LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

The vast rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo --the second largest on Earth after the Amazon-- have been seen by the World Bank as a target area.

In 2002, the Bank provided funding for the government of DRC to develop a new set of laws for the management of DRC's forests. In September 2003, the Board of the Bank also approved a pilot project to 'zone' Congo's forests into areas for industrial logging, conservation, and community use. The project entitled 'Emergency Economic and Social Reunification and Support Project' (EESRSP), included $4 million to start the process of 'zoning' DRC's forests, potentially opening up tens of millions of hectares for industrial logging.

The Autochtones Pygmies Organizations from DRC, on their own behalf and on behalf of affected local communities living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, representatives of local communities of Kisangani in the Orientale Province, of Béni and Butembo in the Nord-Kivu Province, of Kinshasa/Mbandaka and Lokolama in the Equateur Province, of Inongo in the Bandundu Province, of Kindu in the Maniema Province, and of Bukavu in the Sud-Kivu Province, submitted a formal request to the World Bank Inspection Panel, an official independent watchdog, on the grounds that the World Bank plans threaten to harm the country's rainforests and destroy the livelihoods of people living there, and that the Bank staff failed to 'trigger' the Bank's operational policy on indigenous people (OD 4.20) when developing the project. As a result, the World Bank Inspection Panel, launched a preliminary investigation into the role of the World Bank in Congo's rainforests.

In March 2006, information released by the World Bank revealed that it had failed to ensure proper protection of the environment and local peoples in its programmes in DRC. Though the WB Management reaffirmed that “the Bank made every effort to apply its policies and procedures and to pursue concretely its mission statement in the context of the projects”, it recognized “that, with respect to the EESRSP, the Bank was not in full compliance with processing provisions of OP 4.01, and OD 4.20, that should have been triggered during project preparation”(see full report at http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/Bank_management_response_to_complaint.pdf)

The revelations came following the preliminary findings of the World Bank Inspection Panel's report (see full report at http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/EligibilityReportFinal.pdf), according to which:

* the Bank has acknowledged that it did not properly apply its own internal 'safeguard policies', which are designed to ensure that it does not harm the environment and local peoples;

* the Bank claims it was not “aware of the existence of 'Pygmy' communities” in areas that would be affected by its projects, but that it would now develop a plan to ensure that 'Pygmy' people are not harmed by new developments funded by the Bank;

* the Bank has acknowledged that it was 'inappropriate' to set targets for the number of new logging concessions that should be allocated by the Congolese government as a result of World Bank projects.

Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest Foundation UK, said "The World Bank has finally acknowledged that its activities in the rainforests of the Congo have been flawed and must be improved. This is a major victory for the Pygmy people of the Congo, whose rights and livelihoods could be seriously harmed by inappropriate development of the country's rainforests."

Article based on information from: “ World Bank admits to failures in protecting Congo's rainforests - official 'watchdog' to investigate”, March 2006, The Rainforest Foundation, http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-News

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Nigeria: The Devastating Flames of Abacha Coal-Pots and the People’s Forests

The political instabilities in Nigeria during Abacha's regime in 1993/94, which was an aftermath of the annulment of June 12, 1992 presidential election won by the late business mogul -Chief M.K.O. Abiola- created an acute scarcity of kerosene that was seriously felt in different parts of the country. The kerosene scarcity led to the invention of “Abacha Coal-Pot” – a locally made cooking stove that uses charcoal.

Over the years, the cooking technology Abacha Coal-Pot, has been widely accepted, and the use spread rapidly, due to incessant increases in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas. In Nigeria, the official price of kerosene per litre has been increased by more than 200% over the last decade and presently, it is sold at an unofficial price that is almost 100% more than the current official price of about US$0.5. This ugly trend has given a boost to the charcoal trade in different parts of the country and now, the people's forests are suffering.

The charcoal business, which is about the most thriving business in Oke Ogun area of Oyo State -an area that houses the Old Oyo National Park- has extended to different parts of Kwara, Lagos, and Ogun States.

In Saki --an ancient town and the largest town in Oke Ogun area--, there is no street without a mega dealer who is patronized by wholesalers and retailers even from the neighbouring States. The business is getting so organized that different stakeholders have their associations. Presently, there are strong indications that the dealers have started exporting charcoal as trailers, carrying containers, now come to Saki to convey charcoal to Lagos, which is a coastal state. There is no doubt that this would spell further disaster for the forests of the area.

Unlike the land expropriation cases of the Twa in Rwanda, the Ogiek in Kenya, the Batwa in Uganda, the Amerindians in Guyana and the Suramaka in Suriname, this is a pathetic case where the people, aided by economic hardship orchestrated by insensitive administrations, are destroying their forests at an alarming and unprecedented rate.

The impacts, which traverse economic, social and environmental spheres, are quite enormous and devastating. The old-growth forests are almost gone and now, the attention of producers is shifting to previously less preferred species including exotics. The prices of wood-based products have increased tremendously over the last decade due to scarcity of wood. There is felt reduced food production as people have abandoned farming for the more lucrative charcoal business. The environment is seriously being polluted and there have been some cases of clashes due to illegal encroachment on other people's forests to cut wood for charcoal production.

To make the matter worse, the respective governments have not made and are not making concerted efforts to discourage or stop the trend. There are no serious enlightenment campaigns to educate and sensitize people especially on the environmental consequences of the charcoal business. While there is no deterrent legislation on the charcoal business in the affected States, Kwara State --probably because of its fragile savanna vegetation--, had sometime announced a ban on the use of charcoal, though, this has not been enforced. The people insist that government should show seriousness on their own part by reducing the prices of kerosene and cooking gas.

As a result of the rapidly spreading nature of the cooking technology and the concomitant impacts on the environment, there is an urgent need for governments (Federal, State and Local) and the Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to intervene. Governments should come up with appropriate legislation to stop the use of Abacha Coal-Pots and charcoal business. For this legislation to work, governments should make kerosene and cooking gas affordable. NGOs and governments should provide households and other users of Abacha Coal-Pots with kerosene stoves and empower them to use them. Alternative means of livelihoods should also be provided for those that depend on the charcoal business especially the forest dwellers who produce or sell their trees to producers. More importantly, the degraded forests should be restored. The time to act is now! The devastating flames of Abacha Coal-Pots must be quenched to save the people's forests.

By: Chima, Uzoma Darlington, Indigenous Peoples Rights Crusaders, email: punditzum@yahoo.ca

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South Africa: Impacts of tree plantations on birds

In South Africa, more than 1.5 million hectares of managed alien, monoculture tree plantations have been established, and currently more than 130 square km of new plantations are being established annually. Another 1.65 million hectares of alien invader plants exist, mostly eucalyptus, pine and wattle trees.

South Africa's rural people have felt dramatically the impacts of the plantation industry, ranging from evictions of communities to make way for plantations, to unemployment and less available water resources, less available soils and less free access to local plant and animal resources which provide food, medicine, fodder, fuel, building materials and many other goods.

But not only people suffer from forestry. Also birds do. With more than 80% of South Africa's natural grassland destroyed by tree plantations, John M c Allister writes the following:

“South Africa --including the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland-- has been blessed with 40 or so endemic bird species. Twelve of these -Rudd's Lark, Southern Bald Ibis, Botha's Lark, Yellowbreasted Pipit, Blue Korhaan, Buffstreaked Chat, Orangebreasted Rockjumper, Mountain Pipit, Drakensberg Siskin, Sentinel Rock Thrush, Eastern Longbilled Lark and Drakensberg Prinia- are endemic to the Grassland Biome (Harrison, et al, 1997). The first nine of these are listed as globally threatened or near threatened by BirdLife International (Collar, et al, 1994). Rudd's Lark is the only species occurring in South Africa to be listed as Critically Threatened on a global scale.

All the endemic grassland birds listed above occur in the high altitude, moist grassland of the eastern escarpment. These grasslands have been listed as an Endemic Bird Area by BirdLife International, i.e. an area containing at least two species whose global distribution falls within an area smaller than 50 000 km 2 (Stattersfield, et al., 1998). Other threatened birds that occur in this area include Blue Swallow, Blue Crane, Wattled Crane -all listed as globally threatened and Grey Crowned Crane which is now listed as Nationally Threatened.

Most South African tree plantations have been planted in what were formerly high altitude, moist grasslands containing all or many of the species mentioned above. This has had a devastating effect on the bird life of these areas. A glance at the distribution maps in the Southern African Bird Atlas and any field guide to southern African birds for Rudd's Lark, for example, indicates how the range of this species has become fragmented. Blue Swallows, often cited as proof of the Timber Industry's concern for the environment, is now down to between 40 and 50 pairs left breeding in South Africa -less than 10% of the original population. The near extinction of this species in South Africa has been laid almost solely at the door of the Timber Industry.

A study using Southern African Bird Atlas Data (Allan, et al , 1997) illustrated the effect that tree plantations had on these species in particular and bird life in general. The grassland birds themselves became locally extinct in heavily planted areas. Even in relatively lightly planted areas where only 10% of a quarter degree square (an area of roughly 600 km 2 ) there was a negative impact on bird diversity in general.

Unpublished data collected in the grasslands of southern Mpumalanga indicates that the diversity of bird species in the near pristine grasslands around Wakkerstroom is around 170 species/km 2 . As one nears the intensely farmed areas around Amersfoort (mainly maize farming) the bird diversity drops to around 120 species/km 2 . In the areas around Panbult which have been heavily planted to trees the density drops to around 90 species/km 2 . Perhaps more significantly the composition of the bird communities changes from one dominated by larks, pipits and cisticolas to one dominated by doves and canaries. Interestingly the drop in species numbers conforms to data collected in natural forests and plantations in western Kenya”.

One more impact of monoculture tree plantations that reinforces local NGO SAWAC's claim: No more alien tree plantations in our natural grasslands!

Article based on information from: “Birds and Tree Plantations”, John M c Allister, http://www.sawac.co.za/articles/birdsand.htm ; “ Tree Plantations and Water in South Africa”, Philip Owen, http://www.dams.org/kbase/submissions/showsub.php?rec=ENV109