World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 28 November 1999
11/28/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: WRM Bulletin 28 November 1999
Source: World Rainforest Movement, http://www.wrm.org.uy
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 28, 1999
In this issue:
* OUR VIEWPOINT
- WTO: will corporate interest prevail over forest conservation?
* LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
AFRICA
- War destroys forests in Angola
- Cameroon: structural adjustment promotes deforestation - The
endangered primary forests of Gabon - A positive change in oil
activities in Nigeria?
ASIA
- Thailand: eucalyptus and Jiang Zemin's coming lesson - Thailand:
letter to the Prime Minister on Rasi Salai dam - India: "Gachha bina.
(without trees) . . . jeevana nahi (no life)" - Philippines: Canadian
mining company against indigenous peoples - Philippines: logging ban
opposed by logger politicians
CENTRAL AMERICA
- Costa Rica: the depredatory practices of an oil palm plantation
company - Honduras to "buy" Canadian carbon dioxide
SOUTH AMERICA
- Brazil: Monte Pascoal National Park belongs to the Pataxo -
Bolivia: good news regarding the Chiquitano forests - Colombia:
violence and deforestation in the Choco region - Venezuela: the
Pemons' struggle
OCEANIA
- Australian NGOs do not support Minister Tuckey's intiatitive.
* PLANTATIONS CAMPAIGN
- Brazil: FSC certification of Aracruz suspended - Tree plantations
generate unemployment - Environmental crime linked to Peugeot in
Brazil - New scientific findings: tree plantations may accelerate
global warming
* GENERAL
- NGOs' action in Spain against shrimp industry - Forests for the
future
- Oil: The Earth's blood
* WRM GENERAL ACTIVITIES
- News from the International Secretariat
**************OUR VIEWPOINT
*************
- WTO: will corporate interest prevail over forest conservation?
When the 1992 Earth Summit took place, it seemed as though
governments had finally recognized that the world's environment was
in trouble and that something needed to be done to save it. A number
of important conventions were agreed upon regarding biodiversity,
desertificaction and climate change, while forest conservation was
taken up by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Although
economic interest was present in all those processes, it seemed to be
in relative balance with environmental concerns. But now the World
Trade Organization has taken over the scenario and -unless opposition
shows sufficient strength- will wipe out all the positive -though
weak- steps taken during the past seven years for the protection of
the environment.
Regarding forests, the WTO has become the chosen arena to protect
corporations' interest threatened by environmental rules. Some few
powerful corporations have managed to introduce their agenda by means
of some few powerful governments. Their message is clear: if forest
protection implies less profits, then it must be declared illegal.
Corporate interest must prevail and current national and
international environmental legislation will be considered as anti-
"free" trade and subject to reprisals.
The corporate agenda includes the elimination of a number of
"barriers to trade" in forest products. Those so-called barriers are
tools that countries use to either protect their economy or the
environment, or both. For instance, import and export tariffs
increase forest products' prices and therefore lead to less
consumption. Although cleary insufficient to address current
overconsumption patterns, this is good for forests and bad for
corporations. They are thus proposing further tariff reductions on
forest products.
There are also a number of measures which governments use to protect
forests, such as import or export quotas, or even log export bans,
which result in less logging. Again, these measures are good for
forests and bad for corporations. Their proposal is therefore that
these should be considered as "non-tariff measures" against free
trade and should be banned. Even certification schemes and
legislation requiring recycling and waste recovery could be seen as
barriers to free trade and considered illegal.
All the above -and much more- will be put forward in the coming
ministerial conference which will take place next month in Seattle,
USA, amid strong opposition from thousands of civil society
representatives coming from all over the world to make their voices
heard. The struggle will not be against trade in itself, but against
the prevailance of corporate interest over the interest of peoples
and their environment.People and nature are not mere "resources" for
the achievement of profits regardless of the consequences to the
local and global environment.Forests are not stands of timber waiting
to be logged to increase corporations' profitability. They are the
home of many peoples, the habitat of countless animal and plant
species, a crucial element for climate stability, for ensuring fresh
water supplies, for the conservation of soils. Their conservation
must therefore prevail over corporations' economic profits. This is
the message which will be present outside the meeting rooms and in
the streets of Seattle. Government delegates will have to hear -
whether they like it or not- the voice of the peoples. The future of
humanity is at stake and they will have to define whose interests to
defend: their peoples and nature or corporations and environmental
destruction.
**************LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
*************
AFRICA
- War destroys forests in Angola
Deforestation has become one of Angola's most important environmental
problems, also resulting in freshwater shortages and soil erosion.
The long civil war that affected Angola from 1975 to 1991 and the
continuous hostilities among rival groups that have persisted since
then, have determined not only human and material losses but also
brought with them severe consequences on forests. Deforestation is
considered one of the major environmental results of this state of
violence and devastation.
Between 1992 and 1994 about one million and a half people were
displaced because of war. To satisfy their urgent needs for firewood
for cooking and heating they cut down extensive areas of forests and
tree plantations. Their forced nomadic state and lack of any means of
survival and income earnings translates into an accelerated damage to
the forests. The loss of the forest cover enhances land erosion.
Deforestation affects all of Angola, but it is worse in the war-
ravaged central highlands. There the heavy downpours of the rainy
season wash out the fertile topsoil from the treeless plains.
Considering that Angola is Africa's second oil producer after
Nigeria, the population of this country should have easy access to
oil as an alternative to fuelwood. Nevertheless, it is only available
for the inhabitants of the capital Luanda, while peasants, who are
the majority of the population, are still almost entirely dependent
on fuelwood which, coupled with the consequences of war, has led to
massive forest loss.
Source: "Environment-Angola: Losing Trees to War", InterPress
Service, 22/9/99.
*************
- Cameroon: structural adjustment promotes deforestation
Logging is one of the most important direct causes of the accelerated
loss of tropical forests. However, macroeconomic strategies
implemented by Southern countries' governments under the pressure of
powerful actors such as the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) provide an even
stronger incentive for increasing unsustainable logging practices.
Cameroon is but one of many examples showing the impacts of such
policies on the disappearing rainforests.
Cameroon is known as one of the most ecologically diverse countries
on the African Continent. Between coastal mangrove swamps and Mount
Cameroon, West Africa's highest mountain, lies a hot and humid
southern region of dense tropical forests of mahogany, ebony and
obeche trees. There are over 9,000 plant species in Cameroon, 150 of
which are found nowhere else in the world. Cameroon's forest
resources are estimated at 22 million hectares of which 14 million
are tropical rainforest. Intensive logging, encouraged by IMF policy
reforms, now threatens the country's tropical rainforests and the
habitat of over 40 species of wildlife including black rhinoceros,
gorillas and elephants.
In the late 1980s, the IMF imposed a structural adjustment programme
on the government, which was supposed to solve the country's critical
economic situation. Part of this programme relied on the promotion of
non traditional exports -timber included- which was fostered by the
devaluation of the currency. The IMF-recommended export tax cuts also
played an important role in the increase of timber exports. Between
1994 and 1995 the number of logging enterprises increased from 194 to
351, while lumber exports jumped a 49.6% between 1995/96 and 1996/97.
It is estimated that 200,000 hectares of forests are destroyed
annually in Cameroon.
The destruction of natural resources resulting from such policy goes
together with poverty. Already in 1991 a report of the World Bank
stated that by 1985, long before adjustment measures hit many incomes
-many of them related to the direct access to forest products and
services- 40% of the rural population were in a state of absolute
poverty. A decade of structural adjustment has not but aggravated the
situation of forest and forest-dependent communities. In a recent
report the IMF itself has acknowledged the precarious nature of
Cameroon's export strategy.
Sources: Friends of the Earth, "Environmental consequences of the
IMF's lending policies", cwelch@foe.org "Underlying causes of
deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon" by Wilfred J. Awung
(http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/u_causes/regional/africa/Cameroon.html
) *************
- The endangered primary forests of Gabon
Gabon is one of the few countries in Central Africa where most of its
forest still remains unlogged. But unless something is done soon, it
will follow the path of neighbouring Cameroon, where two thirds of
its forests have been logged at least once during the past few years.
As loggers deplete African forests, they turn their attention to the
few remaining frontier forests and Gabon seems to be the ideal
candidate for those activities. Log production has already increased
from 1 million cubic metres in 1975 to almost 3 million by the late
1990s.
Gabon's forests hold high levels of endemism (species that do not
occur elsewhere) and therefore deforestation implies the complete
loss of those species. Selective logging of some few commercial
species (50% of Gabon's timber exports concentrate on the tree
species 'okoume') has enormous impacts on the forest, because it
implies opening up extensive areas through a network of roads and
trails to reach and extract the desired species. This transport
network is then used by commercial hunters, resulting in an increase
in the bushmeat trade, including endangered and legally protected
species. The opening of the forest by roads and selective logging is
usually followed by the conversion of forests to cash crop
plantations.
Logging in Gabon is a typically mining operation, generating few
incomes in the country but huge profits for foreign companies. Almost
all timber exports consist of raw logs, thus creating only few and
badly paid jobs in logging and almost none in the wood-based
industrial sector. Foreign currency obtained through roundwood
exports is also low, due its the lack of added value. On the other
side, just seven companies have access to more than a third of the
country's remaining frontier forests. French company Thanry holds a
600,000 hectare concession; Malaysia's Rimbunan Hijau some 530,000
hectares; Germany's Glunz 500,000; three further Malaysian companies
hold 650,000 hectares, while a company of unknown nationality (Bois
et Scierie du Gabon/FOBO) has a 430,000 hectare concession.
Source: "Buying Destruction. A Greenpeace report for corporate
consumers of forest products", 1999
*************
- A positive change in oil activities in Nigeria?
The Urhobo National Assembly (UNA), which represents the Urhobo
nation in the Nigerian federal state, stopped all oil exploration
activities in the region of the Niger Delta, where an oil spill fire
destroyed last September a large area of fragile ecosystems. Once
again the involved oil company is Royal Dutch Shell. It will remain
expelled from several affected communities until an independent
investigation on the explosion has been satisfactorily conducted and
made known by experts from several Southern countries. The Urhobo
also demanded for immediate clean up of all polluted land, as well as
compensation. "When this spill occurred we thought we will be treated
like human beings. But this has gone a long way to prove right what
our other neighbours have been telling us about oil firms, especially
Shell, about their insincerity" said a leader of the Ikeerre
community.
As usual, Shell has not assumed any responsibility for the peoples'
suffering. A trustworthy source of Shell admited to ERA
(Environmental Rights Action) at the Aluu-Agbada West flow station,
that the pipes are very old and cannot withstand the much pressure.
He attributed the frequent spills being experienced to this factor,
among others. The last case of September 17 and 18 of 1999 has not
been the only one in the Niger Delta. On December 12 of 1998 a
blowout occurred on a Shell flow line leading to the Aluu-Agbada West
flow station. The accident contributed to the pollution of the
Onuigigbo river, which is the only source of drinking water and
fishing for the Omuike people.
In relation to the present situation of the country regarding
communities and the environment, the Ijaw Youth Council stated that:
"Nigeria is standing still on the ocean of oppression. We must move
away from sinister waves of violence that have been let loose by the
agents of injustice. We have only one option. We either march most
relentlessly towards the finishing line of self-determination,
resource control, environmental protection and a truly Federal
Nigeria or be drowned."
In a surprising move that can mean a positive switch, the Federal
Government has blamed the situation in the Niger Delta on what it
called "heinous environmental crimes" of multinational oil companies.
It also traced the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa and other activists to
the activities of the oil companies. The government's spokesperson
has been the Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Ime Okopido, who
on October 22 outlined strict conditions for oil firms in the Niger
Delta and gave them a six-week ultimatum to clean up the communities'
environment. Nevertheless, only the future actions of the authorities
will reflect how much they are interested in defending their own
people's interests. The Nigerian Government has been and is still
being severely criticised at the national as well as at the
international level for its violation of human and environmental
rights.
Sources: ERA-FoE Nigeria, 3/10/99; ERA Field Reports 41, 14/10/99;
Oilwatch, e-mail: oilwatch@infoweb.abs.net
*************
ASIA
- Thailand: eucalyptus and Jiang Zemin's coming lesson
In the 1980s and early 1990s the monoculture plantations scheme -
based on eucalyptus- faced strong opposition from farmers and
environmental groups in Thailand, especially by the more than ten
million people inhabiting National Reserve Forests, due to their
detrimental social and environmental effects. Such massive protests
led in 1992 to a ban on afforestation activities in those lands, and
to the discouragement of both foreign and domestic investments in
relation to large-scale eucalyptus plantations. Shell itself -which
had planned to implement extensive pulpwood plantations- decided to
leave the country as a result of the peoples' opposition.
In spite of this very recent background and while the plantation
scheme is being severely questioned worldwide because of its proven
negative effects, the Thai government is now in negotiations with
China to establish 96,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantation as part
of a proposal to form a Thai-Chinese pulp-production joint venture.
The idea was discussed during the visit of President Jiang Zemin of
China to Thailand last September. The raw material produced in the
plantations would feed a pulp mill located in Praqchin Buri, which
would produce 700,000 tons of pulp annually to supply the increasing
demand of paper in the Chinese market.
The Agriculture Ministry has earmarked an area of land of about
32,000 hectares in the eastern Chachoengsao Province to accomodate
the first stage of the project. This land is property of Suan Paa
Kitti Company and it is the only area near Bangkok that before the
1992 ban was allowed to locate a commercial tree plantation. This
firm was involved in a great controversy about ten years ago, because
one year after receiving the concession, it was proved that it
slashed and burned forest land outside the concession area. A forest
reserve in Tha Takiab Province has been selected as the second choice
to house successive stages of the plan.
Since the area covered by forests has greatly decreased in Thailand,
the authorities say that fast-growing plantations are needed to
increase forest cover and to avoid further pressure on forests.
Nevertheless, reality shows that both arguments are false. On the one
hand, the important task of increasing forest cover should be
addressed by reforestation with native species, which is something
completely different from afforestation with eucalyptus or any other
exotic species. On the other hand, in Thailand, as well in many other
Southern countries, huge areas of forests have been cleared to give
place to exotic tree monocultures, while other areas have been
cleared by people displaced by plantations from their own lands.
Plantations therefore not only do not relieve pressure on forests but
constitute a direct cause of deforestation.
Villagers oppose the tree monoculture scheme based on their past
experience, which shows that large-scale eucalyptus plantations
displace or impoverish farmers since eucalytpus allows little
intercropping, is useless for fodder, supply little firewood, can
lower water levels in nearby ponds, wells and woodlands, and cause
soil erosion instead of controlling it as their promoters say. In
additon, they provide few of the varied forest goods that rural
communities depend on for subsistence, while taking over community
forest lands. Farmers also find plantation jobs unattractive since
they are neither plentiful nor steady.
As expected, the project has already generated protests at the civil
society level. Pornpana Kuaycharoen, from the Foundation for
Ecological Recovery, expressed that plantations would damage the
countrys' ecosystems and the peasants' water supply, as had happened
a decade before. Pakphum Vithantiravat, from the Forum of
Northeastern Farmers, supports this point of view and reminds that
many farmers who planted eucalyptus under the 1985 promotion have
already cut them and come back to rice cultivation. Pakphum
Withantiwat, adviser of the Forum of the Poor, points out that
eucalyptus are not planted in arid lands, but on fertile ones, so
that they can grow faster. At the same time, the Alternative Farming
Network expressed its opposition to the project because the eastern
region of the country has got soils with a potential for rice
production, which is much more important for local villagers than
eucalyptus plantations.
There is no doubt that the plantation scheme is connected to ongoing
globalization. In January 1999, during a visit to Japan, Chinese
President Jiang Zemin received a proposal by the Japan Federation of
Economic Organizations (Keidanren) so that an afforestation programme
is initiated in China by a group of Japanese companies, in a bid to
secure greater quotas for emitting carbon dioxide under the Clean
Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol (see WRM Bulletin 20). Mr
Jiang Zemin seems to have quickly learned the lesson and now he is
proposing Thailand to implement a huge eucalyptus plantation project
to supply the pulp industry with raw material. But he is probably
unaware about the lesson he will need to learn: that the Thai people
will strongly oppose this plan as they successfully did in the past.
Sources: "Thai-Chinese plant needs huge areas for eucalyptus",
Bangkok Post, 24/8/99; "Land found for China eucalyptus plan" by P.
Hongthong, The Nation, 8/9/99; "State forest policies are in
contradiction", Bangkok Post, 13/9/99; "Plantation initiative finds
favour" by U. Noikorn and W. Techawongtham, Bangkok Post, 15/9/99;
"Pressure groups in arms against eucalyptus scheme" by U. Noikorn,
22/9/99.
*************
- Thailand: letter to the Prime Minister on Rasi Salai dam
Inhabitants of Mae Mun Man Yuen Village #2 affected by Rasi Salai Dam
are demanding that the government reexamines the impacts of the
project and compensate 1800 families that are in danger of loosing
their farmlands. The protesters, who belong to the Assembly of the
Poor, are prepared to stay in their village until their demands are
met (see photos at:
http://www.irn.org/programs/mekong/rasi.photo2/index.shtml). Dam
megaprojects have provoked severe concern and led to directs actions
in different regions of Thailand
(see WRM Bulletins 22 and 27).
Those interested in supporting this struggle can send their
endorsement of the following letter to Aviva Imhof (aviva@irn.org),
including your name and that of your organization:
October 1999
The Hon. Mr. Chuan Leekpai
Prime Minister of Thailand
Dear Mr. Chuan,
We write to express our support for the 1850 people currently facing
submergence at the Rasi Salai dam on the Mun River in North-Eastern
Thailand. These people intend to stay in their village, Mae Mun Man
Yuen Village #2, and face the rising waters, until their demands are
met.
The Department of Energy Development and Promotion (DEDP) is
currently filling the reservoir and the water level is at 116.8
metres above sea level. Already four houses and 80 per cent of the
village's rice fields and vegetable gardens have been flooded. If the
level reaches 117.5 metres, the village will be entirely submerged
and people will drown.
We are writing to urge you to direct the DEDP to immediately stop
filling the reservoir, and to give due consideration to the people's
demands. The villagers are demanding that the government reexamine
the impacts of the project, drain the reservoir, determine the exact
number of people affected by the dam, pay compensation to all
affected peoples, and correct the environmental problems caused by
the dam. If the government refuses to pay compensation, the villagers
demand that the dam be removed.
These people have been demonstrating for over six years, yet the
government has refused to listen. On April 20 of this year, more than
1000 villagers affected by Rasi Salai dam occupied the dam site.
Still the government did not listen. Now 1850 people are prepared to
die in order to get the attention of the government. They have lost
everything and they feel they have nothing more to lose.
Rasi Salai has been plagued by problems and deceit ever since it was
first conceived. DEDP failed to release any information to the public
prior to construction, and stated that they would only build a small
rubber weir 4.5 meters high, not a concrete dam 9 meters high. More
than 100 square kilometers were inundated, yet no Environmental
Impact Assessment was conducted, contrary to the Environment Act.
Even though the dam was completed in 1994, and DEDP is currently
filling the reservoir, the irrigation system is not operational, so
the dam is effectively useless.
The dam destroyed the fresh water swamp forest along the banks of the
Mun River and blocked the migration of fish. The reservoir has been
plagued by salination problems because it is located on top of a big
salt dome. More than 3000 families have lost their farmland to the
reservoir, and compensation was paid for private property only, not
for lost customary land rights. After a long struggle General
Chawalit's government paid compensation to 1154 families, yet more
than 1800 families remain uncompensated.
Please act now to protect the lives of these people and respect their
demands. Thank you for your consideration of these important matters.
Yours sincerely
*************
- India: "Gachha bina. (Without trees) . . . jeevana nahi (no life)"
A conflict has arisen regarding 400,000 hectares of forest land in
the Indian state of Orissa. Actors are the villagers who have
recreated the forest from barren lands and government officials, who
believe the area belongs to the state. Out of the total protected
area, 60% are reserve forests and the rest are either protected or
village forests. Sustainable forests management by local communities
in the area started in the decade of 1960.
Now 2,000,000 people belonging to 10,000 villages spread in the
region are fighting to obtain from the state government their
legitimate rights over the forests. The villagers have formed the
Orissa Jungle Manch (OJM), a state-level forum, whose aim is to force
the government to recognise their territorial rights. Coming National
Assembly elections are a good opportunity for them to put forward
such a demand, so the forum is also lobbying political parties to
include the community rights issue in their manifestos. As part of
its strategy, OJM has decided to circulate a charter of six demands
accompanied with a detailed note on the peoples' movement to all the
political leaders, from village to state level. Such demands are:
- Rights of protection and management of forests to be given to the
communities. This means that no forest department official should be
appointed to institutions monitoring protection activities at
present; - Rights over collection, as well as over marketing and
selling of non-timber forest products produce (NTFP) should be given
to the communities;
- Rights over domestic use of timber from the protected forests,
without the permission of forest department officials; - Rights over
fuelwood extraction from the village forests and to sell the extra
fuelwood;
- Communities living inside reserved or protected parks/sanctuaries
should be given joint management rights over the area and all other
rights listed above;
- The government should survey all the forest areas and assign
communities areas to be protected by them.
Neither the peoples' movements for the conservation of the forests
nor conflicts on the ownership and management of natural resources
are new in India. Local communities' struggle for the forests in
Orissa already started in 1937. For instance in Dhenkanal, one of the
pioneers in the community forest movement of Orissa, occured a
"prajameli" (peoples' revolution) for complete rights over forest
resources and abolition of forest tax, followed by a "kandhameli"
(tribal revolution) to demand the same. The movement spread to other
princely states like Nayagarh, Daspalla and some areas of Sambalpur.
As a result the king at that time declared an equal division of the
forest produce between the government and the community and suggested
joint management of the resources. The situation of indigenous
peoples living nearby and in the Rajiv Gandhi National Park, in
Karnataka State (see WRM Bulletin 20) as well as the struggle of
traditional fisherfolk communities at Chilika Lake in Orissa (see
WRM Bulletin 24) which recently obtained a commitment from the state
government to present a bill that would give them absolute fishing
rights, are two examples of ongoing conflicts for natural resources
in that country.
When Joginath Sahoo, a 30-year old teacher in Kesharpur village in
Orissa's Nayagarh district, enters the classroom his students greet
him by saying "Gachha bina...(without trees)". And he completes the
sentence for them, "... jeevana nahi (no life)". To assure life for
local communites, forests have to be under their direct control.
Source: http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte990930/dte_analy.htm
September 1999.
*************
- Philippines: Canadian mining company against indigenous peoples
Even if logging has been the most important direct cause of
deforestation in The Philippines archipelago -whose tropical forest
area has been dramatically reduced to only 3% of the original cover-
mining is also relevant for its depredatory effects. It is estimated
that already 40% of the entire territory of the country has been
given away by the government under the form of concessions to
multinational mining companies. As in many other parts of the world,
large scale mining has produced not only environmental but also
social negative impacts on local communities and indigenous peoples
in the Philippines (see WRM Bulletin 11).
It was recently denounced that members of the Subanen indigenous
peoples have suffered violence to the hands of the police and miners
of the Canadian company TVI Pacific. The incident took place last
September 6th, when a group of fifty Subanen blockaded a road into
their ancestral territory in the mountains of Zamboanga del Norte,
following which they were attacked by an armed group and beaten with
gun butts and canes.
In spite of such violence, the Subanen continue to block the road to
prevent TVI from bringing drilling equipment onto the 1,235 acre (500
hectares) site to which they have been claiming ancestral rights
since 1992. TVI's proposed mine will cut a deep quarry into the
forested mountain and the ore will be processed with cyanide. The
indigenous people -who are being supported by religious and civil
society groups, local residents, including small-scale miners, and
the UK based NGO Survival International- are willing to continue
this action, since they have been suffering a continuous process of
dispossession of their ancestral lands -which once extended all along
Zamboanga peninsula- by settlers and loggers.
They have denounced TVI for its actions of direct and indirect
violence against local dwellers in the area since 1996. The company
is also accused of violating the 1995 Mining Code, according to which
every company is required to obtain the informed consent of affected
tribal peoples before initiating new mining projects, as well as the
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997, that promises land rights
recognition and respect for indigenous peoples. Nothing of this has
been adhered to.
The success of the resistance of the Subanen indigenous people is
considered very important from a strategic point of view, since it is
feared that in case the company manages to continue operating in the
area, similar abusive practices may be executed elsewere in the
country. TVI has got land claims covering 2.9 million acres at more
than 20 sites in The Philippines.
Source: Drillbits & Tailings, Volume 4, Number 17, October 23, 1999.
*************
- Philippines: logging ban opposed by logger politicians
Nowadays only 3% of the once dense area of tropical forests that
covered the territory of the Philippines is still standing. Most of
them occupy reduced patches and have even suffered a severe process
of degradation (see WRM Bulletin 27).
The government has done nothing to avoid this state of things. As a
matter of fact it is now promoting further destruction. It has
recently been announced that the proposed total logging ban will not
be implemented. The authorities argue that the ban would result in a
loss of revenues for the treasury estimated in U$S 15 million
annually, and drain on foreign exchange. Antonio Ceriles, Secretary
of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said that
part of this money is used to pay for wood imports, particularly from
Malaysia. A total ban will likely aggravate illegal logging, he
added.
The announcement drew criticism from environmental groups who are
lobbying for a total logging ban. They claim that the government has
a poor environmental policy as reflected by the accomplishment of its
reforestation programme, which has reached only 60,000 to 70,000
hectares a year while deforestation rate exceed in 10 times this
figure, reaching 743,000 hectares annually. The Philippine
Organization of Forest Stewards expressed that the economic gains
cannot offset any environmental and social degradation in the near
future. Criticism is also heard from government officials. Horacio
Morales, secretary of agrarian reform, deplored the fact that the
government is doing very little to protect the remaining forests and
forecasted that in case logging continues, all the country's forests
will be gone by 2010. The Upland Assistance Committee, a federation
of non-governmental organizations working with communities, considers
that the main reason for the government's inability to implement
forest conservation is that many politicians are into the logging
business. Ceriles himself owns a logging company in Southern
Philippines.
The logic behind the government's decision is unsustainable from an
economic, social and environmental point of view. The value of
forests as source of products and services is ignored, as well as the
negative consequence of its accelerated loss. The money obtained at
the forests' and local communities' expenses is in turn used to
indirectly promote the destruction of neighbour countries' forest
resources. Last but not least: to say that a total logging ban would
enhance illegal logging reveals the ineffectiveness of controls
performed by those who are supposedly in charge of taking care of the
country's forest heritage. Not to mention the obscure connection
between many politicians' private interests and logging.
Source: Environment News Service, 5/11/99, http://www.ens.lycos.com
Comments by WRM International Secretariat.
*************
CENTRAL AMERICA
- Costa Rica: the depredatory practices of an oil palm plantation
company
Palma Tica is a company working in the area of cultivation,
processing and production of oil palm products. It owns thousands of
hectares of oil palm plantations (Elaeis guineensis) in the Central
Pacific Region (Quepos Division) and in the Southern Region (Coto
Division). To face the rapid advance of its competitor Agroindustrial
Cooperative of Oil Palm Producers (Coopeagropal R.L.), Palma Tica
started in 1995 an aggressive campaign of land purchasing in the
communities of Colorada and La Palma de Corredores, located in the
extreme south of the Coto Division. The company bought more than one
thousand hectares, including several estates with oil palm already in
a productive stage.
In January 1997 Palma Tica began to expand its plantations at
Hacienda La Palma estate after clearing a secondary forest area. The
fact was denounced to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy
(MINAE). Officials of the Ministry inspected the affected area and
demanded Palma Tica to stop deforestation. The newspaper "La Nacion"
published an article titled "MINAE recommends Palma Tica".
In February, three members of the Surveillance Committee for Natural
Resources (Comite de Vigilancia de Recursos Naturales - COVIRENA) of
La Palma de los Corredores inspected the area, after being alerted by
a neighbour of La Palma, who had been working for Palma Tica. The
company had ignored the "recommendations" of MINAE and continued
advancing to reach its main objective: an area of about one hundred
hectares of wetlands and primary forests at the bottom of the La
Palma gully. They found that a vast area of such wetlands had been
deforested, and that a stretch of about one kilometre and a half long
had been dredged at La Palma gully -where the Colorado River flows-
with the purpose of draining the whole wetland. To complete the
dredging works, the whole vegetation cover of the area -including the
trees located at the right bank of the gully- had been destroyed, and
the area converted in a quagmire. The waters at the gully were brown-
coloured. Many lizards and turtles died, as well as fishes and
crustaceans, that the inhabitants of La Palma used as food and
leisure resources. COVIRENA went to Court to denounce this
depredation. To preserve its public image, Palma Tica abandoned its
previous idea of planting oil palm in that area, and currently the
flora and fauna are slowly recovering.
Even though the La Palma gully now seems to be relatively well
protected, this experience does not seem to have served the purpose
of improving Palma Tica's attitude regarding the environment and
people. Given its obvious impunity concerning law compliance, Palma
Tica has always applied an abusive and disdainful labour policy and
continues doing so, through a sub-contracting system similar to that
of the banana companies. Palma Tica hires contractors which lend
themselves to foul play and, in exchange of money and privileges,
assume the role of bosses. They then subcontract agricultural
labourers in need of a job, who work to earn miserable salaries,
without any social security or other benefits, and exposed to
systematic dismissals every three months. Many of them are illegal
workers -immigrants from Panama and Nicaragua- who arrive in Costa
Rica with the illusion of finding better job opportunities.
The presence of Palma Tica has provoked a stagnation of the economy
and community disintegration at La Palma. Young people and adults
have migrated in search of job opportunities. Crime has increased
while poverty and insecurity reign.
After the events that took place at La Palma gully, Palma Tica did
not abandon entirely its original intention of expanding plantations
at the expense of natural areas. The company recently moved to
neighbouring Osa Peninsula, where local conservationist groups have
already denounced illegal logging in several gullies in the locality
of Canaza.
The case of Palma Tica is typical of a very powerful company that
hides itself under different names, so that it is practically
impossible to identify those who are responsible for its depredatory
actions. Uncertainty and distrust are so widespread that rumours are
circulating that Costa Rica's President himself, Miguel Angel
Rodriguez Echeverria, is suspected of being one of the shareholders
of this big company, which makes profits at the expense of natural
resources and that of the impoverished workers and people. To the
world's eyes, Costa Rica has gained prestige as a country committed
to the conservation of natural resources and the defence of social
rights. However, those of us who live here know that a great part of
that is pure demagogy serving the interests of those who hold
economic power.
By: Juan Figuerola, Coordinator of COVIRENA of La Palma de
Corredores. Apdo. 1604-2050, San Jose, Costa Rica. Telefax (506) 283-
7193; e-mail: juaneco@sol.racsa.co.cr
*************
- Honduras to "buy" Canadian carbon dioxide
Last September Canada reached a controversial deal to "buy" oxygen
from Honduras within the framework of a "debt for nature" swap and
the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. CIDA
(Canadian International Development Agency) will "forgive" about U$S
680,000 of Honduras' U$S 11 million debt with Canada. In exchange, a
so-called joint implementation office will be established in Honduras
to promote tree plantations and monitor forest conservation
programmes in that country. Canada will benefit by getting credit for
"cutting" emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
As in other similar cases since the idea of forests and tree
plantations as carbon sinks was launched as a possible way of
mitigating global warming, the powerful hand of industry is behind
this project. In fact, this allows a major carbon dioxide-producing
country -such as Canada- to be able to avoid implementing real
measures to either reduce carbon emissions at source or to implement
the conservation of its own forests. Such measures would for sure be
resisted by the Canadian industry, which emits huge volumes of CO2 to
the atmosphere, as well as by logging companies, responsible for
deforestation in numerous regions of the Canadian territory. The
disappearance of the boreal forests in Quebec during this century is
a good (bad) example of the way in which they act.
In Honduras the idea was enthusiastically announced by the Minister
for the Environment Xiomara Gomez, according to whom this is a good
opportunity to obtain resources from developed countries for forest
protection. Honduras is also expecting that the USA and Germany will
come to similar agreements on "oxygen sales". Nevertheless, the
Honduran authorities have not shown the same enthusiasm in protecting
the country's forests from illegal logging or combating corruption at
the forest administration level (see WRM Bulletin 27).
Attractive as they may seem, these kinds of projects do not
contribute to an effective solution to the global warming problem.
Apart from the fact that it is very doubtful that tree plantations
really absorb and store carbon (see article in the Plantations
Campaign section), the carbon offset market is an idea which Northern
countries -the real responsible over climate change- have put forward
to avoid real changes to the current unsustainable social and
economic model. Honduras, with its pressing needs, has been selected
to act as a garbage dump for northern carbon dioxide ... for peanuts.
Source:Christian Science Monitor, 23/9/99;
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/09/23/fp7s1-csm.shtml
*************
SOUTH AMERICA
- Brazil: Monte Pascoal National Park belongs to the Pataxo
When the European conquerors arrived in America, they made a clear
distinction between white people, black people and indians. While the
former were human beings, the African slaves were declared animals.
Although the indians were declared human beings, they were considered
as children, whose lives needed to be governed by adults, who were
those of European descent.
No-one will now openely support the above distinctions, but in fact
that kind of thinking is far from dead. The case of the Pataxo
indigenous peoples in the state of Bahia in Brazil constiutes one of
many possible examples. Their territory was completely taken over in
1951 -following the physical massacre of most of their people- and a
large part of it was declared a National Park, while the rest was
distributed to cattle ranchers. On August 19, 1999, the Pataxo
decided to recover their traditional lands and took over Monte
Pascoal National Park (see WRM Bulletin 26). The reaction of
Brazilian society has been mixed. Some relatively few organizations
and individuals expressed their unconditional support to this action,
based on the simple fact that the Pataxo are the righteous owners of
the park. A larger part of the population chose to either oppose, or
ignore, or conditionally support the action. The explanation can be
found in the deep racism still prevailing as regards to indigenous
peoples. Even some organizations sympathetic to indigenous peoples'
issues seem to mistrust the Pataxo's capacity to conserve the park.
Apparently the park's conservation is to them more important than
justice. More importantly, they seem to continue regarding the Pataxo
as children which need to be guided by adults. Is this not racism?
In a forest-destroying country as Brazil, no-one can blame the
indigenous peoples of having been major actors in such scenario. On
the contrary, they have been at the receiving end, having had their
lives and livelihoods gravely affected by deforestation and forest
degradation. The fact that Monte Pascoal -part of the Pataxo's
territory- still had extensive forest when it was declared a National
Park is proof of the above. But many are concerned that in the
"indians'" hands the Park may now be destroyed. This needs some
clarification. On the one hand, it must be stated that the Pataxo -
the righteous owners of the land- have the same legal rights that
other Brazilians have of logging the forest. On the other hand, that
the Pataxo have declared that their aim is to conserve the forest and
there's no reason to believe that they will not act in accordance
with such statement.
Monte Pascoal National Park means much to the Pataxo: it means the
recovery of their ancestral territory and the possibility of
regaining their dignity as a people. The Park also means much to
conservationists, which see it as one of the few remnants of the
almost entirely destroyed Mata Atlantica forest. At the same time,
the Park is also a symbol of the "discovery" of Brazil by the
Portuguese 500 years ago. The Pataxo have therefore put on the table
crucial issues to be addressed by the entire Brazilian society:
justice; equality between indigenous and other peoples; conservation
and people; "discovery", encounter or conquest; racism; genocide.
The Pataxo will need much support at the international, national and
local levels. They are facing a large number of forces that will work
to defeat them using all available means. As an example, the
government has recently stopped funding its own agency's working
group, which had been assigned the task of demarcating the Pataxo's
territory. It has given lands to landless peasants within the
Pataxo's territory, with the aim of generating conflicts between the
two groups. The cattle ranchers surrounding the area are responsible
for annual fires which will almost inevitably affect the park -as
they have done in the past. The government may decide not to provide
support to supress the fires, to show the inability of the Pataxo to
preserve the forest.
This is not a conservation versus destruction issue. It's a matter of
repairing injustice and recognizing the Pataxo's right to manage
their territory. They call on organizations, the Church,
parliamentarians, municipal, state and federal bodies and concerned
individuals to help them "build the future of our people within our
traditional territory ... which is the only possible place for
building our future with dignity." All those wishing to support the
Pataxo's struggle can contact them through CIMI-Equipe Extremo Sul:
cimi@sulbanet.com.br
*************
- Bolivia: good news regarding the Chiquitano forests
Since 1998, Bolivian and international environmental and social NGOs,
as well as academics, have been opposing the San Miguel-Cuiaba gas
pipeline project of Enron-Shell which will cross Bolivia into Brazil,
causing a negative environmental impact on the Chiquitano dry forest
in eastern Bolivia, which is the world's last significant remnant of
intact dry tropical forest. In spite of this opposition, in June 1999
OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) -a descentralized
financial institution of the US government- decided to finance the
project. Such decision was allegedly taken because some Bolivian, US
and international conservationist organizations had negotiated with
the promoters of the project their support to it if a Conservation
Plan was implemented. This surprising attitute was severely
questioned by a number of Bolivian environmental and human rights
NGOs (see WRM Bulletin 24).
Fortunately, some of those NGOs seem to have realized their mistake
and recently the WWF announced that it would not continue supporting
the above mentioned Conservation Plan. Such decision is the direct
result of the concerned NGOs' work, which oppose the "green make-up"
that was trying to be applied to this unsustainable infrastructure
project. It is expected that WWF's new approach to the issue may
convince OPIC to change its mind regarding financing of the project.
Source: Drillbits & Tailings (Spanish version), 4-15, 25/9/99.
*************
- Colombia: violence and deforestation in the Choco region
Colombian forests are undergoing a severe process of destruction. The
civil war that is devastating the country can be considered one of
the main causes of deforestation. Due to the prevailing state of
violence in Colombia, entire rural communities are obliged to leave
their homes and lands. Additionally to their effects from a social
and cultural point of view, forced displacements also create
conditions for further negative impacts on forests.
The Pacific Region of the country, known for its abundance of natural
resources and cultural richness, as well as for the constant process
of depredation that it has suffered since colonial times (see WRM
Bulletin 27) is victim of this type of activities. The Forcibly
Displaced Afro-Colombian Communities of the Cacarica Basin of the
Choco, provisionally settled in Turbo, Bocas del Atrato and Bahia
Cupica have denounced the illegal and indiscriminate deforestation of
their lands by the YIREH cooperative. This company is apparently
operating in connection with the logging corporation Darien Woods
Company (Maderas de El Darien).
While the community resists returning to their lands until the
Colombian government fulfills their list of conditions for what they
call a "Return with Dignity", the above named company is taking
advantage of their absence to log in the territories that have been
legally awarded to the communities under Law 70 for Black Ethnic
Communities. Moreover, the communities have reported acts of
harassment by paramilitaries, who are trying to intimidate them so as
to avoid their opposition to logging activities in their territory.
It is important to mention that the Cacarica Basin borders the Los
Katios National Park, which is home to one of the highest levels of
biodiversity per square mile in the world.
From August 19 to 21 a verification commission integrated by
representatives of the communities, national and international NGOs,
parliamentarians and delegates from government bodies, travelled to
the area to investigate the ongoing deforestation process. The
following is a translation of the Communities' testimony, published
in their newsletter "Humanos del Mundo":
"...We were witnesses, together with representatives from government
bodies and institutions of the State, of the horrendous scenario of
deforestation that Maderas de El Darien is causing in the region of
the Cacarica. Before our very eyes we saw two boats pass by -
belonging to this company- towing through the river more than 400
trees belonging to endangered species of the "catival" forests. We
heard high-tech heavy machinery that does not sink into the muddy
swampland; we saw how they continued opening channels to take out our
natural wealth; we were sadenned by the occupation of our school
buildings that have now been turned into camps for the workers. We
are not lying: large companies are turning our territory into a
cemetery for nature; no longer did we walk through the trees but
rather with the sun hitting our foreheads. This is an Ecocide."
According to testimonies obtained from the company's workers,
CODECHOCO -the governmental body in charge of granting logging
contracts in the region- is aware of the illegal deforestation and
has done nothing to stop it. Such omission and negligence is
collaborating with the massive destruction of the forest.
An action at the international level is being carried out to stop
this destruction. You can address the following Colombian
authorities, expressing your concern on the accelerated deforestation
and the suffering of the communities of the Cacarica Basin, and
calling for an immediate suspension of every logging contract in the
area:
Mr. President
Dr Andres Pastrana Arango
Fax (011-571) 283-7324
(011-571) 286-7434
(011-571) 287-7937
Mr Minister of the Environment
Dr. Juan Mayr
fax: (011-571) 288-7639
Source: Colombia Support Network, 12/10/00, e-mail: csn@igc.apc.org
http://www.igc.apc.org/csn/
*************
- Venezuela: the Pemons' struggle
The Pemon indigenous people are opposing a project of construction of
a high-voltage power line 470-mile long across Conaima National Park
in the south-eastern Gran Sabana region. At the beginning of October
they carried out a direct action by knocking down an electricity
tower and blockading a key highway linking the country to Brazil.
In a press release the Pemon, who call themselves "Rainbow Warriors",
said they would continue to knock down at least one a day until they
reach an agreement with the government. They also said that they had
detained three trucks from state agencies that were being used to
build the line.
Their struggle is supported by environmental NGOs, which contend the
line will damage the rich and fragile ecosystem of the Park and
disturb indigenous communities. According to the official viewpoint,
the power line means "progress" for the region since it will provide
electricity to gold mining and to the indigenous villages themselves.
Considering the environmental effects of gold mining on the
environment -forests included- and the cultural impact of this kind
of projects on the indigenous way of life, the power line
construction will certainly not mean an improvement for the Pemons'
lives and that's why they are strongly opposing it. A similar protest
was conducted last year, which prompted the government to interrupt
the works till last May.
Indigenous peoples of Venezuela are at the same time actively
participating in the process leading to a new constitution. On
November 3, the 131-member Venezuelan National Constituent Assembly
voted to include a chapter in the new constitution that establishes
legal rights for indigenous peoples and indigenous communities in
line with International Labour Organization Convention 169. Chapter
VIII would guarantee "the right to exist as indigenous peoples and
communities with their own social and economic organization, their
cultures and traditions, and their land.
The entire new Constitution will be submitted to a referendum vote on
December 12.
If -as expected- the new constitution is approved, the Pemon and
other indigenous peoples will be in a much better position to protect
their environment and their traditions against the destructive forces
which until now have prevailed.
Sources: Guillermo Holzmann, e-mail: gholz85@yahoo.com 3/10/99;
Amazon Watch, e-mail: amazon@amazonwatch.org 4/11/99.
*************
OCEANIA
- Australian NGOs do not support Minister Tuckey's intiatitive.
The following letter is being circulated worldwide by a large number
of Australian NGOs:
"We the undersigned representatives of Australian conservation NGOs
are writing to you to express our opposition to the approach taken by
our Federal Minister for Forestry and Conservation, Mr. Wilson
Tuckey, to regulate independent forest certification schemes at the
international level.
As you may know, Minister Tuckey has invited a number of government
representatives to meet in New York in November to discuss the
creation of an intergovernmental mechanism to regulate the operation
of private, voluntary, non-governmental certification programs.
However, Minister Tuckey has decided not to invite any non-
governmental representatives, or in fact anyone who is directly
involved in operating a certification program. We believe the closed
nature of this meeting is highly inappropriate.
Full transparency, and the meaningful consultation and participation
of relevant stakeholders have been acknowledged by many institutions,
including the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, as essential
components in credible forest certification and labelling schemes.
Despite these widely accepted criteria, to date no Australian NGOs
have been approached by the Australian Federal Government to seek
their support for Minister Tuckey's initiative. Nor has the
Australian general public been made aware of this scheme, we believe
because the Minister knows it lacks fundamental credibility.
Due in part to forest policies advocated by Minister Tuckey and
others, certification has become a very controversial issue in
Australia. We believe Minister Tuckey may be attempting to elevate
our domestic controversies into the international arena by asking
other governments to support his ill-advised proposal. We feel this
would represent a serious divergence from recent directions in the
international forest policy debate, and will surely trigger
widespread NGO opposition.
For these reasons we respectfully request that your government
declines Mr Tuckey's invitation to attend the New York meeting.
Sincerely Yours,
To Date:
Tim Cadman, Native Forest Network; Beth Schultz, Conservation Council
of WA; Peter Sims, Tarkine National Coalition; Cam Walker, Friends of
the Earth; Harriett Swift, Bega Chipstop; Virginia Young, The
Wilderness Society; Rod Anderson, Environment Victoria; John Poppins,
Amcor Green Shareholders; Jill Redwood, Concerned Residents of East
Gippsland; Peter Roberstson, West Australian Forest Alliance; Noel
Plum, National Parks Association of New South Wales; Bill Peisley,
Project Officer, Rainforest Information Centre; Leonie Van der
Maesen, FoE Australia."
Source: Native Forest Network Southern Hemisphere; email:
tcadman@nfn.org.au, www: http://www.nfn.org.au
**************PLANTATIONS CAMPAIGN
*************
- Brazil: FSC certification of Aracruz suspended
The news that giant bleached eucalyptus pulp producer Aracruz
Celulose had applied for FSC certification had an enormous impact in
the two Brazilian states -Bahia and Espirito Santo- where it
operates. As a result, a large number of organizations and
individuals concerned with the spread of extensive monoculture
plantations in the region -which include those of Aracruz, Bahia Sul
and Veracel- got together to prevent the company from receiving FSC
approval.
The ensuing networking activities brought people together at a
seminar which took place in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, on October 15-
16. Participants included representatives from indigenous peoples
organizations, NGOs, trade unions, fisherfolk, academics, Afro-
Brazilian communities, journalists, parliamentarians and others. The
seminar analized the impacts of the activities of Aracruz in the
framework of the FSC principles and criteria and agreed to actively
participate in the consultation process being implemented by the
certifying firm SCS. Given that SCS had not complied with a number of
FSC's requirements for participation and consultation, they decided
to send a letter requesting the postponement of the consultation
meetings. The letter was sent on October 22nd (available at
http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/plantations/material/Aracruz/report1.ht
m) and to date (November 16) no reply has been received. FSC-Brazil
has now informed that the certification process has been temporarily
suspended due to the procedural deficiencies denounced by civil
society organizations.
At the same time, the "agreement" imposed by Aracruz on the Tupinikim
and Guarani indigenous peoples in the state of Espirito Santo is
beginning to be questioned and on November 11, the indigenous peoples
staged a demonstration to show their discomfort.
In spite of its enormous power, Aracruz is in a weak position.
Knowing its record regarding indigenous peoples, it is trying to get
FSC certification only for its plantations in Bahia, thus avoiding
the issue of the dispossesion of indigenous peoples' lands in the
neighbouring state of Espirito Santo. But even in Bahia, the impacts
of plantations have shown to be so great, that it is highly
improbable that it can be certified. For the FSC, its own credibility
is at stake in this certification process. If Aracruz were to be
eventually certified, most NGOs participating in the scheme would
almost certainly withdraw, thus losing the necessary support to
achieve credibility.
*************
- Tree plantations generate unemployment
One of the arguments used by large-scale tree plantation promoters
(with the pulp and paper industry at the forefront) is that they
contribute to the well being of the rural areas where they are set
up, by increasing employment opportunities. This is a crucial issue:
unemployment is one of the most negative consequences of the ongoing
globalization process, so any activity that promises to increase jobs
can be perceived as being attractive by local people. In the case of
plantations, however, the opposite has been proven true and one
example is that of the extreme southern region of the state of Bahia
in Brazil, where local communites and indigenous peoples are actively
opposing plantations.
An opinion poll was performed in that region to learn what different
sectors of society were thinking about the establishment of a
development plan based on the pulp and paper industry. At the time,
45% of the people interviewed were in favour of such initiative, and
the generation of employment was one of the most frequent arguments
for such support. Now, when three large corporations (Aracruz
Celulose, Bahia Sul Celulose and Veracel) have taken over extensive
areas and have planted them with eucalyptus, people think
differently.
A comparative study recently carried out on the jobs created in
cattle-raising, industrial agriculture, small-scale agriculture, and
eucalyptus plantations, showed that the first one employs on average
1 worker every 50 hectares; the first and second ones, considered
together, employ 1 worker every 26.1 hectares, while small-scale
agriculture employs 1 worker every 5 hectares. Eucalyptus plantations
only generated 1 job every 60 hectares! Such figure results from
dividing the total area of 371,156 hectares owned by the above
mentioned three companies by the 6,212 jobs they created.
But that's not all. Comparing the number of jobs created by the three
companies with the jobs lost in cattle-raising and agriculture on the
lands where the plantations were set up - 50,000 hectares formerly
used by agriculture, 271,000 hectares by cattle-raising and 50.000
with no direct use- the result is even worse: 15,420 jobs were lost!
This means that for every single job generated by the pulp and paper
industry in that region, 2.5 jobs were lost. In sum, if job creation
is a priority, plantations are not only the worse solution: they even
aggravate the problem by generating yet more unemployment.
Sources: Jose Koopmans, "Alem do eucalipto: o papel do Extremo Sul",
Memorial das Letras, Salvador, 1999; Carrere Ricardo, "Ten replies to
ten lies", World Rainforest Movement, Montevideo, 1999.
*************
- Environmental crime linked to Peugeot in Brazil
The "environmentally concerned" French car producer Peugeot, decided
to do something about the global warming effect of the millions of
cars it produces. Of course, nothing as radical as switching to a
different source of fuel. Instead, it decided to go the easy way: to
plant "carbon sequestering" trees in the state of Mato Grosso in
Brazil. The project began to be implemented last year, with the aim
of converting 12,000 hectares of "degraded" pastures into
plantations. According to Peugeot, the planted area would be able to
remove 183,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.
And very cheaply: for only US$12 million.
However, the results have been very expensive for the environment and
for local people. A local subsidiary of the French NGO "Office
Nations de Forets" began operations and caused what may have been the
worst ecological crime ever committed in the state. Hundreds of
animals -including species facing extinction- were found dead in one
of the plantation areas. The reason: the use of 5,000 litres of the
"inocuous" herbicide gliphosate (Round Up) in an area of 1,500
hectares being prepared for the plantation. The disaster also reached
two rivers (the Juruena and Teles Pires) resulting in the widespread
death of fish.
What's worse is that this has not been a mere accident. On the
contrary, modern plantation technology strongly recommends the use of
herbicides to eliminate competing vegetation -thus effectively
eradicating much of the local plant biodiversity. The herbicide being
extensively used all around the world for this purpose, on whose
effects the company which produces it (Monsanto) has been lying for
years, stating that it is less harmful than table salt, is precisely
the one that caused this disaster.
The above is the result of bogus environmentalism: the implementation
of an allegedly "environmentally-friendly" activity -planting trees-
publicized as capable of sequestering carbon dioxide and thereby
mitigating the greenhouse effect. In order to avoid the really
difficult decision of abandoning the fossil fuel-dependent economy,
part of the academic community has come up with these clever schemes
and provided them with "scientific" support. Fortunately, another
part of the academic community seems to be honestly trying to assert
whether plantations are or are not capable of acting as carbon sinks.
Their answer is no (see article below).
Source: Nelson Francisco, "Herbicida pode ter causado desastre
ambiental. Centenas de animais selvagens foram encontrados mortos em
fazenda de MT", O Estado de S. Paulo, 11/11/1999
*************
- New scientific findings: tree plantations may accelerate global
warming
The promotion of tree plantations as a means of combating global
warming has received all kinds of criticism. On the one hand,
plantations do not relieve pressures from forests -which are carbon
reservoirs- but constitute a direct cause of their destruction.
According to a satellite image analysis, in the 1980s, 75% of the new
tree plantations in Southern countries in the tropics were made by
replacing natural forest that had existed there ten years earlier.
This meant an estimated additional release of 725 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming
(see WRM Bulletin 18). On the other hand, when plantations are set up
on grasslands they substitute a valuable ecosystem as carbon sink and
reservoir. The amount of carbon stored by grasslands should be
deducted from the volume of carbon allegedly retained by plantations.
Furthermore in some cases -as that of the grassland vegetation of the
Andean Paramos- recent studies show that natural ecosystems are more
efficient that plantations regarding their capacity of absorbing CO2.
Last but not least, the promotion of large scale monocultures under
the guise of "carbon sinks" will not but aggravate the social and
environmental negative impacts that similar plantations -aimed at
producing fibre or wood- cause.
Recently, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
issued a report that can be the coup de grace for the idea of
plantations as carbon sinks. According to scientists, planned new
plantations will quickly become saturated with carbon and begin
returning most of their carbon to the atmosphere through respiration.
Since CO2 is the most important greenhouse effect gas, global warming
would be accelerated instead of mitigated. These new findings mean a
change in the IPCC's previous viewpoint concerning the issue. It had
been assumed that as long as CO2 levels in the air went on rising,
forest sinks would continue to grow due to the accelerating effect of
the so-called "CO2 fertilisation" on photosynthesis. However, CO2
fertilisation may already have reached its maximum and respiration
may be about to accelerate. Thus, large-scale tree plantations would
in fact aggravate instead of mitigating the greenhouse effect.
The above proves that planting trees to absorb CO2 is no substitute
for cutting fossil fuel emissions at source and furthermore, to
rethinking the present unsustainable production and consumption model
that is threatening life on Earth. In spite of the efforts of their
promoters to show them as a panacea, tree plantations are not a
solution to the problem but a part of it.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991023/newsstory8.html
Comments by WRM International Secretariat.
**************GENERAL
*************
- NGOs' action in Spain against shrimp industry
During the "World Shrimp Market 99" recently held in Madrid, members
of Greenpeace Spain and several Latin American NGOs expressed their
protest against the expansion of this depredatory activity, by
unfurling three large banners reading: "No new shrimp farms - Stop
the shrimp industry", "Shrimp farming - Mangroves destruction" and
"Shrimp Industry Meeting - Mangrove Death". " Fifty per cent of
mangrove areas have already disappeared. At present the shrimp
industry goes on jeopardising tropical coastlines of developing
countries and their local communities, in order to put tropical
shrimps on your table" expressed the activists to the media.
Elmer Lopez from Greenpeace International and Jorge Varela from
CODDEFFAGOLF of Honduras, who were at the same time attending the
meeting, made a presentation of the environmentalists' viewpoint to
those attending the proceedings. The Spanish authorities committed
themselves to include mangrove conservation as a priority in their
Araucaria biodiversity project, which is being carried out by the
Spanish Cooperation Agency. Spain is the main consumer of Ecuadorian
shrimp, whose production has nearly completely destroyed the
mangroves of the Pacific coast in that country.
Source: Elmer Lopez, e-mail: elopez@dialb.greenpeace.org 27/10/99
*************
- Forests for the future
The Dutch NGO BothENDS has recently published "Forests for the
Future: Local Strategies for Forest Protection, Economic Welfare and
Social Justice", edited by Paul Wolvekamp, Ann Danaiya Usher, Vijay
Paranjpye, and Madhu Ramnath.
The book addresses the question of how local and indigenous
communities can maintain the balance between their societies and
their forest environments when faced with increasing external
pressures, rising populations and growing demands for basic needs and
cash.
Causes of deforestation usually lie outside the forest. World demand
for wood, paper and the raw materials determine the fate of the
forest, rather than local peoples' needs and forest conservation. As
for the efforts by governments or corporations to restore and manage
forest environments, they are often either non-existent or at best
ineffective.
And yet, within communities who depend on forests, there frequently
exists a wealth of knowledge about rational land use and
environmental protection. The case studies in this volume come from
all around the world and include tropical, temperate and boreal
zones. They describe the positive efforts undertaken to consolidate
or adapt local forest management systems to a changing environment.
One of the things that distinguishes this book is that its
contributors belong to local groups involved in these efforts. The
book presents their experiences and recommendations on how to re-
establish community control over forest lands and preserve them for
the future.
"Any time you hear someone say there are 'no alternatives' to
centralised state control of sensitive forest areas, reach for this
book. Providing the sort of perspective that can come only from those
closely engaged in the tough realities of local forest struggles, it
both informs and inspires" commented Larry Lohmann, coauthor of
"Pulping the South", on this new book.
Those interested in ordering it, please contact:
Mohammed Umar
Zed Books
7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF
Tel +44 (0)20 7837 4014 Fax +44(0)20 7833 3960 e-mail:
sales@zedbooks.demon.co.uk
Source: Paul Wolvekamp, e-mail: pw@bothends.org 15/11/99
*************
- Oil: The Earth's blood
"The oil flows, the Earth bleeds" is the title of this Oilwatch
publication. Oilwatch is an international network that supports the
struggle of local communities and indigenous peoples facing oil
industry activities in the tropics.
The book presents a broad variety of examples of oil activities and
resistance in Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Peru,
Guatemala, Bolivia, Brazil), Africa (Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Ghana),
Asia (Bangladesh, India, Thailand), as well as general articles on
the issue.
Those interested in receiving a copy, please address your request to:
oilwatch@uio.satnet.net
************************************************************ * WRM
GENERAL ACTIVITIES
*************
- News from the International Secretariat
Ricardo Carrere visited in October the states of Espirito Santo and
Bahia invited by CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionario). During his
trip, he participated at a seminar which took place in Vitoria on the
impacts of eucalyptus plantations and the FSC. He later had a meeting
in Monte Pascoal with Pataxo indigenous peoples' leaders (see article
above) and offered them WRM's inconditional support to their
struggle. After that, he spent a few days travelling around the
plantation area of the three big companies established in the extreme
south of Bahia (Aracruz, Bahia Sul and Veracel). Meetings were
organized with concerned individuals and organizations which have
either documented or suffered the social and environmental impacts of
those plantations, as well as the struggles to oppose them. Visits
were organized to see the dried up water courses, lagoons and wells,
to hear about the disappearance of wildlife, to listen to direct
witnesses of the deforestation activities that preceeded plantations,
to hear about increasing unemployment rates and migration. In sum, to
see the consequences of this unsustainable forestry model.
Alvaro Gonzalez participated in the VII Environmental Journalists'
World Congress held in Bogota, Colombia, from October 11 to 15, where
he made a presentation on "Deforestation and afforestation: two names
for the same problem." The Congress addressed a large number of other
issues, including presentations by the U'wa and Embera indigenous
peoples of Colombia on their struggle for land and livelihoods.
Presentations and discussions were also made on the following issues:
Towards a New Ethics, Genetic Resources and Biosafety, Globalization
and the Environment, Communication and the Environment and Drug
Trafficking and the Environment. Those interested in receiving
further information on the Congress, please address: Max Henriquez,
e-mail: senal131@openway.com.co
On 5-6 November Ricardo Carrere participated at the Oilwatch Steering
Committee meeting held in Quito, Ecuador. He later made a
presentation at the Workshop on Trade and Deforestation organized by
the Underlying Causes Initiative. Finally, he participated at the
international seminar "Resistance: a way towards sustainability" (8-9
November), organized by Accion Ecologica in the framework of the
International Assembly of Friends of the Earth, where he made a
presentation on "Tree plantations as seen from the North and from the
South."