Posco:
Destroying forests in India and establishing carbon sink plantations
in Uruguay
Uruguay and the
Republic of Korea have recently signed an Agreement for Investment
Promotion and Protection which, according to Uruguayan government
authorities establishes a framework for Korean investment in Uruguay.
From past experience in Uruguay, the establishment of a framework
for investment in this country may mean reducing or eliminating
all taxation, granting of foreign trade zone permits and all kinds
of support to the company’s enterprises.
One of the first
investments to be announced by the Koreans in Uruguay is a “Forestry
Carbon Sequestration Project” by the POSCO Company. Regardless
of the numerous negative impacts of monoculture tree plantations
that have already been verified and documented, the POSCO project
involves a 1,139 hectare eucalyptus plantation. Under the slogan
of “Save the Earth with plantations” the company simply
does not consider the innumerable voices of hundreds of social movements
all over the world opposing them. The hub of this project
is that, by establishing monoculture tree plantations in a country,
POSCO can “compensate” for its emissions of gases causing
climate change in its country of origin or in other countries.
POSCO, one of the
largest producers of steel in the world, is well-known in India
and, not precisely because “steel loves nature” as stated
on the cover of its presentation file and still less because it
loves people.
In 2005 the Korean
company Posco signed an agreement with the Indian government for
the establishment of a steel plant, a port and mine prospecting
in the Eastearn State of Orissa. Since then, thousands of people
have been opposing the project because of the huge negative impact
it will have on the villagers.
The area where POSCO is proposed to be allotted the mines spreads
over 6000 hectares of primary forest. These forests are inhabited
by a wide variety of wildlife and flora.
Furthermore, the tribal communities which form 74 per cent of the
population in the surrounding area are completely dependent on these
forests for fuel, fodder, fruits and medicinal plants. The water
springs in the area provide water for drinking as well as irrigation.
The mining would also affect the Khandadhar waterfall, a place related
to the spiritual practices of the indigenous people - and also a
famous tourist destination in this state. POSCO intends to mine
the Khandadhar Hill range – the area where the waterfall originates.
In June 2006, even
the Congress, the most important political party in India, pledged
its support to the people’s movement against displacement
caused by the proposed Posco steel plant. The people of Dhinkia,
Nuagaon and Gadakujang, who face displacement are prosperous because
of their agricultural activities. Congress leaders said locals
who are progressive and prosperous will become beggars and landless
labourers, once they are displaced from the agricultural fields.
In August 2007,
a large group of people belonging to various political parties and
social organisations protested at the doors of the POSCO offices,
protected by a large contingent of police force. The demonstrators,
that included many women, raised slogans against the Korean company
and blamed the government for facilitating the Posco steel project
in Jagatsinghpur district, despite the opposition of displaced villagers.
In October 2008,
a resolution signed by more than 100 organizations and people, most
of them academics, condemned the increasing state of repression
in Orissa against the peaceful resistance of people to the anti-people
POSCO steel Project. Despite the state’s increasingly repressive
regime, the struggle had reached a new height, with more local residents,
especially women, joining in and more democratic voices from all
over the world condemning the state for acting in denigration of
Constitutional values and human rights, and in favour of corporate
interests. The level of repression reached its highest point when
the president of the anti Posco movement, Abhay Sahu was jailed.
In August 2009,
more activists were arrested for opposing POSCO and false cases
have been registered against them. As many as 20,000 people from
15 villages nearby fear that the construction of the plant will
destroy their homes and livelihood. Regarding the proposed plans
for compensation, the people say: Nothing can compensate for the
displacement of thousands of people.
In the State of
Orissa demonstrations against POSCO have joined the thousands of
people who have been demonstrating for years against Vedanta, a
British company. The thousands of people who blocked the roads in
the locality of Muninguda a few days ago demanding the immediate
suspension of mining permits are well aware of what displacement
means: the loss of land, forests, culture, means of subsistence
and identity as set out in a resolution issued on 10 October 2009.
(See resolution in http://www.wrm.org.uy/countries/India/Niyamgiri.html)
In spite of years
of struggles, in spite of prison, torture and repression, the leaders
of both groups have declared that they will continue their efforts
until they drive both companies out of India.
With this track record, POSCO is attempting to clean up its image
in Uruguay through the plantation of what it calls “forests”
(fast-growing eucalyptus plantations) to “compensate”
for CO2 emissions from its industrial activities. Obviously
it “forgets” to mention that in India it intends to
destroy 6,000 hectares of real forests, and if so far it has been
unable to achieve this, it is only because the local people have
managed to prevent it.
The people and
the present Uruguayan government, who know what repression, prison
and torture mean in the flesh because they suffered years of military
dictatorship, must align themselves with their Indian brothers and
sisters and flatly reject this project. The Indian people do not
deserve Uruguay serving as an excuse to grant impunity to POSCO’s
crimes and the Uruguayan people do not deserve such shame.
Article based on
information sent by Rosemary Viswanath, e-mail: rosemary.viswanath@gmail.com
and Mamata Dash, e- mail:mamata68@gmail.com;
http://stoposco.wordpress.com/;
World Prout Assembly, http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/10/uneasy_quiet_on.html,
and The Hindu, http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/24/stories/2007072456510300.htm
