09/20/01 -- VICTORIES: Good News from South America's Rainforests

VICTORIES!!!

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FOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY

Good News from South America's Rainforests

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Portal

http://forests.org/links/ -- Forest Conservation Links

09/20/01

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Forests.org

Around the World forest conservationists continue to achieve

tremendous victories. Despite overwhelming odds; being largely

ignored by governments, the mainstream media and segments of society;

and lack of resources, the movement for global forest and ecological

sustainability continues to rack up victories. Attached is news of

three recent significant rainforest conservation developments in

South America: 1) Bolivia's protection of 17,760 square miles of vast

tropical wetlands in the Pantanal; 2) Amazon Indians with assistance

from Greenpeace cutting forest boundaries to keep illegal loggers out

of their land; 3) and the Brazilian Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

being established to ensure logging is done in an environmentally

sensitive fashion. Working together cooperatively we can save our

ecological heritage - whose loss is the greatest threat to humanity's

future.

The only cloud on these developments is the failure of WWF and FSC to

ensure that forest certification does not lead to accelerated logging

of our dwindling old-growth forest wildlands. Failure to specify

under what conditions commercial logging of the World's large

rainforest wildernesses is acceptable tarnishes the establishment of

the Brazilian certification group. The fact that heavy logging of

remaining ancient old-growth forests is being certified as "green"

threatens to make FSC's claim of providing environmentally sensitive

forest products meaningless. WWF's long-time goal of 10% protected

areas in any given eco-region is hopelessly inadequate when faced

with planning for the future of the massive Brazilian Amazon

rainforest ecosystem. The Brazilian Amazon operates as a huge

ecosystem engine making the Earth habitable. FSC and WWF: how much

of the World's remaining large wild forests - and the Brazilian

Amazon in particular - should be logged under FSC or stricter

certification and how much should be protected? What are the goals

for management vs. strict protection to make forest certification a

means of achieving upscale forest sustainability? Your answer

determines whether your efforts to certify commercial logging of

ancient old-growth forests are a force for global forest

sustainability, or are merely commercial logging as usual. Let us

know when you get a moment. Do not expect rigorous forest

conservationists to support FSC logging of ancient forest wildlands

until you do.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Bolivia's gift to the Earth largest in South America

Date: September 19, 2001

South America's largest freshwater protected area has been set aside

by the government of Bolivia and was presented to the world in a

ceremony in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Monday.

The Bolivian government designated three wetlands totalling 17,760

square miles - an area larger than Switzerland - as protected sites

under an international treaty known as the Ramsar Convention.

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, provides

the framework for national action and international cooperation to

conserve wetlands. Bolivia becomes the second country to designate

such a vast area of wetlands in the Ramsar Convention's 30 years of

existence.

Ramsar Secretary General Delmar Blasco, attended the ceremonies

Monday that formally established the newly protected area.

Endangered species such as the jaguar, the tapir, the giant river

otter, and the hyacinth macaw inhabit these wetlands, located in the

lowlands of Bolivia. The three wetlands - Ba ados del Izogog-Rio

Parapeti, El Palmar de las Islas-Salinas de San Jos,, and Bolivian

Pantanal - are also home to hundreds of species of plants and animals

which are threatened in other parts of the country and in the rest of

the world. The wetlands are linked to the Amazon basin, forming a

biological and genetic corridor. They serve as freshwater reserves

for the surrounding human communities.

The Bolivian Pantanal is the best preserved portion of the larger

Pantanal system, often called the world's largest freshwater wetland

system, extending through millions of square miles of central-western

Brazil, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay. A tapestry of lakes,

lagoons, rivers, flooded savannas, palms, and dry forests, the

Bolivian Pantanal regulates floods and droughts in an enormous area

of Eastern Bolivia. It has enormous biodiversity, sustaining at least

197 species of fish, more than 70 species of amphibians and reptiles,

more than 300 species of birds, and more than 50 species of large

mammals. Unfortunately, it is bounded by dry forests that are

considered to be the among the most endangered and least protected

biomass in the world.

The Bolivian government's decision has been recognized as a Gift to

the Earth - a first for freshwater in Latin America - by the World

Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "The inclusion of these sites on the

Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance is a huge

achievement for both conservation and local communities," said Dr.

Claude Martin, director general of WWF International. "The impressive

expanse of land and water that becomes protected thanks to this move,

represents close to 10 percent of the global conservation goal of

WWF's Living Waters Program."

When governments designate Ramsar sites, they commit themselves to

better conservation of the wetlands and wiser use of the natural

resources. It means that development projects such as waterways,

highways, drainage, and irrigation canals or oil and gas pipelines

must be carefully planned and their environmental impact thoroughly

assessed.

This is particularly important for the Bolivian Pantanal, where

various large-scale development projects are planned, including the

Paraguay-Parana waterway, the construction of which would mean

clearing land and dredging of rivers in the region.

"Local actors, such as municipal authorities, indigenous communities,

farmers, and private landowners have welcomed the designation of the

sites," said Roger Landivar, WWF country representative in Bolivia.

"They showed not only interest but also hope and commitment to

participate in the conservation of these ecosystems, while at the

same time accessing natural resources in a sustainable way."

There are now 128 countries that are parties to the Ramsar

Convention. They have set aside 1,093 wetland sites, totaling 336,000

square miles, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands

of International Importance.

ITEM #2

Title: Amazon Indians Cut Boundary in Forest to Keep Illegal

Loggers Out of Their Land

Greenpeace calls for demarcation of all Indian lands in the

Brazilian Amazon

Source: Greenpeace

Date: September 11, 2001

Manaus, Amazon, Brazil. The Deni Indian community today began to

physically cut a border in the Amazon rainforest to demarcate their

lands in a bid to protect their traditional territory from industrial

exploitation. Without this demarcation the Deni lands would be

vulnerable to land grabs by logging companies after the wealth of

natural resources which belong to the Deni. This is only the second

time that an Indian group has, without government assistance,

demarcated their lands in the Amazon.

On board the Greenpeace ship, The Arctic Sunrise, the Patarahu (Deni

chiefs), Greenpeace, CIMI, a branch of the Catholic church, and OPAN,

an organisation working with Indians, today announced the beginning

of this project to protect the Deni lands, some 1,530,000 hectares

(approximately 4 million acres) 1000 kilometres southwest of Manaus

in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

"We have been waiting almost 15 years for the Brazilian government to

protect our traditional lands by demarcation. Our people have lived

with the threat that logging companies were planning to destroy our

home lands," said Deni chief Haku VarasahDeni.

"We have no choice but to carry out the demarcation ourselves. We

call on the Brazilian government to recognize this demarcation and

ensure that there is no further threat to our land or people."

The Deni were first informed that half of the their lands had been

purchased by Malaysian logging giant WTK in May 1999 when a

Greenpeace expedition went to the area to investigate illegal logging

activities in the region. The Deni people were unaware of this sale

and the plans to log their land. At this point the Deni asked

Greenpeace to help them with the demarcation process. Greenpeace

brought in CIMI and OPAN, organisations with experience in Indian

issues, to assist the Deni in the process. In further discussions

with Greenpeace, WTK have stated that they will not challenge the

demarcation.

A team of Brazilian experts plus an international team of 12

Greenpeace volunteers will provide logistical support to the Deni

people over the next two months to demarcate their lands. Volunteers

from Brazil, Chile, the UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Greece,

Germany, Austria, the US and China will be filing daily reports to

Greenpeace's website, and doing interviews from the jungle, to make

it known that the Brazilian Government must support this process for

the Deni lands to be protected. Once demarcation is recognized by the

Government, permits for logging and other destructive industrial

activities cannot be issued for these lands.

"The Brazilian Government committed to fully demarcating all Indian

lands by 1993 and they have not done the job. The Deni have taken the

protection of their lands into their own hands but they need

government support to ensure full legal recognition," said

Greenpeace campaigner Paulo Adario in Manaus.

"Greenpeace calls on the Brazilian government to complete the

demarcation of all Indian lands in the Amazon. The Amazon is the

biggest rainforest left on Earth, and such recognition by Brazilian

President Cardoso will go a long way to ensuring that the Indian

lands - 20 percent of the Amazon - is safe from any illegal and

destructive exploitation," he said.

This project is part of Greenpeace's campaign to protect the world's

remaining ancient forests. Some 80 percent of the world's ancient

forests have already been degraded or destroyed, and only 20 percent

remain intact. Time is running out for the last 20 percent unless

governments around the world take swift action to ensure their

future.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

In Manaus Paulo Adario, +55 92 9985 5001,

In Amsterdam Natalia Truchi +31 621296908

Photos available, John Novis + 31 653819121,

Video available, Mim Lowe + 31 653504721

ITEM #3

Title: Brazil forms eco-friendly timber certification unit

Date: September 20, 2001

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's environmentalists have created an

organization to certify for consumers that wood they are buying was

cut legally rather than taken by illegal loggers in the world's

largest tropical forest, the World Wildlife Fund said yesterday.

The Brazilian Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC, would certify local

timber and work as a unit of the international group of the same

name.

The Amazon, most of which is located in Brazil, is larger than all of

Western Europe combined and shelters up to 50 percent of the world's

animal and plant life. Yet figures show that deforestation was the

worst in five years in 2000 because of illegal logging and fires.

Brazilian wood represents just 14 percent of all certified wood

exports extracted from the world's tropical forests so there is scope

for growth in trade, WWF said.

"Based on principles and criteria which are ecologically adequate,

socially beneficial and economically viable, FSC certification will

help enlarge the Brazilian share of the world's market while

supporting good forest management," WWF said.

There are 70 companies in Brazil that have won FSC certification to

sell timber.

Leading environmental groups like WWF and Greenpeace, in addition to

Amazon groups like rubber tapper organizations will be members of the

council in Brazil. Groups such as Brazil's paper and pulp producer

Klabin are also taking part.

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