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WRM Bulletin
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OUR VIEWPOINT Will the FSC certify Aracruz Celulose’s plantations? The future credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council is at the crossroads. Aracruz Celulose, one of the largest tree plantation companies and the world's largest producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp has applied for FSC certification for part of its land holdings (95.500 hectares, of which 56.500 hectares of eucalyptus plantations), located in the state of Bahia, Brazil. For those who have been following and supporting the struggle of the Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous peoples against this company, this may come as a major shock. After years of struggle the company -with support from the Brazilian security forces- imposed last year a "solution" on the indigenous peoples (see details in WRM bulletin 11). But in spite of that, what remains undeniable is that Aracruz took over large areas of their territory and that the future of that imposed agreement remains uncertain. This has been recently very clearly expressed by the Tupinikim and Guarani in an "open letter to society" of 3 September 1999. That is probably the reason explaining why the company is not yet applying for certification for its plantations in the state of Espirito Santo -home of those indigenous peoples- and has instead initiated the process in the neighbouring state of Bahia. If it succeeds in getting FSC certification there, then it will probably apply for the rest. However, social and environmental impacts of its large-scale plantations are as well documented and local opposition is as strong in Bahia as in the state of Espirito Santo, so Aracruz will not have an easy task to get what it wants: certification from a credible organization such as the FSC. Much will depend on whether the US-based certifier (Scientific Certification Systems -SCS) carries out a trully independent and participatory assessment or if it doesn't. If it chooses the former, then we are certain that Aracruz's plantations will not be certified. Unfortunately, its first steps have been -to say the least- worrying. More than 50 regional and local organizations and individuals have already complained in a letter addressed to SCS on 1 September 1999 for its non compliance with FSC-guidelines regarding stakeholder participation. We believe that FSC members should monitor this process very closely, because the future credibility of certification in general and of the FSC in particular is at stake. Aracruz -the same as eucalyptus- is a symbol of a type of forestry which generates large scale negative social and environmental impacts. The same can be said about most -if not all- other plantation companies and about other tree species used in large scale monocultures. But Aracruz, whose history is one of occupation of lands of indigenous and other local peoples, of deforestation, depletion of water resources and the disappearance of local plants and animals, portrays itself as being environmentally and socially responsible. Obtaining FSC certification would be its final victory and would leave the door wide open for the certification of large scale plantations all over the world. Will FSC NGO members let this happen? For more information on this issue, the following is available in our web page: - Open letter to society, by the Executive Commission of the
Tupinikim and Guarani and the Indigenous Association Tupinikim and Guarani, 3/9/99 - A dictatorship-type action gives Aracruz a spurious victory
(WRM bulletin 11) - Brazil: the paradigmatic case of Aracruz (WRM bulletin 13) - The environmental and social effects of corporate
environmentalism in the Brazilian market pulp industry
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS AFRICA Nigeria: victory of local communities over Texaco The Niger Delta, in the southern region of Nigeria, has been the scenario of environmental destruction and human rights abuses related to oil prospection and exploitation. The activity of oil companies like Shell, Mobil, Chevron and NAOC -supported by Nigerian armed corps- is strongly denounced and resisted by local communities (see WRM Bulletins 22 and 23). Local peoples have just achieved a great victory over the powerful US-based Texaco Company, which has been forced to stop its operations in the Delta region. This successful result was obtained as a result of effective protests and direct actions. For example, community members blockaded the Funiwa and North Apoi platforms, cutting production of more than 50,000 barrels per day of the light crude extracted from that area. At the same time, youths attacked Texaco's office in the southern industry hub of Warri. Texaco is not the only oil multinational which has been forced to put and end to or scale back their operations due to the occupation of flow stations and oil platforms. Last January Shell, the largest producer of oil in the region, was the first to be shut down by non-violent protesters, and nowadays the company is operating at 25% capacity. Although the oil companies have not yet left the area, opposition is mounting. In December 1998, nearly 500 Ijaw communities and over 200 non-governmental organizations around the world endorsed the Kaiama Declaration, which asked oil multinationals operating in the Niger Delta to voluntarily cease operations in order to seek remedy for the impacts of oil production on communities and their environment. Source: Drillbits & Tailings, Volume 4, Number 13, 25/8/99.
South Africa: Industrial timber plantations - asset and liability Industrial timber plantations go under the name of forestry. This is deceiving, as it carries the image of beautiful indigenous forests. South Africa needs timber for pulp and paper manufacture, building material, furniture and many other uses, but we must not lose sight of its cost to our country. These plantations are monocultures of highly invasive, alien plants that cover vast areas of some of the most fertile land in our country. We all know how wattles have spread across South Africa until they are one of the most destructive weeds we have. They can only be eradicated by carefully following a special programme. Pine, too, are seriously invasive, particularly in colder climates like our Drakensberg. As we drive around our country, many of the trees we see are eucalyptus that are also progressively invading the land. At present, there are about 1.5 million hectares of industrial plantations. What is of greater concern, is that there are an estimated additional 1.6 million hectares of "jungle" invasion. Using CSIR modelling, it is estimated that the formal plantations use 1.4 trillion litres of water a year. The jungle tracts are mainly older trees and often grow in streams, so they probably use an additional two or more billion cubic metres of water a year. The situation begs answers to at least two critical questions. Should the timber industry carry on demanding more land for plantations while our country suffers with this vast jungle invasion? Who should take responsibility for preventing the further invasion of these alien trees resulting from industrial plantations? By Bob de Laborde (Timberwatch), 22/8/99
Timber ban relaxed in Cameroon Forests in Cameroon are being destroyed at an alarming rate, due to the high prices of some types of precious wood in the international market, to the weight of the country's external debt and to the collusion of some government officials and forestry companies, especially French (see WRM Bulletin 4). Two months ago the country's government established a ban on timber exports that was considered a way of protecting the forests from abusive exploitation. Nevertheless pressures made by influential French timber operators appear to have been so strong that the authorities recently gave a step backwards by issuing a new decree that permits the export of 30% of the country's timber, while the remaining seventy per cent is to be processed locally. It is to be mentioned that timber exports account for a majority of Cameroon's foreign exchange revenue. Source: BBC, 1/9/99 'Cameroon lifts timber ban'
ASIA Malaysia: resistance to plantations in Sarawak Plans for setting up an industrial acacia tree plantation in the native customary right (NCR) land of Dayak Ibans people at the Balingian area is being strongly resisted. The plantation will affect the customary land of 23 longhouses. The problem started in 1997, when the State government granted Borneo Pulp Plantation (BPP) provisional leases over two lots in that area -comprising about 300,000 hectares- without the knowledge and the informed consent of the affected people. Soon afterwards, in February that year, Borneo Pulp & Paper -a parent company of the former- illegally encroached onto the Ibans' NCR land at upper Sungai Bawang and Sungai Kemena, clearing their cultivated lands, old settlements and forest gardens. In July the 23 longhouse community organized itself to face the aggression, but the authorities ignored their complaints and no action was taken against the company. Considering that the State and national authorities, as well as the companies themselves, turned a deaf ear to the people's claims, the affected Iban community decided to file two legal suits against them, questioning both provisional leases by considering them illegal. Since then the opposition to BPP operations in the region is mounting, and other affected indigenous communities have decided to institute legal actions that are now being considered by different High Courts in Sarawak. Similar problems and resistance are occuring with oil palm plantations. The Malaysian government is willing to invest heavily in the palm oil sector to face the competition of Indonesia. Sarawak will open up some 50,000 hectares of land every year during the next few years to be converted into such monocultures. Local communities strongly resist the installation of oil palm plantations in their lands, since they mean the destruction of the forest and the loss of their livelihood. In April 1999 local villagers of the Kanowit area filed a suit against Kanowit Oil Palm Plantations and against the State Government of Sarawak for converting their NCR land into plantations. The project involves a total of 30,000 hectares, 8,000 of which have already been planted and are to be harvested next year. As in the previous case, local people resorted to legal actions after previous unheard claims to the authorities. Source: Berita Papit News, Newsletter of Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), Vol 2.1/99, January-April 1999.
Malaysia: who is defending the country's sovereignty in Sarawak? Massive logging and the development of large scale tree monocultures for the production of fiber and palm oil, together with dams and tourism megaprojects are the main activities that threaten the environment and the rights over resources of indigenous peoples in Sarawak, in the northwest region of Borneo Island in Malaysia. Nearly half of its population is composed by different ethnic groups, known as Dayaks, who live on agriculture, fishing, hunting and gathering. Local communities, with the support of national and international environmental organizations, have been opposing for years this destructive type of development promoted by the private sector and supported by the Sarawak State government and the Malaysian central government. Despite all efforts, depredation continues. According to estimations, 70% of Sarawak's forests -one of the world's oldest tropical forests in the world- has been denuded, at a rate nearly twice that of the Amazon. The region was the source for most of the tropical wood Malaysia exported since the decade of 1970. Only the most remote areas of Sarawak haven't been affected by logging, By 1991, even the pro-logging ITTO warned that Sarawak would be denuded within 13 years if the 150 timber companies operating in the region -under concessions granted by the government, most of them within the natives' customary lands- did not cut down production drastically. These forests are not empty and deforestation impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of forest and forest dependent peoples. The Penans -one of the Dayak ethnic groups- are probably the worst hit by this type of "development". They are a forest people and most of them have been forced to leave their land and to move into temporary government settlements, where they live in a humble situation and are heartsick for home. Only some 63 families remain in the forest, living on hunting and gathering. Since they are nomadic and don't clear land for annual harvest, the law considers the land they occupy as State forests and does not recognise them ownership rights to their benefits. For years the Malaysian government has promised to create a 1,280-square-mile forest reserve for the Penans in what they regard as their ancestral land, but the promise has not been honoured yet and there are no signs that it will be. On the contrary, logging companies and the government are one and the same, not only in their viewpoint on development (where Penans are considered backwards and an obstacle to modernity and progress), but also in the fact that important government officials are ex-industry representatives. Within such context, the struggle of the natives of Sarawak has received strong support from environmentalists and concerned individuals from all over the world and this has been used by the Malaysian government to try to portray itself as defending the country's sovereignty against "Western" interference in its internal affairs. However, the situation is quite the contrary. What the Sarawak and Malaysian governments are in fact doing is imposing the Western development model on the peoples of Sarawak, resulting in devastating social and environmental impacts. On the other side, the natives of Sarawak are trying to protect their forests and livelihoods against such Western model. Who is then defending sovereignty? Sources: "Nomadic Rain-Forest Dwellers in Malaysia Fear Extinction" by Ecological Enterprises, 16/8/99, based on "Nomadic rain-forest tribe in Borneo fears extinction" published by Associated Press, 15/8/99; http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/sarawak/problem.html
Malaysia: the sad role of the academic sector A joint-venture between the KTS group and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp (STIDC) was announced to establish over 260,000 hectares of tree plantations in Bintulu and Baram areas. The project will involve the development of plantations on 15, 25 and 35-year cycle. The KTS group has expertise in tree plantations, as it has a 57,000 hectares project in Sabah, and also in agricultural plantations of cacao during the decade of 1970. The University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) will take part in the project by developing a geographical information system (GIS) for the management of pulp and oil palm plantations. KTS will give lectures to Unimas GIS students on practical application of this technique in plantations and arrange practical field visits to designated project areas for them. This is another good (bad) example of how part of the academic sector -in this case the University Malaysia Sarawak- gladly plays "the sad role of hired 'experts' who justify 'scientifically' whatever needs to be justified to favour the interests of large forestry corporations" (see WRM bulletin 25). Instead of offering their academic and technical knowledge to their own peoples' struggle to defend their environment and livelihoods, this institution directly supports those who destroy them. Logic and justice upside down. Source: "Joint venture to set up tree plantations" by Jack Wong, The Star, 3/8/99, received from Pro Regenwald, e-mail: prmunic@amazonas.comlink.apc.org. Comments by WRM International Secretariat.
New book on indigenous peoples of Sarawak "Tanah Pengidup Kitai (Our Land is our livelihood): the undermining of indigenous land rights and the victimisation of indigenous people in Sarawak" is the name of a recently published book on the situation in Sarawak. The study includes the following chapters: Chapter 1: The views of indigenous people (a field survey of
45 longhouse communities/kampong of approximately 20,000 people with 759 respondents) For more details on the book and on how to order it, please
visit our web site
Bangladesh: concern over biodiversity project in the Sundarbans The Sundarbans are the largest mangroves in the world and have been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, as well as included as a Ramsar site. This area, that extends at the border between India and Bangladesh, is menaced by the exploration activites of oil and gas companies, which has provoked the reaction of local and international environmental NGOs (see WRM Bulletins 15 and 23). The so-called Sundarbans Bio Diversity Project, designed to restore the original ecosystem and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Nordic Development Fund, is being closely scrutinised by the Bangladeshi NGOs Coalition for the Environment, since the consultancy firm which is likely to get the bid, is Euro Consult, a Dutch firm with a reputation for causing environmental and social conflicts. Source: Late Friday News , 40th Edition, July 30, 1999
NORTH AMERICA Mexico: support needed to release anti-logging campesino leader On May 2, 1999, Rodolfo Montiel Flores, the Mexican campesino who has been successfully leading public opposition in the Pacific Coast state of Guerrero against destructive logging operations by Boise Cascade -one of the world's largest timber corporations- was arrested by federal soldiers who violently entered the village of Pizotla. During this armed action also another campesino, Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, was arrested and Salome Sanchez Ortiz was shot dead. Military officials characterized both of them as "members of an ecologist-guerrilla organization". Since his detention, Montiel has been psycologically and physically tortured and also been denied adequate medical treatment, food, and water, as well as communications. The soldiers have threatened them with death and with reprisals to their families if they did not declare themselves guilty of the crimes of carrying illegal firearms, growing marijuana and of having links with the armed opposition group, the Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (Popular Revolutionary Army, EPR). The Sierra of Petatlan in the state of Guerrero, with mountains reaching nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, contains some of North America's few remaining large tracts of relatively undisturbed forest. Trees help capture rainwater and boost the water supply which farmers below rely on for irrigation. As trees are cut down, there is less water and farmers have trouble growing crops. In the mid-1990s Montiel and the local communities involved themselves in an ecological struggle to defend their natural resources, facing destructive logging practices in their communal lands ("ejidos"): the Organization of Campesinos and Ecologists of the Sierra de Petatlan was born. During 1997 they set up a toll booth to collect a kind of local tax from passing logging trucks. But the booth was quickly destroyed, and an increasing number of soldiers began patrolling the area. The activists began blockading roads, stopping trucks and confiscating the lumber. As a result of this successful resistance, last year Boise Cascade decided to leave Guerrero. Some company officials have tried to ignore the relevant role of organized society and said in a statement that they left Guerrero because of "an inconsistent and seasonal wood supply from log suppliers". It is worrying that more than one year after suspending operations, Boise Cascade's continuing role in Guerrero is still unclear. As a matter of fact some of the company's contractors tried to restart logging operations after Montiel was arrested, but local community pressure has so far stopped them. Boise Cascade's sad performance is very well known, not only in Mexico but also the United States and in Chile, where the company tried to implement a project that would mean the destruction of some of the world's few remaining native coastal temperate rainforest to feed the world's largest chip mill. The strong resistance of environmental NGOs together with several environmental lawsuits and a heavy fine for destroying archaeological remains has complicated and delayed Boise Cascade's plans in that country. This is one more case of a long list of abuses by Northern logging, plantations, mining, and oil companies wishing to occupy the territory and exploit the natural resources of the South -often with the implicit or explicit support of local and national governments- regardless of any environmental or social negative impacts. Luckily this list also includes the brave resistance of many people in the field -some of them as famous as Chico Mendes and Ken Saro Wiwa, others anonymous women and men that love their land and want to defend it- and the solidarity of many others supporting their struggle in different parts of the world. The Human Rights Centre Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez A.C. has
taken on the legal defence of the two activists under arrest in a legal process that is
expected to be long and full of traps. At the same time human rights, farmers and
environmental organizations worldwide -among them the WRM- have joined in a letter-writing
campaign denouncing this case of human rights violation and demanding their immediate
release. Information about this is included in our web page Sources: Alejandro Villamar, 26/8/99, e-mail: comcome2@info.cddhcu.gob.mx "Jailed timber-cutting foe seen as guerrilla by Mexico officials", Tracey Eaton, The Dallas Morning News, 27/8/99, sent by Victor Menotti.
SOUTH AMERICA Chile: "Marichi weu" (We will win ten times) The Chilean Government recently announced an investment of U$S 267 million in a development programme aimed at combatting poverty in the Mapuche indigenous communities. Mapuche representatives all over the country have expressed their disappointment and rejected this initiative as mere propaganda, which they don't even consider as the starting point of a process to solve the situation that affects the Mapuche people and their environment. Deputies and even some government officials share this view. But the powerful CORMA (Wood Producers Corporation), which represents the interests of the logging and plantation industry, sees the programme with good eyes. The authorities have also been accused of breaking the Agreement to Respect Citizens' Rights signed last August 5th, and to strengthen repression against Mapuche people in the southern region of the country, within the context of the State Interior Security Law. Mapuche communities are practically under siege by police patrols, forestry companies control the roads in the vast areas occupied by plantations, and 400 individuals have been imprisoned under false allegations since the beginning of the year. Such figure, that clearly surpasses the 285 people imprisoned during 1998 as a result of this conflict, can be compared with those of the worst years of repression under the Pinochet regime. As a matter of fact, it was during the military dictatorship that the present Chilean forestry model was born. A model that is at the root of the conflicts involving the Mapuche. Actions undertaken by the police usually take place without authorization and at the request of forestry companies, whose objective is to intimidate the indigenous people, and to prevent them from demanding the restitution of their ancestral land now in the hands of huge corporations. Repression has proved useless to solve the conflict. The Mapuche have organized themselves and firmly consider that the achievement of the effective respect to their identity and culture, and the recovery of their ancestral lands and natural resources is an irreversible process. In 1536 the Mapuche Territory covered 31 million hectares, while nowadays their communities occupy only a total area of 300,000 hectares, most of them literally surrounded by huge pine monocultures. No wonder then that the conflict is increasing. Only in the last two weeks, the Mapuche slogan "Marichi weu" (We will win ten times) was heard at Lebu, Concepcion and Canete, in the VIII Region, as well as at Traiguen and Temuco, in the IX Region, and in the capital city of the country, Santiago, as a reaction to the detention of the main leaders of the Arauco-Malleco Coordination. But Mapuche communities continue carrying out numerous actions in many parts of Southern Chile, including the occupation of estates which were handed out by the Pinochet regime to forestry corporations and which the Mapuche claim to have been taken illegally from them. Until now, the government has responded more to pressures from the forestry companies than from those of the Mapuche, but as pressure from the latter mounts, the government might well have to change its attitude and try to find real solutions to a problem which it can no longer ignore. Sources: Susana Gentil, e-mail: sgentil@swipnet.se, 15/8/99; Nizkor Spain, e-mail: nzkspain@teleline.es, 24/8/99; Mapuche International Link, e-mail: mapulink@aol.com, 30/8/99.
Bolivia: logging in indigenous territories Bolivia holds diverse types of forests but they are quickly disappearing to the benefit of a few logging companies and to the detriment of indigenous peoples. Their territorial rights exist only on paper because in reality the government, by means of its concessions policy, prefers to satisfy the companies' interests (see WRM bulletin 22). According to the Centre for Legal Studies and Social Research (Centro de Estudios Juridicos e Investigacion Social, CEJIS) the Bolivian government has allocated a vast area of primary rainforest to logging in indigenous peoples' territories without their consent. This case is in flagrant violation of International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169, which was voted into law by the Bolivian government itself. The problem started in July 1997 when the Forest Superintendent granted 85 new forest concessions for a period of forty years, with the option of further extensions. Twenty-seven of these concessions were imposed on indigenous territories, recognized by the National Constitution of 1994. It is to be pointed out that since October 1996, these territories had been -and currently still are- in the process of obtaining their property titles from the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. The decision of the Superintendent implies the elimination of large stretches of primary forest, which constitute zones of traditional and cultural usage by the indigenous peoples of the region. The concessions cover 500,000 hectares of Guarayo Territory, more than 140,000 hectares of Chiquitano de Monte Verde Territory, more than 15,000 hectares of Yaminahua Machineri Territory, more than 17,000 hectares of Indigenous Multiethnic Territory, and more than 28,000 hectares of Indigenous Territory and Isiboro Secure National Park. In sum, more than 700,000 hectares of legally recognized indigenous lands, that are today being exploited by transnational logging companies. In September 1997 the Superintendent denied a petition submitted by CEJIS to review the concessions. Then the case was presented to the SIRESE (System of Sector Regulation) which also denied the petition. The last step taken at the national level was the presentation of a claim to the Supreme Court of Justice, which has not yet handed down its decision. In October 1997, a national and international resistance campaign began, uniting institutions and organizations committed to the defence of human and territorial rights of indigenous peoples and the compliance with agreements signed by the national government. A formal protest was put forth before the ILO for violations of Articles 6 and 14 of Convention 169, which was ratified by the Bolivian Government as Law 1257 on July 1991. ILO answered with a document which contains important conclusions and recommendations that boosts the indigenous peoples' struggle, such as a request for information from the Bolivian government regarding the advances reached in practice in relation to the consultations with petitioning villages, its participation in the granting of the concessions, and its collection of an equitable indemnification fund for the damages that could result from the same. It also asks the Government to apply article 15 of Convention 169 to its fullest extent, and to be informed about the progress of restitution in process in the Indigenous Community Lands of Origin. Source: Glenn Barry, e-mail: grbarry@students.wisc.edu, 1/8/99, based on information provided by Global Response, 29/7/99.
Brazil: Pataxo recover traditional lands Brazil will soon celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese. Nevertheless, for the indigenous peoples living in what later became Brazil, this is not a day for celebration. The arrival of the Europeans meant the beginning of their genocide and the destruction of the environment in the rich land of the "pau Brazil". When Brazil became an independent state, the situation of indigenous peoples did not improve and in many cases became even worse. The Federal Constitution of 1988 finally recognized the indigenous peoples' cultural and territorial rights, but they are in fact more often than not ignored. Last August 19, the Pataxo indigenous people, who live in the southern region of the state of Bahia, decided to recover Monte Pascoal National Park, which is part of their traditional territory. The presence of the Pataxo in the region was already documented in year 1500 and later by several historical testimonies from 1805 on. They had lived in that area until 1951 when they were victims of a massacre. The survivors were expelled from their land and confined in areas where they lived in misery and humiliation. This was yet another dark episode in Brazilian history which, as many others where the victims were black slaves or landless peasants, was soon hidden and forgotten. The Pataxo's traditional territory was later transformed into Monte Pascoal National Park, allegedly with the aim of protecting the Mata Atlantica forest. The Ministry of the Environment and some media have tried to discredit the Pataxo to the eyes of public opinion by accusing them of destroying the forest, while in fact the Pataxo have played an important role in the conservation of the Mata Atlantica forest in the region. On the other hand, loggers have for years been openly extracting the most valuable trees from the National Park, with the police turning a blind eye on their activities. This action cannot then be considered an illegal occupation. On the contrary, the Pataxo are exercising their rights, recognized by the Brazilian Constitution under "indigenous traditional occupation". This means that they have the original right of occupation and that land titling and other judicial decisions affecting the area must be considered illegal. In spite of this, the Brazilian Indigenous National Fund (FUNAI), instead of protecting the indigenous peoples' rights -as it is mandated to- is now trying to seduce the Pataxo by proposing them to abandon their lands in return for some consumer goods. The Brazilian authorities' international discourse on the need to protect the country's forests has got in fact little in common with what is happening on the ground. The activity of big logging companies, together with uncontroled urbanization, have nearly completely destroyed the Mata Atlantica; vast areas of the Amazon forest disappear every year to the hands of commercial agriculture, cattle raising and industrial logging; indigenous peoples' lands are usurped by tree plantation companies (the struggle of the Tupinikim and Guarani against giant Aracruz Celulose in Espirito Santo is a paradigmatic example); most "protected areas" exist only on paper. And those who really want to protect the forests -since they constitute their vital space- are considered "invaders." The Pataxo have recovered their territory and this action implies a major step to ensure that in the future they will not be subjected to a life of misery and humiliation and will be finally able to live in dignity. But for this to happen they now need support. We request all our friends to send letters of support for their plight addressed to CIMI-Equipe Extremo Sul: cimi@sulbanet.com.br Source: CIMI, 25/8/99
Colombia: Black communities defend mangroves Colombia, one of the megadiverse countries in the world, holds a total area of mangroves of 365,902 hectares, of which 80% extend like a green necklace in the Pacific Ocean coast. A recent decision of the Colombian Ministry of the Environment has provoked a controversy related to the use of natural resources and territorial and cultural rights of ethnic minorities in that region. The authorities denied land titles on mangrove areas in the Choco region, in the Pacific Ocean coast, to the black people communities which have occupied it for centuries. The government considers that mangroves and other coastal areas have to remain under public domain. Nevertheless, such point of view ignores the fact that black people communities have made of mangroves their geographical space, managing them in a sustainable way, thus ensuring their conservation. Powerful interests -as those of the logging and the shrimp farming industries- are looking forward to enter the mangroves, which would result not only in their degradation or destruction but also in the loss of the livelihoods of traditional black communities. The affected communities consider that the questioned decision is merely based on ecological aspects, disregarding other relevant aspects involved, such as their ancestral interaction with the environment and natural resources. By stating that mangroves and coastal areas of the Choco region should not be considered communal lands, the Ministry of the Environment ignores the complexity of a problem where not only natural, but also historical, anthropologic and sociological elements are involved. Mangroves are vital por local communities living in the coastal area from Candelillas del Mar to the country's border with Panama. Most of them live in small villages all along the coast and the river margins. Their life in close contact with nature is founded on traditions originating from their African ancestors. Their existence is possible thanks to economic activities that use the mangroves and its resources -charcoal and firewood, fishing, shell collection, etc- and have proved to be in harmony with this fragile ecosystem. Several international fora -as the UN Conference on Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), the Rio Agreement, the Vienna Declaration and the Ramsar Convention- have clearly expressed the necessity of considering environmental issues with a human-centred view. At the same time, the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992 -adopted as Law nr. 162 in Colombia in 1994- underscores the need to take into account ecological, social as well as cultural values of biological diversity and its components. Additionally, the Law for Natural Resources, that is already 50-year old, and recent Colombian legislation guarantee the participation of Afrocolombian communities with regard to decision making in projects and activities that could affect their cultural integrity, and recognizes the rights of black communities of the riverine areas of the Pacific Ocean. The polemic decision has been questioned at the government level itself. An official internal memorandum dated 6/7/99 concludes expressing that a proposal regarding mangroves and coastal areas should involve the active participation of such communities, since they have inhabited and developed their lives there, and should be aimed at harmonizing the communities' collective rights with the conservation of natural resources at the national level. It also points out that traditional knowledge can contribute with creative elements to formulate policies for mangrove conservation, preventing the action of other agents who want to exploit them at the commercial level. Involved communities of Alto and Bajo Mira, Frontera, Palenque Narino and Patria Grande are defending their rights and have expressed that they will not receive land titles with the restrictions established by the Ministry of the Environment which are at odds with the national Constitution. They presented to the national authorities a document titled "The mangroves: the habitat where we have established our culture". Their representatives met officals of the INCORA (Colombian Institute for the Agrarian Reform) who expressed their recognition of the ancestral rights of such communities on these territories as well as the intention of INCORA of allocating lands to traditional communities in the region. Nevertheless a solution is still pending and the conflict is increasing. The Ministry's decision is yet another example of the incorrect and frequently biased view of nature void of people, that is unfortunately still predominant in official circles. Reality shows -in the case of forests in a very clear way- that ignoring the existence of traditional or indigenous communities in such areas, the sustainable use they usually make of them and their territorial rights, only serves to pave the way to powerful actors' takeover of those territories and resources to their own benefit, resulting in environmental degradation and social strife. Source: Gonzalo Diaz Canada, Fundacion Beteguma, 19/8/99, e-mail: citara@col2.telecom.com.co
Colombia: the U'wa achieve significant victory As a result of a long and difficult struggle against giant Occidental Petroleum and the Colombian government, the U'wa indigenous people have achieved a significant victory with the legal recognition of an area comprising an important portion of their traditional territory in the northeastern corner of Colombia. A recent resolution of the Colombian government, in agreement with the U'wa leaders, has increased their legally recognized territory in 120,000 hectares, which now comprises 220,275 hectares in the provinces of Boyaca, Northern Santander, Santander and Arauca. It will be called Unified U'wa Reserve. The official resolution undoubtedly represents a significant victory for the U'wa and an important step for the recognition of the whole of their traditional territory. Nevertheless, the oil threat is still looming on them: the Ministry of the Environment is considering a request of environmental license for exploratory drilling by Occidental Petroleum just outside the recently created Reserve in the Gibraltar area. The negative environmental and social impacts of the project constitute a serious threat to the U'wa's physical and cultural survival, since activities of oil prospection and extraction in Colombia are associated to human rights abuses, corruption and violence. "As we recover part of our territory that you are formally handing over to us today, we request absolute respect for our position to not allow any oil exploration or production on our traditional lands, either inside or outside the territory that has been legally recognized as ours," said Roberto Perez, President of the U'wa governing body, at a ceremony intended to celebrate the creation of the reserve. The U'wa Defense Working Group is circulating a sign-on letter related on this problem, to be sent to the Ministry of the Environment of Colombia. Those interested in endorsing it, please visit the front page of our web site. Sources: Drillbits & Tailings, Vol. 4, Nr. 13, 25/8/99; Censat Agua Viva, e-mail: censat@colnodo.apc.org, 30/8/99; Steve Kretzmann, e-mail: steve@moles.org, 2/9/99
OCEANIA US multinationals buy up Australian plantations at the expense of native forests Since the signing of the first of Australia's so-called "Regional Forest Agreements" (RFAs), the Australian forest industry has been deregulated and is open for sale to the highest bidder. The RFAs, having failed to provide a decent reserve system to protect forests have opened up Australia to unlimited export woodchipping and plantation establishment. Large foreign insurance companies looking for a guaranteed twenty year return on investments (the lifetime of the RFAs) are now buying into Australia's plantations. These companies are largely US-based, and include Weyerhaeuser (who recently bought 30% of softwood giant CSR) and two Boston-based companies John Hancock -Life Insurance- and Grantham Mayo and van Otterloo -Renewable Resources- (GMO's parent company is based in the UK). Hancock has bought the recently privatised state plantations of the Victoria, and propose to clear remnant native bush (and rare koala habitat). GMO is looking to enter into a joint venture with Forestry Tasmania to establish 33,000 hectares of plantations on public native forest land (in addition to an extra 15,000 hectares already cleared and planted with pines) and on private land (about 8,000 hectares). This development echoes the rumblings being heard around the World Trade Organization, which is currently trying very hard to develop a "global free trade logging agreement". Australia is quite clearly positioning itself as a place ripe for corporate takeover, particulalrly as the RFAs have essentially tried to exempt forestry operations from national and local environment laws. In a recent letter addressed to GMO, the Native Forest Network (Southern Hemisphere) has outlined a number of socially and environmentally problematic issues associated with such takeovers of public land by foreign investment. The Network stresses that Australia's RFA process is currently in crisis. In New South Wales, the State Government is proceeding with an RFA that has not been endorsed by the Commonwealth, and is therefore open to problems in the future. In Western Australia the RFA has been abandoned in favour of a more preservation-oriented outcome in order to appease community interests. The ruling Liberal Party has lost a significant number of supporters (both in the Parliament and publicly) on account of the current shape of the RFA, and the failure to meaningfully incorporate conservation stakeholder views. Prime Minister John Howard and Forests and Conservation Minister Wilson Tuckey have both expressed concerns that both these States are threatening the viability of the RFA nationally. Apart from not complying with a number of national and international commitment , the RFA has failed to protect 60% of old growth, 90% of wilderness forests and to adequately reserve 30 of Tasmania's identified 50 forest communities. Public opposition to the RFA and its failure to protect high conservation value native forests is strong and came to head during the "Mother Cummings" protest of Feb-April 1998 (for detailed information on this issue, see: ( http://www.nfn.org.au/up-a-tree/campaign.htm ). That protest was a good indication of public outrage over government and industry collusion. Despite being reserved from logging during the Interim Forest Agreement the area was given to the industry for logging and the population reacted strongly against such decision. Local people are increasingly opposing plantations (see article below) and foreign investment in the forestry sector appears to be becoming a very risky operation indeed. Source: Tim Cadman, Native Forest Network Southern
Hemisphere,
Australia: communities in Tasmania are up in arms against plantations There is growing opposition to current plantation management in Tasmania. This has come to a head in a number of areas, of which the following are some examples: There have been a number of significant attacks on plantations recently, including arson and uprootings. The most recent uprootings occurred in the north and the south of the state and represented the loss of several hectares. So concerned was Forestry Tasmania that it demanded a Government inquiry into the affair. Of course, it attempted to shift the blame onto "extremists". However, the inquiry failed to probe the issue more deeply and inquire into community opposition, as this was not in the interests of promoting Tasmania as a safe investment environment. Opposition to plantations has moved beyond the environmental sector and now includes a significant range of the rural community, particularly dairy farmers and local councils. Meander Valley Council has successfully challenged the development of Private Timber Reserves (PTRs) twice, forcing the Government to change the legislation for the establishment of PTRs. Burnie City Council is having to deal with the loss of ratepayer base. Forestry company North Ltd for example, owns about 40% of Burnie municipality and pays approximately $150,000 vs the other ratepayers (about $12 million). A recent news story on "Stateline" details the opposition of dairy farmers to plantations because of the devaluation of properties adjoining tree farms and the social isolation caused by wall to wall plantations located in the middle of once-thriving rural communities. A group "Communities Over Plantations" has also been formed in the north of the state. There has been considerable opposition to Forestry Tasmania's clearance of forest habitat in the north east of the state for softwood plantations, and these have been bitterly contested. Of particular concern has been FT's attempts to cover up the inappropriate management of threatened species habitat as outlined in the Threatened Species Management Manual. A good example of this obfustication was provided by the logging of an area near Weldborough. This area represented a regional population of the Simsons stag beetle and North East highland snail. Management guidelines recommend against clearfelling, hot burning and alienation to plantations, which was precisely what the local forestry agency allowed to proceed. This opposition in the north east will continue indefinitely as the community are up in arms. Other campaigns have now been generated in the area and Forestry Tasmania has recently been publicly criticised over its poor roading of a historical track, bulldozed to gain access to further plantation sites on threatened species habitat. Source: Tim Cadman, Native Forest Network. email: tcadman@nfn.org.au
Hawaii: unique rainforests threatened by alien invasion In many parts of the word, a large number of non-native species are invading forests and other ecosystems, leading to dramatic changes in their floristic composition and related impacts on local wildlife and peoples' livelihoods. The uncontrolled spread of exotic species in natural ecosystems is known as "bioinvasion" (see WRM Bulletins 18 and 24). This problem is particulary serious in Hawaii, which is home to some of the most unique and endangered rainforest ecosystems on planet earth. Extreme isolation, diversity of habitat zones and a moist tropical climate have given rise to extremely high rates of endemism in these islands. Over 90% of species native to Hawaii are endemic, found here and nowhere else. On the island of Maui, many species are unique to Haleakala volcano or the west Maui mountains. Today Maui is home to 91 threatened, endangered or proposed endangered species. The continued invasion of Maui by alien (non-native) plants, animals, insects and microorganisms poses the greatest threat to the future existence of these native ecosystems. The proposed expansion of Kahului airport in Maui now threatens the last remaining fragments of native forest ecosystems on this small Pacific island. It is feared that the internationalization of the airport will open up Maui to direct flights from all over the Pacific rim, which will increase alien species introduction on a massive scale. Once again the motives for this "development" project are purely economic: influential groups -big landholders, the Maui Hotel Association, the Visitors Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce- are pushing for the expansion of the airport. According to local NGOs, this is a big money project that will primarily benefit those who are already making the most money on this island. Hawaiian environmental NGOs have expressed their concern for the fate of Maui island, which, although having already lost 70% of its native forest coverage due to human alteration of the landscape and the alien invasion, is yet considered as being perhaps the only main Hawaian island to have a true future in conservation. Those interested in participating in an international campaign that has been launched to stop this project can visit: http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/aa/maui.html Source: Guillermo Holzmann, RAN, 22/8/99, e-mail: gholz85@yahoo.com
Papua New Guinea: something need to change ... fast! Papua New Guinea -home of one of the world's largest remaining contiguous rainforests- is being subject to a destructive deforestation process. In an attempt to increase the country's exports to face a severe economic crisis, the government has adopted a policy of opening the country to foreign logging companies -granting them concessions and turning a blind eye to illegal logging- that threaten to deplete its forests. Malaysian companies, also responsible for having raped their own country's forests, are practising commercial clearfelling at its worst in Papua New Guinea. On average, for every one to two hundred year-old tree felled, another 16 are damaged or destroyed. Wood is used to feed pulpmills and to build furniture for the Asian market. Cleared land is then ready to be used for oil palm monoculture plantations, a cash crop that is expanding all along the country, and generating further negative social and environmental problems. As usual, these top-down centralised "development" decisions are impacting on local peoples. The Kosuwa indigenous people -one of the last hunter gatherers in the world- have denounced that their customary land, forests and waters are being depleted by logging companies. Under the false promise of bringing money, new houses and roads, what this "development" has really brought is the loss of the Kosuwa's environment and livelihoods. Even jobs in logging operations are poorly paid, temporary and usually occupied by outsiders. For each cubic metre of the precious timber extracted from their land exporters earn about U$S 75, while native landowners are paid less than U$S 4. A massive logging-extension of 800,000 hectares has been recently granted to a giant Malaysian company within the Kamula people's territory. The same as the Kosuwa, they are preparing to resist the invaders. In this case, even the national Forest Authority strongly recommended against this logging extension. However, the government chose to ignore the advice. If things don't change, the commercial logging industry will exhaust Papua New Guinea's forests in just 15 years. In the process, some foreign logging companies will make huge profits, some few locals will end up rich, while the majority will become "developed" and much poorer. Something needs to change ... and fast! Source: Glenn Barry, 28/7/99, e-mail: grbarry@students.wisc.edu, based in: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19/7/99.
PLANTATIONS CAMPAIGN Our last bulletin was entirely dedicated to the Plantations Campaign, where we gave a broad overview of the problem and the major actors involved, complemented with a number of suggestions for action at different levels. Since then we have received numerous replies and requests for information from all over the world, showing that plantations are a widespread problem in a large number of countries. We now wish to focus on what we consider to be the central aspect of the campaign: local opposition to plantations. As a result of its social and environmental impacts, this forestry model tends to generate a broad spectrum of opposition. Local communities are generally at the forefront, because their livelihoods are directly affected by plantations. In many cases they suffer dispossession of their lands and forests, which are converted to tree monocultures under the property of large corporations. This implies the loss of most of the resources they depend on, including agricultural and grazing land for growing their crops and raising cattle as well as the resources provided by forests, including bushmeat, fish, fruit, mushrooms, honey, firewood, building materials, medicines and a whole range of other products and services At the same time, they face the possibility of losing their cultural identity and even to be scattered by forced migration. For them, the implementation of plantations can quickly become a tragedy. Local communities are not however alone in their struggle against this forestry model. In different countries, people with a number of diverse concerns join the ranks of the opposition. Environmentalists and academics become increasingly worried over the loss of biodiversity resulting from the substitution of native ecosystems by plantations. Downstream agriculturalists and cattle-growers suffer from the depletion of water resources. Urban people may be affected by the lack of drinking water or electricity resulting from plantation related water scarcity. Human rights activists and lawyers become involved as a result of the abuses which frequently occur in plantation development. Trade unionists join in to defend the rights of forest workers facing the harsh and dangerous working conditions prevailing in the plantation areas. The diverse social realities in different countries generate equally diverse opposition networks and types of actions. Within such diversity, what can be generalized is the need to bring those actors together to strengthen opposition against the model. The same is applicable at the international level, where local opposition can both feed global campaigns and benefit from them. We therefore invite everyone involved in the issue at the local level to join the Plantations Campaign and to share your information and experiences in halting this destructive forestry model.
Genetically engineered trees generate reaction The increase in the international demand for industrial wood and paper, coupled with the idea that tree plantations can be used as carbon sinks to counter the greenhouse effect, are being used by the biotechnology industry as arguments for the promotion of genetically modified trees, especially commercially valuable and fast-growing species such as eucalyptus, pines and poplars. Giant corporations currently working on genetically modified food (like Monsanto), oil corporations (as Shell), pulp and paper producers (such as Fletcher Challenge, International Paper, Westvaco Corporation) together with newcomers as Toyota, are devoting large sums of money to carry out research in tree biotechnology. Joint ventures of those and other companies are now mushrooming and becoming a new threat to nature and people. This is a new and even more dangerous version of the Green Revolution, whose negative consequences on food security and the environment have devastated the lives of millions of people around the world. It also means a further step in the concentration of power and decision-making in the hands of a small group of megacorporations working for their own profit. Environmental NGOs and some representatives of the academic sector have already expressed their concern on the impacts that these "Terminator" or "Frankentrees" will have on forests, water, biodiversity and people if planted -as their creators aim- over large areas of land. This growing concern has already even led to direct action. Last July, environmental activists attacked and destroyed 152 genetically modified poplars planted at Zeneca Ltd.'s agricultural research station at Jealott's Hill, Berkshire, UK. "We have been forced to take this action ourselves because the biotechnology companies have used their wealth and power to subvert not only the process of scientific innovation but also the democratic process" said a spokesperson of the activist group. Sources: "Felled in the name of natural justice", The Guardian, 13/7/99; "Trees are the next target of genetic engineers", The Economist, 8/15/98.
GENERAL 7th World Congress of Environmental Journalists This congress, organized by the National Association of
Environmental Journalists, will take place in Bogota, Colombia, from October 11 - 15. All
those interested in accessing information about this event can find all the details
-including place, inscription, agenda, etc- in the Association's web page: September 15: International Day of Action against the WTO! Organizations all around the world are planning a number of activities for the international Day of Action against the World Trade Organization (WTO) on September 15, 1999. There will be simultaneous press conferences, call-in campaigns to members of Parliaments/Congress, protests, hearings and teach-ins etc., to launch the international campaign against a "New Round" in Seattle. An international sign-on letter will be released on that date. Already 1000 organizations have signed on to it and it is being circulated to receive further endorsements. The letter has been translated into Spanish and French, and
these versions are available at http://www.foeeurope.org/trade/about.htm
. If your organization would like to sign the letter, send an e-mail to Ronnie Hall at
Friends of the Earth, UK ( ronnieh@foe.co.uk ). Course in Ecuador: "Plantations are not forests" The course "Plantations are not forests", organized by the Institute of Ecologist Studies of the Third World (Instituto de Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) took place in Quito, Ecuador from July 12-16. Alvaro Gonzalez, from the WRM International Secretariat was in charge of the course, which focused on the main characteristics of the plantation forestry model, its promoters, impacts and resistance against it, with a special focus on forests and plantations in Ecuador. Lucio Cuenca, of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), presented the case of plantations in Chile, while Veronica Vidal, (Accion Ecologica, Ecuador), presented a critical overview of the tree plantations project being implemented by PROFAFOR in the Ecuadorian Paramo
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