban Wat Chan have voiced concerns that the ecotourism plans threaten the Ban Wat Chan watershed forest. The village people have stated that the expansion of roads in the hilly and forested terrain is increasing soil erosion and forest degradation.

While the FIO's plans for logging, ecotourism and tree plantations continue to threaten the natural forests and the livelihoods of local communities in Thailand, the certification of its tree plantations, in effect, would assist the FIO in delaying meaningful structural changes. After certification, the agency will continue to seek revenue from destructive logging operations and large-scale monoculture tree plantations. Subsequently, framing "guidelines" for plantations management or the certification of "sustainable" logging practices are wholly inadequate in halting the FIO's continued degradation of natural forest ecosystems and the destruction of local community livelihoods. Challenging the FIO therefore involves challenging its ideological approach that is based on an inherently flawed "science" of forest management which dismisses the complexity of natural ecosystems as well as the livelihood requirements of ethnic and local communities that depend on them.

By: Noel Rajesh, TERRA, e-mail: terraper@comnet.ksc.net.th

-Vietnam: Road-building threatens Phong Nha Nature Reserve

The Vietnamese government is currently negotiating with a range of bilateral and multilateral "aid" agencies to raise funds for its five million hectare reforestation programme. So far, little of the estimated US$4.5 billion needed has been formally committed, but in December, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced a US$287,000 project "to promote the programme in Vietnam". On 7 December, Nguyen Van Dang, Vietnam's Rural Development Minister and Fernanda Guerrieri, FAO's representative in Vietnam, signed the agreement for the FAO project.

The five million hectare reforestation programme aims to boost Vietnam's tree cover to 14 million hectares --the area of forest indicated on French maps of 1945 (see WRM bulletin 38). However, much of this tree cover, which the government and the international "aid" institutions invariably describe as "forest", is in fact monoculture plantation. Under the five million hectare plan, the government proposes planting one million hectares of fast-growing tree plantations for the pulp and paper industry. This year 250,000 hectares of plantations were established under the programme, according to a recent announcement from the government. And next year the government plans to plant 120,000 hectares with fast-growing trees to serve the paper, mining and chipboard industries.

At the same time as advertising increased "forest" cover however, the government continues to destroy Vietnam's remaining areas of forest. In Quang Binh province, for example, a road is currently being constructed which for 12 kilometres runs through the core zone of the Phong Nha Nature Reserve --an area under consideration by UNESCO for potential World Heritage Status. According to Flora and Fauna International in Vietnam, no adequate environmental impact assessment has been carried out, although the proposed road cuts through the habitat of several rare species including Ha Tinh Langurs, Black Langurs, Red-Shanked Douc Langurs and Siki Gibbons. Phong Nha is also renowned for its spectacular limestone rock formations. In 1924, a British explorer named Barton investigated the Phong Nha caves on a 15 day expedition, and described the caves as among the longest and most beautiful in the world.

A military enterprise, the Truong Son Construction Company, is in charge of building the road and is employing soldiers as a workforce. In places the proposed road would be 12 metres above the current ground level, and much of the material required to build the road would be taken from areas blasted to clear the route of the road. As well as disturbing wildlife, the extensive blasting would seriously damage the fragile cave systems in the Nature Reserve.

Another controversial road, the 1,690 kilometre-long Ho Chi Minh Highway, is also under construction in Vietnam (see WRM bulletin 35). On its currently proposed route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, the highway will pass close to Phong Nha. Earlier this year Ha Dinh Duc, an eminent Vietnamese biologist, expressed his concern that blasting associated with the construction of the Ho Chi Minh Highway could damage Phong Nha's caves. In reply, Ha Dinh Can of Vietnam's Transport Ministry, told the San Jose Mercury News: "No blasting. There's nothing to worry about. The caves will not collapse. We're even forcing the construction companies to quarry their road stone more than 60 kilometres away from the limestone ranges."

Such precautions simply do not apply to the road through Phong Nha --the Truong Son Construction Company estimates that 4.5 tonnes of explosives will be needed for every kilometre of the road through the limestone area.

Flora and Fauna International (FFI) argue that the Phong Nha road is contrary to Vietnam's law on Special Use Forest (Nature Reserve). FFI is working with other conservation groups in Vietnam, including World Wide Fund for Nature, Birdlife International, Frontier and the Frankfurt Zoological Society, to petition the government to halt construction immediately until a thorough and independent EIA is carried out.

According to James Hardcastle, of FFI Indochina Programme, "The road construction has been bypassed in the general debate and petition against the Ho Chi Minh Highway. FFI feel that action should be taken immediately to also review the feasibility and environmental impacts of this smaller road."

By: Chris Lang, e-mail: chrislang@t-online.de

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras: Struggle against shrimp farming gaining ground

After nine months of denouncing the destruction of wetlands at "El Carey", Marcovia, Choluteca; after several months after members of CODDEFFAGOLF (a local environmental organization) and the Environment Attorney were driven out with threats from that site; after several months of requesting international solidarity for this case; two months after the visit of a RAMSAR representative, and a few days after announcing the mobilization of fishermen and farmers to Choluteca, near the coast of the Gulf of Fonseca, CODDEFFAGOLF launched a Peoples' Peaceful Demostration, which has already achieved the following results:

On November 29, one of the owners of a shrimp farm at "El Carey" was arrested and she is now facing charges at a Choluteca court. At the same time, there are rumours that her husband took refuge in a hospital alleging to be seriously ill.

Likewise, parliamentarian Victor Argenal, who has fenced several mangrove areas for converting them into shrimp farms in Guapinol, Choluteca, expressed an interest to discuss the matter with CODDEFFAGOLF. The response was that he should discuss the issue with the commission for mangrove conservation established three years ago.

The shrimp farm company "Granjas Marinas San Bernardo" through its Manager Mr. Hector Corrales, has called the executives of CODDEFFAGOLF trying to intimidate them and expressing that CODDEFFAGOLF's allegations are lies.

There are also unofficial reports that the Undersecretary for the Environment has denied the Environmental License to "Granjas Marinas San Bernardo" and to "Hondufarms", while the Minister of Environment, Xiomara Gomez, has expressed to CODDEFFAGOLF her interest in discussing this issue with executives of those companies and with CODDEFFAGOLF.

Meanwhile, the staff of "Granjas Marinas" has contacted fishermen in order to convince them about the "pressing need" of supporting this powerful company --that has polluted the area with tons of organic wastes coming directly from the more than three thousand hectares of ponds that are currently in operation-- while at the same time they are constantly intimidating those fisherfolk which operate in the mangroves bordering its concession.

Although shrimp farming is still a big problem, things appear to be improving, at least regarding the stricter control that society and to a lesser extent government are imposing on this industry, which has already destroyed large areas of mangrove forests in Honduras and throughout the tropics.

Article based on information from: CODDEFFAGOLF, 4/12/00, e-mail: cgolf@sdnhon.org.hn

NORTH AMERICA

Mexico: International appeal for the release of Montiel and Cabrera

Mexico was urged in an international declaration released on 27 November in Wellington, New Zealand, immediately to release tortured farmer environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia who have been imprisoned after conviction on trumped up charges following their peaceful opposition to logging in the Mexican state of Guerrero (see WRM bulletins 26, 35 and 38).

The Tapu Te Ranga declaration was issued at the close of a 3 day international meeting on forests and forest protection. A copy was presented to the Mexican Embassy in Wellington and to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, who was asked to assist the international campaign for the release of Montiel and Cabrera. She expressed her concern and said that New Zealand would take the matter up with the Mexican representatives this week.

The declaration, the original of which is to be sent to President Vicente Fox and other Mexican authorities, is designed to help the environmentalists and to pressure Mexico to stop the logging in Guerrero where 40% of the forests have been stripped away in the last eight years. The loggers include Boise Cascade, a US company.

Montiel and Cabrera were detained for opposing logging on land made available for logging to local landowners who in turn make deals with huge timber companies. Corruption is endemic and seems to involve politically powerful landowners, the army, paramilitary groups, the police and the timber companies.

The Declaration also calls for an end to the harassment of Montiel and Cabrera's colleague environmentalist farmers in the Organizacion de Campesinos Ecologistas de la Sierra de Petatlan y Coyuca de Catalan. In late October urgent appeals were issued to help group members who are reportedly facing death threats from soldiers and paramilitary groups. Amnesty International has adopted Montiel and Cabrera as prisoners of conscience and is now also very concerned about their colleagues too.

The two prisoners were tortured in detention prior to processing and in jail. The medical evidence, though documented by an independent Dutch human rights organisation was not admitted to the trial. They were charged and convicted on offences including having firearms and drugs but they have said that these were planted and "confessions" were extracted under torture. More recently the prison chief was overheard to say that he wanted to hire other prisoners to beat up the environmentalists.

The declaration, signed by more than sixty representatives from around the world calls on the Mexican Government and President Vicente Fox immediately:

To release Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera from jail;

To prevent the harassment of environmentalists;

To end the logging of old growth forests in Guerrero and all other regions of Mexico.

Article based on information from Pat Rasmussen. e-mail: patr@crcwnet.com

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina: Public pressure halts carbon sink project

In the last issue of the WRM bulletin we included an article --"Argentina: A shady carbon sink project"-- detailing an absurd and destructive tree plantation project in that country. Now we are pleased to inform you that the struggle against it has been successful. The Argentinian justice has prohibited the company to "carry out all the works related to the forestry project", which involved the clearcutting of 4400 hectares of native forest to be substituted with Oregon pine.

A number of persons and organizations --governmental and civil society-- collaborated in the achievement of this success, among which the authorities of the Nahuel Huapi National Park, the National University of Comahue and officials from the Andean Forest Department. However, civil society organizations were at the forefront and the NGO Comunidad del Limay was responsible for filing the formal complaint which resulted in the court's verdict. Equally important were all those which organized the November 5th protest, such as Proyecto Lemu, the Chubut Antinuclear Movement, Mapuche and Tehuelche indigenous groups, Greenpeace-Argentina, Puelo Bird Society, Atech and Cetera.

To all of them, our warmest congratulations!

Article based on information from: "La justicia freno una tala de bosque nativo. Suspendio un proyecto maderero privado", La Nacion, 11/11/2000

Brazil: The struggle of the Pataxo indigenous peoples in Bahia

More than a year ago, the Pataxo indigenous peoples re-took an important part of their traditional territory located in the state of Bahia (see WRM Special Bulletin May 2000). Since then, they have been struggling to have their rights recognized by the government, with little support from environmental organizations, many of whom seem to deny them their capacity to manage the forest that rightly belongs to them.

Within such context, it is important to highlight the Brazilian Anthropologic Society's position, which has recently criticised the Ministry of the Environment for its promotion of projects in the area before the demarcation of the Pataxo's lands is finalized. In a letter addressed to the government, the Coordinator of the Commission for Indigenous Affairs of the Anthropologic Society --anthropologist Silvio Coelho dos Santos-- expressed that "without even knowing the extention and demarcation of the territory traditionally occupied by the Pataxo there cannot be sufficient information on which to base the adequate support to self-sufficiency for the indigenous villages." This position is extremely important at his moment, when there appears to be a systematic movement against the indigenous presence within conservation areas.

This is the case of the Pataxo, whose traditional territory was declared the Monte Pascoal National Park following their violent expulsion in 1961. After the indigenous people re-took their land in August 1999, the government established a Technical Working Group to carry out the demarcation of the Pataxo areas. However, due to political pressures, the work of the Technical Group was never finalized.

During the period, the Brazilian Environment Institute (IBAMA) tried by all means to remove the indigenous people from the Park. However, as a result of their determination to remain there, IBAMA changed its strategy to project proposals for "sustainable development." According to the Brazilian Anthropologic Society, the aim of such projects is to generate internal tensions and conflicts among the Pataxo. Silvio Coelho agrees that the existence of important areas of the threatened Mata Atlantica forest in the park fully justifies the presence and responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment for its conservation, but that that is not dependent on formal ownership over the territory. "There is no evidence to believe that this natural heritage is now especially threatened or vulnerable as a result of the occupation of the park by the Pataxo fourteen months ago; on the contrary, the opposite appears to be true."

The anthropologist has formally requested the relevant government officials to carry out immediately the studies for the demarcation of the indigenous lands, while at the same time to channel resources "to support the needs of the Pataxo in Monte Pascoal National Park."

At the same time, other Pataxo living in Bahia are facing problems. On November 29, the military police expelled some 150 Pataxo families which were camping in a 20-hectare area within the municipality of Prado in the state of Bahia. The police action resulted from a legal complaint from two cattle ranchers. The indigenous people were camping there awaiting the finalization of the demarcation of their land at Barra do Cai, from which they had been expelled following the takeover of their land by another cattle rancher.

The Pataxo decided to leave the area peacefully in order to avoid a confrontation and immediately organized a demonstration in town against the police action and FUNAI's lack of will to finalize the demarcation of the indigenous lands in Barra do Cai.

Five hundred years ago the Portuguese invaded all the indigenous lands in Brazil. Some of them have been now turned back to their legitimate owners, but many are yet to be returned. This is the case of the Pataxo. They need more support to their unequal struggle and the Anthropologic Society's position constitutes an example to be followed by many Brazilian organizations which have until now not taken sides with the Pataxo's fair struggle.

Article based on information from CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionario), Informe n.º 439, 30/11/00, 'ABA critica ministerio do meio ambiente e pede urgencia para a conclusao da demarcacao'.

Chile: The debate about tree plantations heats up

In order to revamp its deteriorated image, the Chilean forestry sector launched in August the multimillion-dollar campaign "Forests for Chile", consisting of propaganda in mass media aimed at convincing public opinion about the benefits of what it calls "forests" and which are in fact monoculture tree plantations (see WRM Bulletin 39).

Local NGOs, which have been campaigning for years against this destructive forestry model immediately launched a counter campaign, which forced the forestry sector to react. In an angry letter published in the nationwide newspaper "El Mercurio", Mr Juan Correa Bulnes, Executive Vice President of the powerful pulp and paper industry's organization CORMA, harshly criticised an article by Malu Sierra from the NGO "Defensores del Bosque Chileno" (Defenders of the Chilean Forests). According to him, her assertion that plantations are not forests "is a token of extreme ideologism, which induces to say things that lack any scientific backing and even logic."

In her response, Malu Sierra stresses that instead of insisting that plantations are forests and on spending millions of dollars to improve its image, the industry should invest that money in carrying out scientific ecological studies to prove what everyone already knows: that tree monocultures have negative impacts. "Everyone knows that plantations are not forests and even a child can see the difference. Reality can be manipulated with the use of suggestive images created by the minds of public relations experts, but a forest is a forest and a plantation is a plantation.", she ends up saying. In a nutshell.

Article based on information from: Voces del Bosque, Defensores del Bosque Chileno, Primavera de 2000.

Uruguay: No transgenic trees ... for the time being

For more than 10 years Uruguay has been implementing an unsustainable forestry model, substituting its natural prairie ecosystems with large-scale eucalyptus and pine tree plantations.

Apart from the already proven environmental and social impacts, the country could soon be confronting new impacts generated by the use of genetically modified trees in commercial plantations. Genetic engineering seeks to increase the commercial efficiency of plantations, "producing" trees that will grow faster, resistant to herbicides, more uniform and with less lignin content, thus making their industrial processing into pulp and paper cheaper.

Forestal Oriental (owned by Shell and UPM/Kymmene) is one of the most important forestry corporations in the country. According to the available information, this company has until now been the only one that carried out --during a period of two years-- field tests with transgenic trees. The aim of those trials was to test resistance to herbicides and the reduction of the lignin content in wood. Apparently the company abandoned those trials in 1999 and destroyed those trees. The reason for such change in policy seems to be that the company is currently seeking certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, whose principles exclude the possibility of certifying plantations with transgenic trees.

It was also possible to establish that the governmenal National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) is not carrying out trials with transgenic trees. However, the inexistence of such trials is not the result of a position against genetic engineering, but of the lack of economic resources to carry them out. In fact, genetic engineering is by and large supported by the national scientific community, which in general terms has opted to ignore its possible health and environmental impacts.

In fact, not a single government agency is involved in any research on the impacts that plantations with transgenic trees might have if implemented at an industrial level. This attitude is in line with the one which characterized the promotion of the current forestry model, which was implemented at a large scale without having carried out the necessary environmental impact studies.

Some years ago, Uruguay launched an important campaign aimed at being considered a "Natural Country." If it had been implemented, it would have been an intelligent policy. Unfortunately, it appears to have only been a mistake by one of the ministers at the time, given that all government policies seem to be aimed at an increasingly unnatural country. This was apparent in the words of the President of Uruguay, who some days ago publicly expressed his total and unconditional support to the development of transgenic crops in the country.

There are no transgenic trees in the country ... for the time being. However, taking into account the forestry development model being implemented in Uruguay and the government's support to genetic engineering, it appears that this situation will not last for long. Within such context, Uruguayan society must be on the alert to prevent the invasion of the Uruguayan grasslands with this new threat, which could bring unpredictable consequences for the country.

By: Teresa Perez

OCEANIA

Papua New Guinea: NGOs call for reform of forest industry

A coalition of non-government organisations is calling on the Government to make some fundamental changes in the forest industry. They are calling for the continuation of the current moratorium on new logging concessions until reforms are in place to deal with the many problems in the sector. Speaking as Chairperson of the Eco-Forestry Forum, Mr Sasa Zibe Kokino said, "the Prime Minister has already admitted that the forest industry is in a mess with poor practice, corruption and unsustainable logging operations. We are now calling on the Government to ensure that the necessary reforms are made before the current moratorium is lifted." The NGO recommendations are included in their 'Submission on the Forest Industry Moratorium and Reviews' a document that was presented to the Prime Minister on 27 November 2000. The Submission contains an assessment of the reasons behind the current appalling state of the forest industry and sets out the changes that are needed. The NGOs are asking for the Government to honour their promise of a review of current forest operations and for the completion of the current review of proposed new concessions. They also want to see the recommendations from these reviews fully implemented together with systems to prevent the same problems being repeated in the future. The NGOs are also calling for a new and effective method of enforcing the logging code of practice which, they say, is currently being ignored. They also want to see a new National Forest Plan that properly considers all land use options and reflects the wishes of resource owners. The NGOs are also calling for an independent system to ensure that forest management is truly sustainable and a change in the focus of the Forest Authority from one of assisting loggers to access resources to one of monitoring and controlling forest operations.

The NGO Submission is the result of collaboration between eighteen different national and international organizations and their local partners. It has been developed over a number of months and has included patrols to many remote areas of the country to gather the views of resource owners and to assess current practice in the forest industry. As Mr Kokino explained, "We see the current moratorium as a last chance for our forests. The moratorium must be maintained and fundamental reforms implemented before it is lifted".

Source: Press release of the Papua New Guinea Eco-Forestry Forum, Email: teff@global.net.pg

Solomon Islands: A sustainable alternative to unsustainable logging

The Solomon Islands have been devastated by Australian and Asian logging companies; which have swept through the country's forests, leaving a trail of disintegrating communities, flattened and degraded forests and silted coral reefs from runoff of exposed fragile soils.

Log extraction during 1998 was considered to be more than twice the sustainable rate. This is not a large resource base; and the positive economic impacts this has bought to the government's accounts will be short-lived; but the excessive rate of cutting is seriously undermining long-term sustainability of the resource base and future development prospects for the country. There is an urgent need to scale down and eventually eliminate industrial logging of natural forests and emphasize community-based, certified eco-timber production.

However, the Solomon Island government is shockingly unsupportive of forest sector reform. The new Solomon Island government that took power in June 2000 deferred the New Forests Act, which was aimed at setting the framework for a more sustainable, community based forestry sector. The new Act was intended 1) to ensure proper management of forest resources in an efficient, effective and ecologically sustainable manner; 2) to promote the development of a sustainable commercial timber industry so as to ensure maximum benefit to present and future generations; and 3) to protect and conserve forest resources, habitats, and ecosystems including the maintenance of ecological processes and genetic diversity.

In spite of the government's lack of support to socially equitable and environmentally sustainable forest management, the Solomon Islands Eco-forestry Project brings a ray of hope for the future. The project is a joint initiative of Greenpeace, the Solomon Islands Development Trust, the Foundation for the People of the South Pacific and the New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group.

The project empowers the local communities by helping them manage, maintain and market their own natural resources in sustainable ways while protecting their own environment and culture. Through the project, Solomon Islands village communities have been working for several years towards finding an income generating project that conserves their forests and marine resources. Since 1995 the programme has been helping village communities to organize themselves, manage their forests sustainably, and then mill and market a product they can now call eco-timber.

The Marovo Lagoon area in Solomon Islands' Western Province, was chosen to implement the project because of threats from logging, mining and forest clearance for a palm oil plantation in what is one of the Earth's natural wonders and a proposed World Heritage Area.

Greenpeace funded a study by a resource economist, comparing the economic costs and benefits of industrial logging to those of a small scale development. The report found that the cash value to local communities of small scale options, such as eco-forestry, fishing, tourism, carving and other crafts, food and building materials, was at least three times more than the destructive industrial options. Small scale options give landowners more direct control of their resources, distribute benefits more fairly and do not expose them to the high risk of fluctuations in international commodity markets. The report recommended no logging or palm oil plantations should be permitted in the Marovo area.

The villages in the area are now marketing and exporting eco-timber to New Zealand and this month they sent their first shipment of timber to Australia. "This shipment is an amazing success for the village eco-timber producers and for the programme, especially given the civil war in the Solomon Islands over the last year and half," said Greenpeace forests campaigner, Grant Rosoman. In a country torn by conflict, with nearly 100 people dead and the economy in tatters, the Solomon Islands eco-timber industry emerges as a much needed enterprise to help regain social and economic stability. And can also prove to be a much needed example for many countries currently depleting their forests for the profit of a few.

Article based on information from: Rowena Singh, 'Eco-Timber Export Brings Hope to Solomon Islands', Environment News Service, December 8, 2000, http://www.ens-news.com/ens/dec2000/2000l%2D12%2D08%2D02.html ; Worldwide Forest/Biodiversity Campaign News, December 10, 2000, e-mail: grbarry@students.wisc.edu

GENERAL

World Bank foresters deny that plantations alleviate pressures on forests

One of the major myths about tree plantations is that they help to alleviate pressures on forests by providing alternative wood sources. This has been proven false in practically all southern countries, but the myth still prevails in many circles, particularly among professional foresters. Another major myth is that plantations are "planted forests", having the same positive impacts as forests. This has also proven to be absolutely false, but foresters still insist in calling then "forests."

A recent article written by two World Bank staff --Juergen Blaser from the Environment Department and Jim Douglas, a Rural Department advisor-- contains a box focused on the role of plantations, which will hopefully make foresters think. Blaser and Douglas are not "unscientific NGO people" --which is the usual easy way out for foresters to avoid the discussion about plantations. They are senior foresters and World Bank officials, which implies that foresters should read carefully what they say. And what they say is really interesting:

"Plantation incentive policies have sometimes been justified on the grounds that plantations might have ameliorating effects on destructive natural forest use by providing an alternative source of wood. To date, however, plantations have had no discernible global impact on reducing deforestation. Unless the expansion of plantations is firmly linked to the removal of perverse incentives and market distortions in natural forest operations, and strong control over illegal operations, then a positive impact on natural forests is unlikely. Indeed, the reverse can occur: the establishment of plantations on land that already carries natural forest will exacerbate deforestation rather than reduce it. Agricultural and tree crop developers may actively seek access to intact forest in order to capitalise on the standing timber value. This may be more important to them than the underlying land value, especially if part of the incentive system to encourage tree crop investment is access to forest raw material at prices and under rules far more liberal than those applied to logging operations in the permanent forest estate."

In sum, according to these two senior foresters from the World Bank, plantations are not forests and not only do they not alleviate pressures on forests, but "indeed the reverse can occur."

Article based on information from: Juergen Blaser and Jim Douglas, "A Future for Forests? Issues and implications for the emerging forest policy and strategy of the World Bank", ITTO Newsletter, 15/12/00 http://www.itto.or.jp/newsletter/v10n4/3.html

International Prize awarded to two Mapuche women

The Heinrich Boll Foundation awarded the Petra Kelly Prize 2000 to two Mapuche women --Berta and Nicolasa Quintreman Calpan-- as a recognition of their struggle to protect the Mapuche Pehuenche's rights against the Spanish ENDESA Company and the Chilean Government over the construction of the RALCO dam.

The RALCO dam would be the second of the six hydroelectric dams ENDESA has planned to build along the Bio Bio river. The first dam --the Pangue dam-- was completed in 1997 only 30 km down the same river, and received a US$ 150 million loan from the World Bank. This was eventually recognized by World Bank's president James Wolfensohn as having been a big mistake. The Bank was even accused "of contributing to ethnocide of the Mapuche-Pehuenche indigenous community."

If implemented, the RALCO dam would swamp a vast area of Chilean forests and some 600 Mapuche Pehuenche people would be removed from their land as well as other families from the Upper Bio-Bio area. Communities from Callaqui, Pitril, Caunicu, Malla Malla and Trapa Trapa would be radically affected.

With the establishment of the Petra Kelly Prize, the Heinrich Boll Foundation seeks to "recognise individuals and groups whose outstanding and visionary activism serves to foster the respect for and promotion of universal human rights, non-violent conflict resolution, and the protection of the natural environment." The prize was also designed "to provide political support to the prize-winner and contribute to publicising his/her concerns and activities". These two Mapuche Pehuelche women, who have been fighting for the rights of their people since 1992 truly deserve recognition and international support for their ongoing struggle.

Article based on information from: Equipo Nizkor e-mail: nizkor@teleline.es, and Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung' s web site, http://www.boell.de Error: Unable to read footer file.