European Projects Hurt Forests, Indigenous Peoples

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

10/20/98

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

It should be no surprise that European projects hurt forests and

indigenous peoples, it has been happening for centuries. What was

carried out in the name of Christianity and civilizing savages is now

done in the name of markets and development; begging the question,

development by whom, and for whose benefit. Certainly most peoples

worldwide desire some form of community advancement, or "development".

But the fact is that many outside driven development schemes are not

working because they do not adequately understand the local situation,

view ecosystems as resources to be liquidated rather than managed and

maintained, and disregard local peoples. Small _is_ beautiful.

g.b.

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Title: ENVIRONMENT: EU Projects Hurt Forests, Indigenous Peoples,

Study

Source: Interpress Service

Date: October 11, 1998

Byline: Dipankar De Sarkar

LONDON, Oct 11 (IPS) - European aid projects worth billions of dollars

are ruining the environment in developing countries and pushing

indigenous tribes to the margins, a new report says.

The report by the Rainforest Foundation, a non-governmental

organisation, says Third World projects funded under the European

Union's aid programme and administered by the European Commission are:

- Wrecking the environment of developing countries, including

threatening globally important tropical rainforests and destroying

local communities;

- Breaching the European Commission's own guidelines and procedures

meant to protect the environment and vulnerable people; and

- Operating behind a "veil of secrecy, such that members of the public

and even European governments are unable to obtain key information on

the use of EU money on Third World schemes."

"The European Commission has been utterly complacent about the

environmental and social impacts of its Third World development

programme, attempting to hide behind a veil of secrecy and

unaccountability," said Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest

Foundation.

"European governments must end this disgraceful abuse of taxpayers'

money, and either bring about a radical shake-up of the European

Commission or withdraw its funding for such damaging schemes," he

added.

The report, the result of an 18-month investigation, says European

Commission projects have led to the eviction of communities from

tradtional forest lands in Uganda, the banning of traditional farming

techniques in the indigenous Palawan areas of the Philippines and

increased hunting, logging and poaching in Cameroonian forests as a

result of road construction.

In addition, poor policies have added pressure on forests in Nigeria

and Ghana, it says.

The environmental group says key reasons for the low quality of the EU

projects are secrecy and the lack of consultation.

"While other international agencies have been opening their doors to

scrutiny, the European Commission still largely operates behind a veil

of secrecy," the report says.

Requests for important information about aid projects, such as

environmental impact assessments, are "routinely refused, apparently

in contravention of the Commission's own Code of Conduct on public

access to information."

Consultation with local communities in project areas is rarely carried

out - often the locals get to learn of a project only "when the

bulldozers arrive in their villages," the Foundation charges.

It gives the example of an EU-funded project in the Upper Orinoco-

Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve in southern Venezuela - at 83,000 sq km,

the world's largest formally protected area in rainforests.

Although the reserve is home to three indigenous peoples - the

Yanomami, Sanema and Ye'kuana -- none of their members were consulted

in designing the project, which aims to protect the region's natural

resources and prevent logging and mining. As a result, tourist camps

in the reserve have been a source of dispute and a military airstrip

has come up in the heart of a Ye'kuana community, angering villagers.

"Most seriously, the project has been very slow in delivering actual

benefits to the Indians," the report says.

"Despite a desperate health situation, with mounting mortalities from

falciparum malaria and respiratory infections, no action has yet been

taken to provide medical assistance to the Upper Orinoco communities,

nor has any action been taken by the project to expel Brazilian miners

illegally operating in the headwaters along the border (with

Venezuela)."

A second project, for a major road in southern Cameroon, is said to

have suffered because of an almost complete absence of consultation

with locals.

The project is funded by a mechanism called Stabex, which seeks to

guarantee African, Caribbean and Pacific countries a degree of

stabilisation in their earnings through the export of commodities.

Dependency on export earnings from commodities means decreases in

international commodity prices hits them hard.

The road runs from Ampiel to Lomie, on the edge of Dja Biosphere

Reserve -- home to a large population of Baka pygmies.

Research carried out for the Rainforest Foundation has shown that

there was almost no consultation over the project. "More than half of

the local people only knew of the project when machines started to

arrive in their villages," the report says.

According to the NGO, the road has resulted in increases in logging

activities by European logging companies, poaching, prostitution,

health problems, pollution and crime.

The European Commission's Director General for Development, Philip

Lowe, criticised some of the conclusions of the report, saying the

Cameroon road was "vital to providing access to health centres,

education for children and getting agricultural produce to the

market."

"The road is critical to Cameroon's development -- its not simply to

hack into tropical forests. It's been a traditional route for many

years," he told IPS on the telephone from Brussels.

"The underlying cause is poverty itself. There's very little economic

development around. And indigenous people represent 10 percent of

Cameroon's population. There are a maximum of 40,000 Baka pygmies.

Their traditions have to be preserved, but the future needs of the

other 360,000 people (in the area) need to be looked after as well.

"Environment is not just for trees and animals, but also for man," he

added.

Simon Counsell of the Rainforest Foundation, taking exception to

Lowe's remarks about pygmies, said it was "tantamount to saying that

because they are in a minority, their welfare doesn't matter. It's a

preposterous and obscene suggestion. Baka pygmies are the most

impoverished people in Cameroon. They are living on the very margins

of society."

He said his organisation was concerned about both environmental and

social aspects of development, whereas European Commission projects

are "planned from Brussels, using experts who are not familiar with

local societies and therefore often get it wrong."

Lowe claimed the substance of the Foundation's criticism was already

contained in audit reports carried out and funded by the European

Commission itself -- a claim denied by Counsell.

Lowe added that the Commission has recently made it mandatory for all

development schemes to submit a prior environmental impact assessment,

prepared in consultation with local communities.(END/IPS/DDS/KB/98)

Origin: ROMAWAS/ENVIRONMENT/

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[c] 1998, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)

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