World Bank Fails to Maintain Logging Moratorium in Papua NG

Papua New Guinea's moratorium on new logging has been allowed to lapse. Several logging operations have commenced during the moratorium, violating the conditions of a World Bank loan. In accepting a Structural Adjustment Loan from the World Bank, the government of PNG agreed to a moratorium on new logging concessions until the entire forestry sector was reviewed and properly reformed. The government has not fulfilled their obligation under the loan conditions, yet the Bank refuses to suspend economic lending. 

The World Bank and government of PNG must be taken to task over failing to ensure the moratorium is maintained, failing to end illegal logging, their failure to suspend further loans, and their continued subsidies and support for commercial forestry (while ignoring alternatives). 

Please send a letter of protest. You will find further information and a sample letter at: http://forests.org/emailaction/png.htm 
 

Brazil: Protect Amazon Rivers, Forests and Activists

This Action Alert is doubly urgent; it seeks to protect not only the magnificent Amazon forest and rivers, but also the safety of local activists. Death threats, imprisonment and murder are being used to silence opposition to major "development" projects, including dams, roads, mines, oil and gas development and industrial logging. Please speak out for the rights of indigenous communities and environmental activists, and help stop the construction of the Belo Monte dam.

"What will be left of the Xingu River for the people of Xingu?" -- Ademir Alfeu Federicci, opponent of the Belo Monte Dam, murdered Aug. 25, 2001

In the late 1980s, the Kayapo people forced the Brazilian government to abandon plans to build 6 huge dams on the Xingu River. The international uproar over environmental and human rights concerns was enough to persuade the World Bank to suspend financing for all dams in the Amazon Basin. 

Now Eletronorte, the state-owned electrical utilities company, is back on the Xingu River with plans to build a first dam, the Belo Monte, with a smaller reservoir than the original design. Since Belo Monte won't have enough water to generate electricity during the 4-month dry season, critics feel certain that more dams will be built upstream to increase efficiency. These will have huge reservoirs that will double the amount of submerged rainforest in Brazil. 

While Eletronorte's PR team touts the Xingu dams as "a blessing from God," the battle between different development models for the Amazon has turned bitter and bloody. Since June, 5 grassroots activists have been murdered and hundreds jailed. They and their organizations denounce the government's $40 billion top-down plan to build 6,000 miles of highway, dams, mines, power lines, gas and oil fields and logging concessions throughout the Amazon. 

MDTX (Movimento Pelo Desenvolvimento da Transamazonica e Xingu), a coalition of 113 organizations representing farmers, women, indigenous peoples, youth, scientists and religious groups, argues for a bottom-up model of sustainable development, land reform, indigenous rights and environmental protection.  

"Why sacrifice the Xingu River by building dams, when its basin represents one of the country's most important sites of ecological capital in its natural state?," wrote murdered activist Ademir Alfeu Federicci in an MDTX letter. 

Indeed, the earth's most biologically diverse region hangs in the balance. One-third of all the world's species live in the Amazon River Basin; one-third of the world's tropical woods (2,500 tree species) occur only in the Amazon. The Amazon River and its tributaries, including the Xingu, supply 20% of the earth's fresh water and have the highest diversity of freshwater fish.

Brazil receives 93% of its electricity from large dams. One million Brazilians have already lost their lands and livelihoods because of dam construction. Indigenous peoples are especially vulnerable since their survival depends on their knowledge of specific ecosystems. Dams on the Xingu River would flood parts of the Xingu Indigenous Park, threatening the survival and cultural integrity of at least 15 indigenous tribes, including the Kayapo. 

REQUESTED ACTION: MDTX is calling for international support to pressure the Brazilian government to bring the murderers of community leaders to justice, and to require community participation and consent for dam construction projects in keeping with the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams. Click here for more information.

Please write a polite letter to the president of Brazil. 

* Express your concern about the atmosphere of intimidation in the Amazon region, and ask him to guarantee full protection of the rights of free speech and personal safety for community activists there. 

* Demand a full investigation into the August 25 murder of Ademir Alfeu Federicci to identify the real authors of this crime and bring them to justice. 

* Ask him to order Eletronorte to immediately release the feasibility studies for the Belo Monte dam, for independent review.

* Urge him to suspend construction of the Belo Monte dam in order to first adopt and implement the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, specifically:

-give priority to maximizing the efficiency of existing water and energy systems before building any new dam; 

-build no large dam without the informed consent of the affected people. 

* Express your support for the 130 local organizations that form the Amazon Working Group (GTA) in their petition for a Moratorium on all high-impact development projects in the Amazon; the Moratorium should be enforced until consensus is reached with all communities that would be affected by these projects. 

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

Exmo. Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Presidente da Republica
Praca dos Tres Poderes
Palacio do Planalto - 3o Andar
Brasilia - DF 70150-900
Brazil

FAX: Int'l Code+55 (61) 411-2222
EMAIL: presidencia@planalto.gov.br ; pr@planalto.gov.br 

Mapuche leaders detained in Chile

Please send the letter signed with your name and organisation to:

Sr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar
Presidente de la República de Chile
Fax: + 56 2 690 43 29

and copies to:

Sr. Alvaro García
Ministro Secretario General de la República de Chile
Fax: + 56 2 690 43 29
Email: vvalderrama@minsegpres.cl 

Sr. Rodolfo Kaufhold
Fiscal Militar de Temuco
Fax: + 56 45 295 383

Sr. Guillermo Piedrabuena
Fiscal Nacional
Fax: + 56 2 870 52 32

PLEASE SEND COPIES BY EMAIL TO THE MAPUCHE MOVEMENT IN CHILE AND SUPPORT NGOs:

Consejo de Todas las Tierras: aukin@entelchile.net 
José Naín: nainjose@hotmail.com 
Patricia Borraz at Almaciga: pborraz@correo.internlink.es 

Indigenous Peoples sign-on letter to the World Bank

Next thursday 13^th, a letter will be sent to the World Bank (click here to read the letter) criticising its proposed revised Indigenous Peoples Policy for:
 (a) failing to meet international human rights standards 
 (b) ignoring key indigenous recommendations made in 1998. 
 (c) applying an illogical procedure whereby the new policy will be finalised before the FULL findings of an implementation review of the *existing* policy are available 
 (d) the flawed consultation meetings.

If you want to support this action, click here to sign-on the letter. Or send your sign-on to the CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS (CDES) in Ecuador by 13^th December 2001:  jessica.zagier@cdes.org.ec 
 

Word Bank document (OP/BP 4.10): Consultations with External Stakeholders on the Draft Policy on Indigenous Peoples.

Thank you in advance for your support.