Protect Forest Biodiversity, Commit to CBD

The ultimate fate of the World’s natural forests may be determined this week at the 6th Conference of Parties (COP6) meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity at The Hague. Ministerial delegates must be urged to protect and manage in an ecologically sustainable manner all the World’s forests – particularly primary forests.

The World's forests - home to 60% of the World's biodiversity and providing critical ecosystem functions - are dangerously threatened. Over the past decade the estimated annual rate of deforestation was 14.6 million hectares. One-fifth of the Earth's rainforests have disappeared since 1960. Worldwide, large and fully intact ancient primary forests have been reduced to 20% of their original pre-development extent. The COP6 meeting may be the last best chance to address the forest biodiversity crisis.

The convention technical body has developed last November a strong, action orientated work programme on forest biodiversity conservation. The programme, which is being considered for ratification by the conference, contains innovative action items on halting illegal logging and related trade, stopping biopiracy and protecting and sustainably managing natural forests - including primary forests. The programme is being undermined by countries profiting from the trade in illegal or unsustainable logging and unsustainable consumption patterns. These countries are once again using international forums to block progress on critical forest conservation issues.

Please call upon the CBD meeting to urgently implement a rigorous program to preserve, conserve and sustainably manage all the World’s forests. Please send a one click e-mail here, it is sent to 62 government ministers and CBD focal points. Please edit it to make your own points.

Pipeline Protests Continue as Ecuadorian Armed Forces
Evict Mindo Environmentalists

click here for background information

Approximately one hundred members of the Ecuadorian National Police forcibly evicted seventeen activists Monday evening blockading the OCP pipeline route through the sensitive Mindo Nambillo Protected Cloudforest. Residents of Mindo, with support from international allies, had been peacefully occupying the treetops and cloudforest ridgeline of this protected forest since January 2 in an effort to stop the construction of the heavy crude pipeline through the area.

The Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve and the surrounding ecologically sensitive forests are considered an unparalleled epicenter of biodiversity and are home to more than 450 species of birds---46 of which are threatened by extinction.

Local Ecuadorian and foreign activists were arrested at the site and transported in buses contracted by the OCP Consortium to a detention center in capital city of Quito. They are expected to be charged at a hearing set for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.

In response to the arrests, sixty men and women demonstrated their opposition to the pipeline's passage by blocking the principal highway from Quito to Los Bancos through the night. During this time, local citizens confiscated two large OCP tractor-trailers carrying pipeline tubes destined for Quito. Residents forced the vehicles into the town square where, in a display of colorful defiance, they painted tubes with the phrase "OCP out of Mindo." Townspeople are demanding that all seventeen detainees be released before they relinquish the vehicles.

"We demand the immediate release of those detained whose only crime is defending the Ecuadorian patrimony and humanity. We also reaffirm our struggle against the construction of the OCP pipeline and declare that these types of repressive measures will not stop us," said Efrain Toapanta of Acción por la Vida.

The eviction is the latest controversy to plague the embattled pipeline. On March 6, Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment revoked OCP's environmental license for the Mindo region until damage endured during construction has been repaired. The license suspension came just hours after the government reached an agreement with Amazonian communities who paralyzed commerce and brought oil production to a stand still over OCP construction and socio-economic conditions in the impoverished region. Three protesters were killed in a military crackdown during the week long state of emergency.

"Yet again we see OCP relying on the Ecuadorian military to do its dirty work. The Consortium is evidently willing to clear anything in its path-be it endangered species, old growth cloudforest, or peaceful protestors," said Kevin Koenig, Oil Campaigner with Amazon Watch. "With this latest activity, OCP has shown their blatant indifference to sensitive ecosystems, the livelihoods of local communities, and basic human rights," said Koenig.

The forest occupation in Mindo has drawn international attention and support, including letters of solidarity from Julia Butterfly Hill. Financial giants WestLB and Citibank, who have been hit with protests in 24 countries around the world, continue to come under fire for their involvement in the $1.1 billion project.

* Click here for authorities' e-mails and faxes

* For further information please visit Amazon Watch web page:

ILLEGAL INCARCERATION OF MINDO ACTIVISTS CONTINUES! FOREIGN ACTIVISTS TO BE DEPORTED! URGENT LETTERS NEEDED TO GET THEM RELEASED! March 28.

German Parliamentarians Arrive in Mindo Today to Inspect OCP Pipeline Route. Jailed Environmentalists Freed, All Charges Dropped, April 3.

more...
 

No Mining in Indonesian Protected Areas

The petition "No Mining in Indonesian Protected Areas" has collected 177 Indonesian and international supporters from various backgrounds including  non-govermental organizations, academics, governmental representatives, parliament members, university students, teachers and natural lovers.

Marking Earth Day 2002, JATAM sent this petition to the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry as well as to Canadian, United States and Australian Government officials as these countries are the homes of the companies heavily pressuring the Indonesian government to change the forestry laws so that open-pit mining can be allowed in protected forest and conservation areas.

Please send letters of support to the Indonesian Government and foreign governments.

Click here for updates on the petition as well as for addresses and sample letters.
 

Costa Rica: la Minería No Pasará. Minas No!! Agua Sí!

Nos llega y transmitimos el siguiente pedido de apoyo:

ACOGEN AMPARO CONTRA CONCESIÓN DE ORO EN CRUCITAS!

Por favor enviar mensajes al EXPEDIENTE 02-002714-0007-00.
Al FAX: 4755287

Carlos Murillo murillod@racsa.co.cr 
Marco Tulio marcot@decostarica.co.cr 
Walter Gerardo walter.gdo@costarricense.com 
Francisco Rodríguez franroba@costarricense.com 

Se recogerán los faxes y se llevarán a la SALA CONSTITUCIONAL.

Proponemos el siguiente modelo de carta:

Excmo. Magistrado Carlos Arguedas R.
Expediente 002714-0007-00 Sala Constitucional
Recurrente: Carlos Murillo
Asunto: Minería en Crucitas

April 2002 

Estimado Señor Magistrado:

Nos preocupa el deterioro ambiental que produce la extracción de oro en nuestro país y la forma inconsulta en que se están imponiendo estos proyectos sin tomar en cuenta la posición de los gobiernos locales que reiteradamente han rechazado la apertura de minas de oro en su jurisdicción.

San Carlos no ha sido la excepción y allí se otorgó la concesión minera de oro en Crucitas, para que una empresa transnacional continúe los trámites para abrir una mina de oro a cielo abierto mediante la lixiviación con cianuro, considerada la actividad industrial más destructiva. 

Esa concesión se otorgó sin consulta al Gobierno y Comunidades Locales e ignorando también la oposición de ellos a dicho proyecto. Por tal razón, urgimos que se anule la concesión otorgada por el MINAE en Crucitas, por cuanto irrespeta nuestro ordenamiento jurídico y está en desacuerdo con tratados y convenios internacionales, cuya violación pone en entredicho la democracia que nos ha caracterizado siempre. 

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NCR land owners protest against logging and sand mining

This is the first time in more than ten years that numerous Sarawak native communities have organized to put up blockades simultaneously in various locations to draw the attention of the Malaysian authorities to their plight.

Blockades are human barricades and wooden structures that are put up at strategic points across access roads to prevent the movement of logging and plantation companies' vehicles.

The first blockade was erected on March 27 across a road used by Interhill Logging Sdn. Bhd. in the interior of Long Lama, a huge Baram subdistrict, by the Penan communities of Long Sayan and Long Belok in the Sungai Apoh area. Three days later, an agreement was signed at the site between the blockaders and company representatives, and witnessed by a forest officer and police personnel. But later the natives withdrew their signatures, as the agreement was too vague to be meaningful and subsequent negotiations had also not been fruitful. As a result, the blockade was re-erected on April 18.

The second blockade was erected on March 28 by the Penan of Long Itam And Long Pakan in the Sungai Kabeng tributary of the Sungai Patah area, blocking the access road used by Interhill that leads to Penan communities in the upper Sungai Akah area. This blockade was torn down later on the same day because an Interhill managing director agreed to all of the people’s demands. He asked the blockaders to come down to Marudi and sign an agreement in front of the District Officer. The people went on April 2, but the Interhill director was not there. Finally, they also resumed their blockade on April 18. Two other communities in Sungai Patah from Long Lilim and Long Lutin and one from Long Pangaran Iman in Sungai Akah have also joined the second blockade.

The third blockade was erected on April 8 by a group of nomadic Penan led by Chief Guman Magut near Long Patah in the Sungai Magoh area of the Tutoh region. Their area is about to be logged by Woodman Sdn. Bhd. This blockade ended on April 13, when the company agreed to withdraw their vehicles from the people’s community forest area. However, the community is still apprehensive as the company may enter the area one or two years from now as this has always happened in other areas. They demand that their communal forest reserve to be recognised, protected and endorsed by the State Government.

The fourth blockade was also erected on April 8 by another group of nomadic Penan led by Selai Sega in Sungai Madihit, Ulu Limbang to stop logging operations carried out by Samling Sdn. Bhd. This blockade has continued without interruption so far.

In Sungai Apoh, a fifth blockade erected by the Kayan community of Long Bemang turned ugly when the manager of the timber camp was alleged to have become violent and verbally abused the group. In accordance to their customs when dealing with the unruly, the people had tied the manager and brought him to their longhouse to be calmed down. The people claimed that he was untied after about an hour when he had finally calmed down. They denied having laid a finger on the manager but instead alleged the manager himself had injured his head by hitting it at the side of the vehicle on their way to the longhouse. The people denied that they were taking the law into their own hands by abducting the manager to demand for ransom and instead were only acting according to their own adat for the manager’s own safety and the safety of others. 31 people from the longhouse were remanded by the police as a result of the incident but 23 of them have been released since. The rest of them are still being questioned until April 26.

Meanwhile, near the town of Long Lama, the Kayan and Kenyah communities of Uma Akeh and Sungai Puak have joined forces to protest against a company, Besungai Quarry Sdn. Bhd. that is extracting sand from the Baram riverbank near the people's longhouses. Approximately 30 people have staged a protest.

Reasons for the blockades and protests 

Of particular concern to SAM is the predicament of the Penan communities, whose plight received national and worldwide attention more than a decade ago. The Penan, who were originally nomadic hunter-gatherers, resorted to erect the blockades as a desperate measure to draw the authorities’ attention to their plight and the continued violation of their rights, as detailed below:

- Rights to their customary land have long been ignored by the logging companies and the State Government. This has resulted in them having to endure increasingly severe living conditions due to the depletion of forest and river resources and their livelihood.

- Most of them are living in dire conditions without adequate food supply, proper housing facilities, accessible healthcare and education services and other basic necessities like clean water and electricity.

- Even the settled Penan communities are also not able to make a living as they have no experience in farming and little assistance in terms of technical training and seed access.

- All the promises by the Sarawak State Government on biosphere reserves, fair compensation process and financial and infrastructure assistance have not been fulfilled.

Before the blockades are dismantled, they would like to see concrete actions taken by both the government authorities and the companies to:

- Fulfil their demands on the recognition of their rights, a fair and transparent compensation process, and meaningful state assistance so that their living conditions can be improved.

- Halt all logging operations and plantation activities on their customary land. They maintain that in the future they should be consulted before any economic activities commence on their native land.

- Recognise that the people have the right to choose development models that best suit them. They assert that development plans must be people-centred and their implementation process must include meaningful participation and prior informed consent from the people. 

Please write letters of concern to:

Click here for sample letter.