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WRM Bulletin
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OUR VIEWPOINT During the last meeting of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF), NGOs and IPOs made a statement (see complete statement at http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/tropical_forests/iff3.html ) expressing their disappointment and frustration regarding the lack of implementation of measures agreed upon in the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests' (IPF) "proposals for action." The statement said that "for whatever reasons, governments seem either unwilling or unable to take substantive action to solve the world's most pressing forest problems." The situation regarding forests is truly unbelievable. All governments agree that the future of humanity depends on the conservation of the remaining forests. Governments have signed a number of agreements committing themselves to forest conservation. There is ample research on the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation. Millions of dollars have been used -or wasted?- to discuss possible solutions. But almost nothing is being done at the ground level to address the problem and forest destruction continues unabated. This Titanic-like scenario -where the band plays while the ship sinks- is where we are standing now. The music played by the intergovernmental processes (IFF, CBD, CCC, etc.) is good in some cases and bad in others, but the fact is that the ship continues sinking, while local people and supporting organizations try to save their lives and forests from the agents of destruction represented or supported in most cases by those same governments that play in the Titanic's band. Stop the music please! What's needed is action and participatory monitoring of implementation of agreed commitments. The IFF will be meeting in New York from January 30- February 11. Among other things, the meeting will have to decide on the continuation of the forest-related intergovernmental process, given that this will be its fourth and final session. There are certainly several possible institutional mechanisms which will be put forward during the meeting, but what matters most is not the mechanism itself but what it will be supposed to do. As the NGO/IPO statement expressed: "Before we can decide whether to support any future new mechanism or mechanisms, we would like to make our expectations very clear. At a minimum, such mechanisms must: 1- Be truly innovative and significantly different than the IPF/IFF process; 2- Focus on implementation of the IPF proposals for action at both national and international levels; 3- Create an effective international monitoring and reporting mechanism for such implementation; 4- Create enhanced means of participation for civil society and major groups in the intergovernmental process itself and in implementation processes at both national and international levels; 5- Address the real underlying causes and non-forest-sector sources of forest mismanagement, degradation and loss; and 6- Create a new form of synergy and cooperation among existing international forest-related agreements and institutions, clarifying their relationship with the WTO, ILO, and other non-forest-sector institutions and agreements, and including a revision of the existing ITFF structure and process to ensure transparency and strengthen participation by major groups." The above is not much asking ... if governments are truly committed to forest conservation. The time has come to demand governments to change words into deeds and to compare commitments with compliance. The future of forests and forest peoples, as well as that of humanity is at stake. Can we allow the band to continue playing?
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS AFRICA Liberia: the silent destruction of the forests Seldom are there news arriving from Liberia. This country, located in the West African region, with shores on the Atlantic Ocean and bounded in the West by Sierra Leone, Guinea in the North and Ivory Coast in the East, ranks amongst the world’s poorest countries and bears the weight of a huge foreign debt. An accelerated process of environmental degradation -including forests- is also affecting the country. Several activities -as mining, plantations and logging- are destroying the dense tropical rainforests. Some of the multinational companies involved in this destruction have been operating for long time, while others arrived during the last few years. Their subsequent onslaught has intensified the unsustainable and reckless exploitation of the country's natural resources, already affected by loss of biodiversity and soil erosion. The Liberian-American/Swedish Company (LAMCO) is a joint venture that has been mining and exporting iron ore from Liberia for more than three decades. The company suspended its operations in the '90s due to civil war. LAMCO is responsible for large-scale deforestation as a result of its opencast mining methods, railway construction for the transportation of the ores and setting up miners’ camps. Rubber plantations are another direct cause of deforestation. Firestone Rubber Plantations, the world’s largest rubber plantation company, originally owned by the American Firestone and now in the hands of the Japanese Bridgestone, has caused large-scale deforestation as well as the pollution of the Farmington River and several creeks relied upon by rural communities for drinking and fishing. Additionally, thousands of peasants were forced to migrate to work in these plantations and their communities condemned to poverty. The Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC), which is the second largest rubber plantation company in the country, operating in the Gran Bassa county, is also to be blamed for deforestation at a big scale (see WRM Bulletin 29). Additionally, the company has been at the centre of controversies for years, with allegations ranging from abuse of workers’ rights -including child labour in hazardous tasks- to tampering with Justice. In January 1999 riots occurred when about one thousand angry workers who protested in front of their managers were violently repressed. One of the recent arrivals is the Malaysian-owned Oriental Timber Company (OTC), closely related to the President himself, which will have exclusive rights over the last remaining closed canopy tropical rainforest within the so called upper Guinea Forests. This region is the habitat of several endangered and some endemic species. These high forests, that are either sacred for local people, proposed for game/forest reserves or as national parks, still remain unprotected. Additionally, OTC will set up a timber processing plant, will manage one of the two major seaports in Liberia and will also be granted governmental contracts to build roads into its operational area. This company has also got a bad record abroad: it previously caused environmental damages in Guyana and in the Congo Democratic Republic, while was denied an operation license in Ghana before moving to Liberia. According to Mr. Eric Passawee, President of the Liberian Loggers Association, OTC " . . . makes the state and people vulnerable to environmental threats…". He also stated that the company operates under the protection of the country's President. The initiative "Action Now!" recently launched by the Save My Future (SAMFU) Foundation to counteract this dangerous state of affairs, aims at creating awareness and supporting the struggle of grassroots organizations and communities to protect the country's resources. For more information about this project, please contact: Silas Siakor at ssiakor.unlirmon@server.unog.ch Sources: Action Now! December 1999 Edition; Action Now! January 2000 edition
Malawi: forests, health and life. To the reductionist viewpoint of Western silviculture, forests are mainly -if not exclusively- a source of roundwood for industrial purposes. Nevertheless, forests are not only the home for thousands of indigenous people in different regions of the world, but also a rich source of different goods -wood included- and services. Medicinal plants are one of such valuable products which indigenous people use in traditional medical practices. Unluckily, some of them -together with the associated traditional knowledge- are also coveted by multinational pharmaceutical companies, which are actively involved in appropriating them for profit-making. he accelerated process of deforestation that affects Malawi (see WRM Bulletin 24) is also provoking the loss of botanical species with a present or potential medical use. Joseph Gangire, chairman of the National Herbalists Association of Malawi has recently denounced that the future of traditional medicine in the country was menaced by the fast rate of deforestation. "Cutting down trees aimlessly will make us lose our cultural beliefs in traditional healing" expressed Gangire during a national symposium on plant genetics celebrated in Lilongwe on January 14th. He also said that there are many diseases afflicting Malawians that cannot be cured by conventional medicine, adding that in many cases patients are discharged from conventional hospitals and referred to traditional healers who go deep into the forests to look for herbs, roots and leaves to cure them. But as forests disappear, the possibility to cure or alleviate the pain of many people in a non expensive and accepted way will also disappear. There is also the risk of a cultural loss, since, if the present process continues, the elders will not be able to pass on their knowledge to the younger, simply because there will be no more forests and herbs left to practice on. Even if the links between the health of the forests and human health is not always apparent, the case of Malawi shows that forest conservation is capital for the maintenance of the lives of many people. Source: "Deforestation Threatens Malawi's Traditional Medicine" by Raphael Tenthani, PANA Correspondent, 17/1/2000
South Africa: just poetry and emotion? The expansion of the tree plantation model in South Africa has given place to a heated debate. Philip Owen, from SAWAC (South African Water Crisis), as well as several other concerned people, have repeatedly argued that the plantations scheme is detrimental to grassland and water conservation, thus negative with regard to rural communities. Last month Philip received a letter as a response to some comments he had made on an article entitled "Timber Farmers Praise Paper Giant", related to a tree plantation project by SAPPI -called Project Grow- in Kwa-Zulu Natal, which was published in The Citizen on November 18th 1999. Among other things, the reply stated that plantations do not make the land useless for growing vegetables, and that cattle grazing is to be seen in the project area. According to the author of the letter, only incomes from sugar farming can exceed those obtained from tree planting in the region. "What is needed are science-based practical solutions for practical problems, not poetry and emotion!" concluded the letter. This is the core of Philip's answer, which counters such arguments: "I will go visit the area concerned. I would like to speak to the tribal authorities. Finances allowing, I will visit them again ten years down the line, I will visit them again twenty years down the line, I will visit them again thirty years down the line, and I will see if my fears are justified. If Mpumalanga is anything to judge by, well, .... You can not argue, that animals find little nourishment under plantations. I saw the wild horses at Kaapsehoop the other day, the way their grazing areas have been affected by plantations in the area they are forced to graze next to the road. I would like people to realize that the "derelict land" referred to in the article has value, and properly looked after and cared for, can provide abundantly. When you talk about plantations and sugar being the industries of "highest financial returns", for whom do you mean? I believe the plantation model is wrong for South Africa. I will try to enforce a moratorium on new plantations, and in the face of reasonable serious 'opposition', will use any means at my disposal. For myself, I don't need studies and books to be convinced as to the negative effects of tree farming. I just need to take a walk up the mountain." Source: Philip Owen, 15/12/99, e-mail: owen@soft.co.za
Tanzania: local people benefit from forest products Corruption and incapacity among forestry officials, as well as the activity of illegal loggers, timber product dealers and sawmillers are responsible for the disappearance and degradation of Tanzania's forests (see WRM Bulletins 27 and 29). This not only means the destruction of a valuable ecosystem in a tropical region but also the loss of the source of resources and incomes for forest dwellers and forest dependent people. A recent research performed by G.C. Monela, G.C. Kajembe, A.R.S. Kaoneka, and G. Kowero of the Sokaine University of Agriculture shows that honey, charcoal, fuelwood, and wild fruits contribute with 58% of farmers' cash incomes in six villages from the Dodoma region, the peri-urban area near Morogoro, and the Kilosa District. Those results, together with findings from a rapid rural appraisal conducted in the same location, are presented in the book 'Household Livelihood Strategies in the Miombo Woodlands, Emerging Trends'. Honey alone accounted for one third of all cash income in those villages. Farmers in the peri-urban area, which had greater access to markets, produced more charcoal, which represented 38% of their total cash income. Women have increasingly become involved in many of these activities, particularly in the peri-urban area. The results from this study confirm the findings of a previous survey of seven administrative regions (conducted by Munishi et al.), that found that two thirds of all Tanzanian households obtained at least 15% of their incomes from forest products. Both studies make clear how important traditional forest knowledge and practices are for the survival and well being of local communities. They also show once again that forests are not only a source of roundwood for a few companies, but a rich source of products that can benefit local people. Those interested in receiving a free electronic copy of the above referred paper or who would like to send comments to the authors, please write to Godwin Kowero at g.kowero@cgiar.org Source: David Kaimowitz, 15/12/99, e-mail: D.KAIMOWITZ@cgiar.org
ASIA Cambodian forests menaced by logging concessions Uncontrolled logging threatens the future of Cambodian forests. A review of logging concessions in Cambodia was initiated last year, with the aim of identifying those concessions which should be terminated due to their repeated legal infringements, and those which should be continued under new contracts. The initiative, which was funded by the Asia Development Bank (ADB), has been crippled by time and financial constraints resulting from shortcomings in the ADB's management process. In fact, even if the concession review was scheduled for January 1999, site inspection started only last October. As a result, since such inspections were carried out in the wet season, when access to the concession sites was limited by weather and soil conditions, the review team could not witness any logging activities. Only 12 out of the 21 concessions in existence in the country -covering a huge total area of 4,739,153 hectares- were visited and the inspectors spent just one day in each concession area, with sizes ranging from 60,000 to 766,000 hectares. Concessionaires' forest management practices were judged purely on the basis of these one-day inspections. This, coupled with the fact that none of the concessionaires' historical records -including illegal activities and poor forest management practices- were taken into account by the review, means that concessionaires who have severely depleted the forests are likely to enjoy impunity for their actions. In spite of the above mentioned shortcomings, the conclusions of the review team are extremely worrying: all of Cambodia's concession land would be exhausted within seven years and the current logging levels are considered unsustainable. Additionally, the review concluded that every single concessionaire breached their contract for failing to achieve the required investment targets. The results of this research have been published by Global Witness in a briefing document entitled "The Untouchables. Forest crimes and the concessionaires - can Cambodia afford to keep them?". Detailed information on twelve companies involved in significant and prolonged illegal logging activities -with the open or hidden protection of the authorities- is provided. The referred companies are not only national, but also from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Japan. Recent and shocking photographs about illegal logging and transport in the coastal and eastern regions of the country are also published. Those interested in obtaining a copy of the report, please contact Global Witness. Source: Global Witness, 2/12/99; e-mail: mail@globalwitness.demon.co.uk
India: an outdated approach to national parks and people The preservationist approach to forest protection, which considers people as a threat to nature, ignores the human and territorial rights of rural communities and indigenous peoples living in the forests, who in fact usually contribute to their conservation. The view of nature as a void space, at the same time beautiful landscape and store of biodiversity for humanity, is not only unrealistic -since practically all the Earth is nowadays a geographic space modified by human intervention- but also leads to social and environmental conflicts. Even if this approach has been largely superseded, it is still being enforced in some cases, such as in India. Since the 1960's, the designation of an area as a National Park by the government of India has implied the forced removal of its indigenous inhabitants, perceived as detrimental to nature. A 'fence, guard and protect' policy has been promoted by both government and some conservationists, as reflected during the IUCN meeting in New Delhi held in 1969. The then adopted guidelines for protected areas only slowly changed during the late 1970's, when indigenous knowledge and its usefulness for resource management began to receive recognition. The obligation to allow indigenous people to remain within their territories and have them participate in the management of protected areas now applies to all nations, including India, that signed the Biodiversity Convention of 1992. However, the following case from North India shows that the old policy is still alive: "We, the Van Gujjars, are an indigenous forest dwelling people and have been living in the foothills of the Himalayas for centuries. We spend the winter months in the forests of the Shivalik mountain range at an average height of 1,500 feet above sea level, and the summer months in the high altitude pasture lands of the Himalayas at heights between 8,000 - 12,000 feet. For centuries we have reared our buffaloes in these forests and pasture lands and that is all we know to make our living. Our buffaloes are a mixture of the indigenous breeds Nili and Ravi. These small and tough animals have been with us for generations with very little mixture of outside blood. These buffaloes are forest buffaloes so they are very well adapted to the tough life of the forest and the long treks of nomadic life. No other buffalo are capable of walking from heights of 1,500-12,000 feet, facing all hardships of very scarce fodder during transhumance. Our buffaloes are part of our family and have individual personalities and names of their own like Bhuri, Makheri, Nukra, Lali, etc. Our women also own buffaloes in their own name and they have full rights to the milk and milk products. These buffaloes are very efficient converters of roughage into milk. Their milk is rich and has a very high fat content (as high as 10-12%). During the summer months millions of tourists and pilgrims come to visit these parts of the Himalayas. It is only our buffalo that supply the milk to these people and if we did not do so, the mountains would become garbage dumps of packets and tins. In this way we are supporting 'eco-tourism' in the Himalayas. During the winter months our buffaloes give thousands of litres of milk daily to the cities that are close to our forests. Our buffaloes start migrating on their own when the weather gets hot in the month of March or April or when it becomes cold in the month of September (close to the snow line). At times if we are not ready to move, we have to physically stop them. If they are not disturbed they can reach their destinations even on their own. They are like any other wild animal of the forests and know how to protect themselves against attacks from carnivorous animals. They have their own warning sounds and all of them gather together in a circle with the calves inside and can fend off any attack. This behaviour you will not see in dairy buffaloes. Our buffaloes forage mainly on leafodder during the winter months and on the rich grass of the Himalayan pasture land during the summers. In winter we lop off branches from selected fodder trees making sure that enough nodal branches and leaves are left so that the tree may regenerate during the remaining period of the year. Also, we lop the branches just before the time of leaf fall of the particular species and in this way we ensure that the tree gets the full benefit of its foliage for growth. The herbivorous wildlife of the forests joins our buffalo in foraging on these lopped leaves. Buffalo manure provides a very rich fertiliser for the forests. On the one hand we take leaves from the forests but in return we provide it fertiliser. Also, it is in our interest to remove the weeds so that young saplings of fodder trees can grow since these would provide food for our buffaloes in the years to come. Anybody can see that wherever we Van Gujjars live in the forest, the wildlife thrives. In this way we live in complete harmony with the forests and their wildlife and that is the only reason that our way of life has survived through the centuries. We are vegetarians and our diet is largely based on milk and milk products. Also, we believe in the Ghandian principle that the 'Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed' and we own only so many possessions that we can carry with us on our transhumance. We see the outside world today in a vice-like grip of consumerism and we have consciously kept away from this. No one in our community drinks alcohol or gambles. We do not dance and play drums like other communities. We believe that the drum is the symbol of the hunt and this is against our ethics and morals. We do not and cannot harm the forest in any way because our very survival depends upon it. The degradation of our natural resources, forests and wildlife has come about because of indiscriminate and unsustainable use of these resources. We protect and conserve our forests and wildlife. We know every species of tree, every animal and every bird, we note every fallen branch and tree, we recognise every sound in the forest and its meaning. These forests have been our home for centuries and we feel safe and secure in them. We know that women and children can be left in the care of the forests, but this is not so in the cities. You will not find a single Van Gujjar's 'dera' (large circular thatched hut) with a covered doorway because we feel that if our doorways are covered then we are excluding the forest from our lives. After all we are a part of the same 'Kudrat' (nature) that provides for the forests, for their wildlife and for us. It is this compulsion that has kept us as vegetarians. If we do not live in harmony with our surroundings then we would suffer. Except for a few stray incidents of elephant attacks no wild animal has ever harmed any of us. We also understand that the protection of our forests' flora, fauna and wildlife is critical for the conservation of biological diversity in the country. Isn't this what our foresters, environmentalists, government and other people want? In 1983 the State Government declared its intentions of converting our forests into a National Park. This is when our troubles began. The forest department told us that we would have to leave the forests and settle outside the new park boundaries. This we cannot do because we know that this would be the end of our buffaloes and without them it would be our end too. For centuries we have lived freely in these forests and have always considered them to be our own. We have never wanted to exploit the forests for money or any other consideration, which the forest department has previously done and now the tree smugglers and animal poachers are doing. We only take fodder leaves from the forest and return it through other benefits in ample measure. We have always ensured that no harm comes to these forests which are a part of 'Kudrat'. But today the forest department chooses to call us trespassers and tries to lay the blame of its own bad management at our doors. We hear stories of other forest dwelling people in our country who also have similar problems like ours and note that this developing conflict between parks and people can only be harmful to both. This, we are told, is also happening in other countries around the world. These struggles are certainly the manifestation of the assertion of rights, but the initiative is to protect the ecosystem and wildlife of the Shivalik range of mountains and our, the Van Gujiars', and local villagers' traditional rights. We should have the choice to permanently live in and around the protected area in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner." Source: "Old-style forest
protection in India" by Noud van Seters
Indonesia: deforestation and forest degradation in Borneo's forests Borneo, one of the biggest islands of the Malaysian archipelago in South East Asia, is under the sovereignty of three states: Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Originally this big island was completely covered by dense tropical forests. The expansion of the lumber-exporting industry, together with oil palm and pulpwood plantations both in Malaysia and Indonesia have nearly completely destroyed the Bornean forests. Consumers of tropical timbers in the North, such as buyers of plywood for home building in the USA are ultimately responsible for this ecological disaster. Timber exports contribute $8 billion annually to the Indonesian economy and provide 80% of the plywood used in the US home building industry. New scientific research provides persuasive evidence that forest sustainability is primarily determined by conditions over large scale biogeographical territories and that ongoing human-induced climate disorders at the global level are severely jeopardizing tropical forests. In fact, Borneo's rare tropical rainforest -where reproduction of the trees is intricately linked to the arrival of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon- face imminent death due to increased logging and human-intensified climate change. ENSO is a combined phenomenon of variation of temperature and atmospheric pressure respectively at the ocean and the air levels. The trees synchronize their reproduction -called masting- to the onset of ENSO, which occurs about once every four years. Climatic conditions created by El Niño trigger simultaneous fruiting in dipterocarps and are essential for seed production, which the abundant fauna use as food. Local villagers collect seeds to eat and to sell as a cash crop. According to a research in ecology recently performed at the University of Michigan, the degradation of dipterocarp forests will have repercussions both in Bornean terrestrial ecosystems and in regional economies, with global implications in the near future. The problem, the researchers discovered, is that intensive logging on the island around the Gunung Palung National Park over the past decade has drastically reduced seed production from 175 pounds per acre in 1991 to 16.5 pounds per acre in 1998. As intensive logging reduces the local density and biomass of mature trees, the spatial extent of masting is affected. As a consequence, the entire ecosystem -included flora, fauna and human beings- is menaced. As this disaster goes on, the Indonesian government continues to turn a deaf ear to the demands of its people -exemplified by the long struggle of the indigenous people- and to the evidences provided by good science. Its unbridled race to increase more and more incomes generated by wood exports will quickly destroy the remaining Borneo forests. Increased support to the Borneo peoples' resistance is for the time being the main means to counteract such destructive policy. Source: Glen Barry, 16/12/99; e-mail: grbarry@students.wisc.edu
Malaysia: why the Selangor Dam? The Selangor dam project is being strongly resisted by local communities, indigenous peoples and environmental NGOs, since it means the destruction of 600 hectares of rainforest, the eviction of the native Temuan from their ancestral homelands, and the destruction of the green sanctuary of Pertak in Ulu Selangor. It is also feared that the wetlands near Kuala Selangor, as well as the montane forest of Pertak will be adversely affected. Additionally, safety matters regarding the dam structure have not been adequately addressed. With well founded arguments the Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) has severely questioned the Environmental Impact Assessment study (EIA) prepared by SMHB Sdn. Bhd for the project proponent, Konsortium TSWA-Gamuda-KDEB (see WRM Bulletin 22). The opposition to the project is increasing. SOS Selangor (Save Sungai Selangor), a group of concerned citizens whose aim is to protect the environment in the region, has denounced that the EIA contract was given to a component of the consortium involved in the building of the dam, without an open competitive tender. This document contradicts itself in a number of topics and does not even follow the guidelines set by the Department of the Environment (DOE) on information that the assessment should contain. Considering that the EIA has been conditionally accepted by the environmental authority, SOS Selangor is claiming that the conditions placed on the dam consortium as a result of the EIA are made public. This means that the DOE must ensure that the monitoring and enforcement of the project is completely credible by informing about important issues related to it, for example how many qualified personnel will be dispatched to the site, how the environmental authority is going to enforce the EIA conditions that logging must be confined within the 600 hectare reservoir area, if this area will be thoroughly cleared before flooding, if wildlife must be given adequate berth to escape from the area before flooding, etc. According to precedents that have ended in environmental disaster, monitoring and enforcement of EIA conditions by the DOE and municipal authorities do not really take place in Malaysia. As an immediate measure, SOS Selangor is demanding that the illegal logging activities performed by Gamuda in the catchment area of the Selangor River be immediately stopped, since no permits or contracts have yet been signed. In the meantime, a capital question remains with no answer: why going ahead with the Selangor dam project in a country where three dam projects - Bakun, Sabah and Kelantan- have recently failed, and where forests are quickly being destroyed? Sources: SOS Selangor, 14/12/99; e-mail:sos_selangor@mail.com ;
Thailand: Boycott the bulldozer movie! Democracy and environmental groups in Thailand and beyond are shocked and outraged at the way Twentieth Century Fox used the force of power and big money to produce the movie 'The Beach', starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In late 1998, the US company, which belongs to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, bulldozed and reshaped Maya Beach, part of Phi Phi Islands National Park, for just two weeks of filming because its natural scenery was considered not good enough to project Hollywood's ideal of a "tropical paradise". The film-makers not only committed gross eco-crimes to be prosecuted by law, they also need to be condemned for their contempt of local people who revere Maya as a sacred ground. To avoid conflicts, the film-makers could have made 'The Beach' scenes as a composite of two different sites or used special effects to achieve their desired vision. But they insisted on going ahead on Phi Phi Leh Island, secure in the knowledge they could count on the support of Thai bureaucrats and politicians who are more preoccupied in using the law to serve their own interests rather than protecting the integrity of the legal system for public good. Not surprisingly, local residents and national civic groups made all-out efforts to protest at the sale of national park law to Hollywood. Sadly, they were not able to stop the environmental destruction on Phi Phi Leh in time. Still, lawsuits were filed in January 1999 against Fox and the government agencies and officials who allowed the film-makers to ravage a protected area. As if things were not bad enough, Fox, which is a defendant in an ongoing Thai court case, also won over the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and is now co-sponsoring a joint tourism campaign to promote 'The Beach' movie and Thailand's beaches. This move is a disgrace not only for Thai civil society struggling to phase out harmful policies and corruption, but also for Thailand's image because it shows that its government has deteriorated to a mere stooge of big international capital, willing to sell out everything without pride and dignity. Despite persistent propaganda efforts to distort the truth and the bullying tactics of the powerful pro-'The Beach' lobby, the Thai protest movement will continue to expose this scandal to the world and fight on for justice in this case. This is of utmost importance to save the country's environmental laws from further sabotage and to prevent other nature reserves from falling victim to unscrupulous encroachers and environmental villains. To make this struggle a success, we urge the international community to actively support the Justice for Maya Bay campaign. Please help our friends in Thailand by writing a letter to producer Andrew McDonald telling him you will boycott the film. The address is: Andrew MacDonald, Producer You can also send an e-mail to the Women's Voices for the
Earth (website: www.wildrockies.org/WVE/beach.htm
) that has been coordinating an international boycott campaign against 'The Beach',
E-mail: Source: Tourism Investigation&Monitoring Team - Bangkok, tim-team@access.inet.co.th
CENTRAL AMERICA The following letter from Jorge Varela of the Committee for the Defence and Development of Flora and Fauna of the Fonseca Gulf (CODEFFAGOLF) was published in Late Friday News nr. 53, a publication of Mangrove Action Project (MAP). In 1999, Jorge was one of the seven environmental and human rights activists to receive the Goldman Prize 1999. In his letter he expresses: "Tegucigalpa, Honduras, December 8, 1999 Good News From Honduras! With so much satisfaction, we send you an affective and cordial greeting. We are about to end the year 1999 and want to share with our friend and partner organizations, the happiness that we feel in having attained the following achievements: It has been possible to diminish the coastal wetlands' destruction in the Gulf of Fonseca. This year there have not been murders of fishermen related to the shrimp farming industry. The Government of Honduras has officially approved the preservation of seven ecosystems of coastal wetlands within the Gulf of Fonseca as RAMSAR sites. The Gulf of Fonseca has been placed as "Ramsar Site 100". A national front for the defence of sovereignty has been formed, and through this formation, the sale of our coastal marine territory to foreigners has been stopped, pending consideration of plans to protect the interests of native communities and the environment. As a Christmas gift, after 12 years of struggle, on December 2nd, the National Congress of Honduras declared as conservation zones more than 757 sq.km of coastal wetlands (mangrove forests, lagoons, islands, biodiversity, local communities...). These achievements have been reached because of the moral support that friend and partner organizations such as MAP have facilitated, and because of this our triumphs are shared with you. Thanks, thanks a lot. Jorge Varela Márquez
Nicaragua: will Smartwood certify depredatory logging company? In February 1998, representatives of indigenous communities -Sumus and Miskitos- local and regional authorities, environmental NGOs, and community and religious leaders joined in Rosita, a village on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, to discuss a common strategy against the illegal activities of the Korean transnational logging company Kimyung, which in 1994 had received a concession from the central government on 62,000 hectares of forest in indigenous territories (see WRM Bulletin 11). Kimyung operated through the subsidiary SOLCARSA. Even if such concession was considered to be in violation of the constitution, the company began its depredatory logging activities, provoking resistance among local communities. As thousands of trees were felled and people realized that the jobs created were few and badly paid and that the company did not comply with its initial promises, opposition grew. A 1998 resolution of the Supreme Court ruled that the concession was unconstitutional and had to be revoked, which happened one year later. Nevertheless SOLCARSA did not surrender, and once its activities became illegal, they didn't leave the country, but made the manoeuvre of changing its name to PRADA. Even if PRADA and SOLCARSA are one and the same thing, this new name gave them the chance to continue the depredation of indigenous resources in the same areas. They even sued a group of Nicaraguan ecologist NGOs, which has accused it of being an illegal company. That sue against the ecologists was halted by two judicial resolutions at the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999. Surprising as it may seem, last December PRADA started a spot campaign on TV stating that Smartwood had already certified the company. Nicaraguan environmental NGOs contacted the National Bureau involved in Forestry Certification issues, and received as an answer that such certification was not yet true. In order to prevent that PRADA receives the certification -which would be a complete farce, thus undermining the reliability of the whole of the certification process- the environmental NGOs of Nicaragua have addressed Smartwood demanding it: - to research more about the terrible and illegal background of PRADA with regard to the country's rainforest; - to clarify to the Nicaraguan public opinion which is the present relationship between Smartwood and PRADA; - to demand PRADA to immediately take out of circulation the above referred spot. Source: Centro Alexander Von Humboldt, 20/1/2000; e-mail: humboldt@ibw.com.ni
SOUTH AMERICA Argentina: storing German carbon in forests? The issue of the environmental services that Southern countries can provide to Northern countries to mitigate the effects of global climate change is controversial. On the one hand there is the question of environmental justice at the global level, since those countries that are most responsible for the dangerous alteration of climate on Earth, instead of addressing the causes that are provoking it -for instance the unsustainable energy use and the huge emissions of CO2 by industry- are looking for doubtful and partial solutions, that can be bought for a low price in the South. Additionally, there is the question of who has got the right to participate in such kind of negotiations, as well as who will be the beneficiaries, and eventually who will be worst hit by them. The role of forests as carbon sinks and reservoirs is nowadays an important component of the discussions and negotiations that are taking place under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. There are recent news about an agreement reached in November 1999 between the government of Chubut Province, in the southern region of Argentina, and the German foundation Prima Klima. The aim of the project is to share the management of a natural area and to obtain funds by means of the certification of carbon fixation during a period of 50 years. The area of the project includes the La Plata and Fontana watersheds in the foothills of the Patagonic Andes. In a communique dated January 6th 2000, Greenpeace-Argentina -member of the Foro del Buen Ayre, a network of NGOs and institutions which activiely participated at the Climate Change Convention’s COP IV which met in November 1998 in Buenos Aires- severely questions the validity of such agreement, both from a technical and a legal point of view. Juan Carlos Villalonga, coordinator of GP-Argentina Energy Campaign, stated: "This kind of activities have a low level of reliability and their contribution to solve the problem of global climate change is poor." At the same time, Greenpeace warned about the lack of established criteria to formulate and manage projects of generation of carbon bonds, especially when there is an interest to use the capacity of the forests to absorb and fix carbon. GP also considers that from a formal point of view the agreement should have been evaluated by the Argentinian Bureau for Joint Implementation (OAIC - Oficina Argentina de Implementación Conjunta), thus enabling civil society can take part in it. For more information on this issue, please contact: Natalia Truchi, Press Office, Greenpeace - Argentina; e-mail: natalia.truchi@dialb.greenpeace.org Source: Foro del Buen Ayre, 6/1/2000; e-mail: foroba@wamani.wamani.apc.org
Brazil: the struggle of the Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe The indigenous people Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe are claiming their territorial rights on an area of 53,000 hectares in the Southern Region of the State of Bahia, which contain remnants of the once luxurious "mata atlantica" forest that spread along the Ocean coast. These lands, converted into pastures, were invaded by ranchers, which are using them for cattle raising and, in some areas, for planting cacao. Such use of the land after massive deforestation has caused severe environmental impacts on soils and on water supplies. In 1936 the lands of the Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe were demarcated, but gradually invaded by some 300 ranchers ("fazendeiros"), who even got land titles from local authorities. In order to get these ranchers out, the State Agency on Indigenous Peoples' Issues (FUNAI) went to court in 1983 trying to prove that the land titles given to the ranchers were totally invalid, once the lands had already been declared to be indigenous. The case is now being considered by the Federal High Court. Some time ago, the Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe carried out a direct action and recovered part of their lands that had been usurped by the "fazendeiros." They also demanded the liberation of their leader Cacique Gerson de Souza Melo, who was arbitrarily imprisoned last December 15th under the accusation of having participated in the murder of two policemen in the conflict area. An international campaign for the immediate release of the indigenous leader was launched and a week later he was released. Nevertheless, provocation and threats against the Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe continue. The Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe are supporting the related Pataxó indigenous peoples who occupied Monte Pascoal National Park in August 1999 (see WRM Bulletins 26 and 28). They are also preparing counter-celebrations to the 500th anniversary of the "discovery" of Brazil by the Portuguese. Source: CIMI-ES, 15/12/99, 21/12/99, 18/1/2000; e-mail: cimies@aranet.com.br
Brazil: joint government agency-Greenpeace action in the Amazon The accelerated loss of the Amazon rainforest is perhaps the most notorious case of environmental destruction at a global level. It is not "humanity" as an abstract entity the one responsible for it. A research on forestry policy performed by the Brazilian National Security Agency (SAE) in 1998 concluded that 80% of the timber produced in the Amazon was extracted illegally. Powerful transnational companies were and are direct agents of this devastating activity (see WRM Bulletin 5). At the end of the chain, the demand in Europe and the United States for hardwoods, as well as the consumption by Brazilian urban elites for furniture, promote these large illegal logging operations. Even if the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) is committed to protect the Amazon, it does not count with the necessary means to accomplish its duties. At the same time, Brazilian domestic policy regarding natural resources -the Amazon included- differs very much from the one reflected in the nice speeches which the country representatives give in international fora. Unfortunately, it is the international market forces and the lobby of powerful rural and industrial interests which in fact dictate the government's behaviour on the issue. Nevertheless, every now and then small but significatives victories are achieved. This is the case of the recent joint action between IBAMA officials and Greenpeace activists in the Municipality of Icoaraci in the Northern State of Pará. Using a simple technology based on ultraviolet rays, in December 1999 Greenpeace volunteers were able to identify an illegal supply of logs of "faveira" in the yard of Eidai do Brasil, a Japanese export logging company operating in that region, which controls major plywood markets in the USA, Japan, UK and the Netherlands. Thus the IBAMA officials were able to fine the company and confiscate the logs. The action had started a few days before, when IBAMA and Greenpeace personnel, returning from a routine visit to a mill in Pará State, stopped a truck carrying seven logs of "faveira", a type of timber used by the plywood industry. The cargo was not accompanied by Authorisation for Forest Products Transport documents, and was therefore illegal. In order to track the logs to their destination, the IBAMA agents released the truck after Greenpeace activists marked the logs with a special product which is sensitive to ultraviolet light. Once the Greenpeace activists were able to enter the Eidai facility, they identified the logs using UV lamps. During the same operation, IBAMA also apprehended and fined another logging truck delivering undocumented "faveira" timber to Eidai. This is just a token of how much can be achieved by joint work in the defense of rainforests. At a larger scale, if governments together with environmental NGOs, indigenous peoples' organizations and concerned people join efforts to denounce and take direct steps to identify, control and punish depredators, a better future can be expected for the Amazon forest and its peoples. Source: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/dec99/1999L-12-08-03.html
Action for the U'wa people in Colombia During the long conflict that has involved the U'wa indigenous people -with the support of national and international NGOs and social organizations- and Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), there have been constant comings and goings. For almost a decade, the U'wa people have successfully prevented Oxy from exploiting oil -that they consider the Earth's blood- in their traditional territory. But in September 1999 the Environment Ministry, which has always acted in collusion with the company's interests, granted a permit to Oxy that allows it to begin an exploratory drilling just outside the Unified U'wa Reservation, in a site that is within U'wa traditional territories (see WRM Bulletin 27). This arbitrary step was and is still strongly resisted both in Colombia and abroad. The U'wa authorities have issued the following communique, asking for international solidarity: "Approximately 200 members of the U'wa indigenous tribe of northeastern Colombia assembled in a permanent settlement on part of our ancestral lands yesterday, November 16. This area is the site where Occidental Petroleum wants to drill the oil well 'Gibralter 1', an action which threatens life and our ancient culture. With this permanent presence and with the support of the local farmers of Sarare, we are claiming our ancestral and constitutional rights to life and to our traditional territory. We demand that the Colombian government and Oxy leave us in peace and that once and for all they cancel the oil project in this area. We U'wa people are willing to give our lives to defend Mother Earth from this project which will annihilate our culture, destroy nature, and upset the world's equilibrium. Caring for the Earth and the welfare of our children and of future generations is not only the responsibility of the U'wa people but of the entire national and international society. We ask people around the world who value the Earth and indigenous peoples to speak out against the multinational oil company Oxy through protests, letters and other actions of solidarity." As part of the campaign to defend the U'wa territorial rights you are asked to send faxes to: - Albert Gore Demand him not to accept campaign contributions from oil companies, and ask him why he has invested in Occidental Petroleum shares, which is in complete contradiction with his declared environmentalist viewpoints, Aditional information (includes sample letter) - Edward C. Johnson III Fidelity Investments controls over 8 percent of the company's total value under the slogan "We help you invest responsibly". Demand them to show that they act according to this slogan by taking actions to convince Occidental to cancel its project on the indigenous traditional lands. See sample letter In the last days even graver events happened. On the January 19th, more than 5000 heavily armed soldiers of the Colombian Army entered the U'wa traditional territory, in Cedeno, where the oil drilling well Gibraltar 1 is located. This is an extreme step of the Colombian government to make sure that Oxy's oil exploitation goes ahead. An urgent campaign has been launched to stop the invasion. You are asked to address the following Colombian authorities, expressing your concern and rejection to this new violent action againts the U'wa: - Juan Mayr, Minister of the Environment; e-mail: Jmayr@minamb.gov.co ; fax: (57 1) 336 1166 - 288 6877 - 284 0363 - Andrés Pastrana, President of the Republic of Colombia, e-mail: a.pastrana@presidencia.gov.co - Gustavo Bell Lemus, Presidential Adviser for Human Rights; fax: (57 1) 341 8364. - Fernando Castro Caicedo, People's Defender; fax: (57 1) 346 1225 Source: Global Response, 19/1/2000 and 21/1/2000; e-mail: globresponse@igc.org
Colombia: "the life and dignity of the Embera people won't be flooded" The Urra hydroelectric dam megaproject in Colombia is causing negative impacts on the Embera Katio indigenous people, ancestral dwellers of the affected area. With the support of Colombian and international NGOs, the Embera Katio are bravely opposing the project boasted by the government, which menaces the permanence of their livelihoods and the survival or their entire culture (see WRM Bulletin 29). As part of their resistance activities, last December a large group of indigenous families marched on foot to Bogotá in order to demand to the central authorities the immediate suspension of the dam works and to protest against the permanent state of insecurity and violence they are suffering because of the crossfire between guerrillas and paramilitary groups, who are trying to force them off their land. The protesters reached Bogotá before Christmas after a long march. The group, formed by 100 men, 60 women and 30 children gathered in Bolívar Plaza in downtown Bogotá, where they said they would remain until the government heard their grievances. They denounced that the Environment Ministry had authorised the filling of the dam's reservoir without complying with the required process of consulting the affected communities, as stipulated by the 1991 National Constitution, whose Article 79 states that "everyone has the right to enjoy a healthy environment" and that "the law will guarantee the participation of society in those decisions that can affect it". They also stated that the construction of the Urra dam has ignored the rights of indigenous local residents, which were confirmed by a 1998 Supreme Court ruling. On December 23, while the flooding of their territory by the dam works was beginning, a group of Embera Katio occupied the entry of the building of the Ministry of the Environment. At the same time they went on with their mobilization at the international level, asking the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights to take preventive steps against the Colombian government so that the filling of the dam reservoir be immediately halted and a compensation for the environmental damages caused was paid. In spite of his rhetoric Mr Juan Mayr, a former environmentalist and today Minister of the Environment, continues to deny the possibility of an open and sincere dialogue with the affected indigenous communities and has in fact decreed their death. Nevertheless, the struggle of the Embera Katio for life continues. As they say: "The life and dignity of the Embera people won't be flooded" ("Dueda tu beu ea embera neta Embera ea"). Sources: Editor Equipo Nizkor, 25/12/99; e-mail: nizkor@teleline.es ; Amazon Alliance, 3/1/2000; e-mail: amazoncoal@igc.org ; Dario Jana, 10/1/2000; e-mail: darioj@bigfoot.com
Support requested to forest indigenous peoples in Peru The Mashco Piro, Yora, Amahuaca, and Yaminahua indigenous peoples in the amazonic Alta Piedras region of Madre de Dios in Peru, are being threatened by pending forest concessions. These peoples -called "uncontacted"- which have chosen to remain in isolation from Peruvian society, would have their way of life, as well as their natural resources severely impacted if logging in their ancestral lands actually takes place. The indigenous organization Madre de Dios Native Federation (Federación Nativa Madre de Dios - FENAMAD) has been trying for years to find the way to make the survival of the native inhabitants of that region possible. Nevertheless, the authorities have completely ignored them. FENAMAD took part in the initiative promoted by the Regional Environmental Committee of Madre de Dios to elaborate a proposal for the ecological and economic zonification of the area, which includes the delimitation of indigenous peoples traditional lands to avoid that their territories and resources end in the hands of a few depredatory companies. An operative plan for such delimitation was also presented to the regional office of the Ministry of Agriculture, but the only response obtained until now was that the area is being considered for granting logging licenses. The Peruvian government is up to decide about the licensing of the concessions. Those interesting in supporting this struggle can address the following Peruvian authorities by means of the below model letter: - Alberto Fujimori, President of the Republic of Peru, Fax:
(51)1 426 6770 Dear Sirs: We write to express our grave concern regarding the licensing of forest concession in the Alta Piedras region of the Department of Madre de Dios between the Brazilian border and Ucallali and the effect the concessions would have on the uncontacted indigenous peoples of this region. The concessions to international logging companies in the Alta Piedras region will have a devastating impact on the Mashco Piro, Yora, Amahuaca, and Yaminahua peoples who remain in voluntary isolation from Peruvian society. We understand that one transnational logging company has already begun construction of a 180 kilometer road into the region and that there have already been confrontations with one of the uncontacted peoples of the area. In addition to threatening the natural resources which sustain indigenous communities, logging operations will inevitable expose these peoples to new diseases and violence that could cause great suffering. We remember the Kugapakori-Nahuas of the Urubamba and Manu basins who lost half of their community members in violent confrontations with loggers and petroleum workers. The Mashco Piro, Amahuaca, Yaminahua, and Yora peoples' lives depend upon the forest and they protect it and all of its wealth. For these reasons above, we strongly urge you to prevent the licensing of concessions in the forests of Alta Piedras and seriously consider the Operative Plan for defining and protecting the ancestral territories of the indigenous people in this region put forth by the Federacion Nativa de Madre de Dios (FENAMAD.) Yours Sincerely, Name Please, send a copy to: Source: Patrick Reinsborough, 5/1/2000; e-mail: rags@ran.org
OCEANIA Good news from New Zealand/Aotearoa Environmental NGOs are celebrating the success of the newly elected New Zealand government in forcing the State owned logging company, Timberlands, to withdraw its plans to log extensive areas of beech rainforests on the west coast of the country's south island. Timberlands had made all efforts to neutralise political opposition to its operations. Earlier this year, trustworthy documents revealed a multi-million dollar covert lobbying campaign by Timberlands to lobby political parties in this regard. Additionally, the company had entered into contracts with a number of sawmilling companies, even lacking formal approval for the beech forests logging. Timberlands reacted to the new government's announcement declaring that it intended to go on with its activities at least until the new authorities expressly order it the contrary. At the same time, a number of the above mentioned companies, as well as some local councils, are now threatening to take legal action against the government for what they claim is a breach of an agreement reached with the logging industry of the west coast in 1986. In spite of these obstacles, the long campaign to protect the magnificent beech forests and wildlife of North Westland, the Grey Valley and Buller is close to success. Finally Timberlands had to obey and beech forests have been excluded from logging, while environmentalists are confident that legal actions -if taken- will not overturn the government's decision. While the end to the proposed beech forests' logging has been welcomed, environmentalists are pressing the government to bring the helicopter logging of the rimu forests to an early end as well. Labour, the Alliance and the Greens, all of whom have been targeted by Timberlands' lobbying campaign, are committed to ending the rimu logging. This victory is a token of the importance of the activities displayed by environmental NGOs in creating the conditions for political parties with an alternative approach to the environment to take positive steps in regard to forests. Source: "New Zealand's New Government Stops Rainforest Logging" by Bob Burton; http://ens.lycos.com/ens/dec99/1999L-12-13-04.html .
Papua New Guinea: moratorium on new logging announced The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister Mekere Morauta has announced the intention of the new government to impose a moratorium on new logging, and to review existing logging concessions, many of which are thought to have been improperly granted and implemented. The announcement was well received by environmental NGOs, which consider that it is time to halt any new large-scale logging concessions in the country. The previous government had adopted a policy of granting concessions to foreign companies -especially from Malaysia- and not controlling illegal logging, which had been severely criticised by environmentalists since it was leading to the complete destruction of one of the world's largest remaining closed rainforests, taking into account that PNG contains the largest intact tropical ancient forest in the Asia Pacific region and the third largest in the world. The PNG Eco-Forestry forum reminded that between 1975 and 1996, PNG lost more than 10% of its forests because of large scale logging. Very little of the profit from the exported logs was retained by the country or the landowners. Not to mention the indigenous peoples -as is the case of the Kosuwa and Kamula natives- whose ancestral lands were invaded by the loggers (see WRM Bulletin 26). The new approach that the government is seemingly up to adopt from now on has to be based on an alternative forest management paradigm, on which PNG civil society has been working over the last decade. Community forest management, indigenous peoples rights and environmental sustainability are at the core of such viewpoint. Regarding the logging industry, the Eco-Forestry forum considers that small-scale saw-milling is the best way to use the country's industrial forest resources in order to conserve the environment and for rural community welfare. Those interested in expressing their support to this recent step can address PNG Prime Minister, underscoring the importance that the moratorium is actually implemented, and not undercut with exceptions or weak implementation, as has happened with a previous moratorium in the early 1990s: Hon. Sir Mekere Morauta, MP Source: http://forests.org/recent/pngmimor.txt , 26/12/99.
PLANTATIONS CAMPAIGN WorldWatch Institute's new publication on the paper industry The increasing demand of paper and paperboard, especially in Northern countries, is one of the direct causes of deforestation and, at the same time, of the expansion of pulpwood plantations -which normally constitute an additional cause of deforestaton- for the obtention of fibre. Paper production and consumption at the global level has reached such alarming figures, that this industry has become one of the most resource-demanding and polluting industries in the world. Pulp and paper is the fifth largest industrial consumer of energy and the first water consuming per ton of product in the world. Additionally to the destruction of forests by intensive logging and the social and environmental negative effects of large-scale tree plantations, the industrial process itself produces high levels of air and water pollution. Those and other topics are addressed in a recent publication issued by the Worldwatch Institute (Abramovitz, Janet & Mattoon, Ashley.- 'Paper cuts: recovering the paper landscape.' Washington, Worldwatch Institute, December 1999, Worldwatch Paper 149). The document also makes several proposals on how new technologies can be used to curb this unsustainable trend, and how paper consumption can be reduced by modifying consumption habits both in traditional and in emerging markets. The text is accompanied by tables and figures that show the evolution of the sector in the last decades. Those interested in obtaining a copy can write to the following e-addresses: jabramovitz@worldwatch.org, amattoon@worldwatch.org , or mcaron@worldwatch.org . Source: Worldwatch Institute, December 1999; http://www.worldwatch.org
Dutch carbon sink plantations: adding to the problem The social and environmental impacts of tree monocultures in the Andean Páramos of Ecuador in a project carried out by the Dutch consortium FACE are analyzed in a thesis work for a PhD in Environmental Sciences of the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain. The author -Verónica Vidal- worked during several months in that grasslands region of Ecuador, inhabited by indigenous peasants, and which is capital for the maintenance of the hydrological cycle and as well as hosting high levels of biodiversity. The conclusions state that there is a lack of scientific evidence on the assumption that the increase in carbon dioxide volume in the atmosphere -the most important greenhouse effect gas- can be compensated by the creation of the so-called "carbon sink tree plantations." In the case of the Ecuadorian Paramos, the carbon uptake by FACE’s pine plantations has proved to be far below the expected figure. Moreover, the plantations can produce the effect of promoting the oxidation of the soil organic matter, which would mean further liberation of carbon to the atmosphere. According to estimates, the release of carbon to the air can be even higher than the carbon uptake of the growing trees, so that plantations would promote the increase of carbon atmospheric concentration, instead of reducing it. This imbalance, coupled with the negative effects of plantations on the economy of the indigenous communities that live at the Páramos, definitively show that plantations are not a solution to global warming, but a part of the problem. The summary of the thesis Those interested in contacting the author, please write to: vvidal@terrabit.ictnet.es
WRM briefing on carbon sink plantations The WRM has just published a new Plantations Campaign briefing titled "The carbon shop: planting new problems" by Larry Lohmann. This is the third briefing in our series in relation to tree monocultures, and, as the previous ones, it aims at facilitating understanding of the plantations issue by a wider public and can be used to influence journalists and international fora, to organize public discussions, and to raise awareness within communities facing the hegemonic forestry model. The issue of the promotion of tree plantations as carbon sinks under the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol as a way of mitigating the greenhouse effect is critically addressed both from the technical and the political point of view. "Instead of enshrining and expanding inequalities in resource use while concealing the pathologies of the current pattern of fossil-fuel exploitation -as the appeal to grand-scale carbon-"offset" plantations does- such an approach would go straight to the root of the climate crisis. Realistically, a livable climate can be promoted not through more monoculture plantations, more logging, more fossil-fuel plants and more automobiles, but only through a commitment to equality" concludes the author. The printed publication is available in English, and free of charge from the International Secretariat. NGOs, IPOs and community-based organizations can request more than one copy, also free of charge. The full text can also be found in our web site at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/plantations/material/carbonshop.htm We will soon publish the Spanish version, while the French and Portuguese versions will be available electronically.
GENERAL "Undermining the forests": new publication on Canadian mining industry "Undermining the forests. The need to control transnational mining companies: a Canadian case study" by Forest Peoples Programme, Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links and the World Rainforest Movement, published in January 2000, is the second report in a series which focuses on the social, environmental, economic and political impacts of transnational corporations (TNCs) on forests and forest peoples. The first one, titled "High Stakes; The Need to Control Transnational Logging Companies: a Malaysian case study" was published by the World Rainforest Movement and Forests Monitor in August 1998. The aim of these reports is to raise awareness within industry of its impact on forests and forest peoples, to inform policy and decision makers of the dangers of unsustainable activities in Southern countries, be a resource guide for local environmental and social NGOs working on this kind of issues, as well as bringing the question of TNC operations and their impacts on forests to the agenda of international processes dealing with forests. Even if often ignored in forestry debates, industrial mining is the second biggest threat (after commercial logging) to the world’s remaining primary forests. Canadian companies have greatly expanded overseas in the past decades, driven by the potential of the unexploited subsoil and the liberalization policy in the exploitation of natural resources applied in many southern countries, where foreign investments are generally perceived as positive, regardless of their social and environmental impacts. The contents of the book are: Preface, Introduction, Executive summary, Mining the planet: the Canadian mining industry and its influence world-wide, Global trends in mining and the role of international agencies, Mining and the rights of indigenous peoples in international law, Mining impacts: Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, The Philippines, Indonesia, Reflections and Recommendations, Appendix, References. The report is to be distributed free for Southern NGOs and at a cost of U$S 15 plus mailing charges for other interested people and organizations. For obtaining a copy, please contact: Forest Peoples Programme
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