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Issue Number 34 - May 2000

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The Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity will be meeting for its fifth time in Nairobi, Kenya, from 15-26 May, to work on a number of issues in which forest biodiversity is high up in the agenda. However important this convention is and however open it has been to civil society participation -as compared to other international processes- it is important to stress that it does not seem to be having a real impact on the conservation of biodiversity, not because of its own misdoings but because of actors and processes outside its scope. There are a number of reasons for this, among which we wish to highlight some:

- The lack of political will to implement international commitments. Since the 1992 Earth Summit, government delegates have been busily participating in numerous social and environmental processes and happily signing all sorts of agreements. With some notable exceptions, delegates have gone back home and their government has done little or nothing to implement those commitments. In the case of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and its Proposals for Action, an NGO/IPO-led research confirmed the lack of implementation of those proposals in a large number of countries which participated in the process. (see http://www.forestpolicy.org/ )

- The lack of coordination between different international processes, which appear to be separated by a wide gap which only civil society organizations seem able to see. Such is the situation, for instance, regarding the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sees trees as carbon -sinks or reservoirs- and not as the basis for the conservation of forest biodiversity. Within such narrow view, many climate negotiators would happily agree to the planting of millions of hectares of tree monocultures as a "solution" to the greenhouse effect, while most biodiversity negotiators would rightly see this as the worst possible approach.

- The prevailance of global and national policies oriented to benefit transnational corporation's interests, for whom biodiversity conservation is either an obstacle to profit-making (e.g. the pulp and timber sector) or something to be robbed and patented (e.g. the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors). Local peoples -the true conservators- stand in their way and become the victims of the takeover and destruction of nature by TNCs.

- The predominance of a market-oriented approach, where biodiversity is worthless unless it has a price tag attached to it and unless such price tag is equal or superior to other possible profitable activities.

- The separation of production from biodiversity conservation. As most people working at the biodiversity convention level would agree, protected areas are very useful, but they won't be able to achieve their purpose if they constitute mere islands within a sea of biodiversity destruction. However, national policies appear to be going in that direction, converting entire landscapes into seas of agricultural and tree monocultures, while thinking that biodiversity conservation can be achieved by preserving some representative areas.

Within the international governmental processes related to the environment, the biodiversity convention can and should take the lead to ensure that the conservation of biological diversity is adequately addressed in all other processes. We hope that this Conference of the Parties will reach positive agreements regarding biodiversity in general and forests in particular. However, given the past and present record of international processes related to the environment -and their lack of implementation- people concerned with biodiversity conservation need to continue working actively both inside and outside those processes in order to generate sufficient pressure to make the current market-driven disaster move in a different and positive direction.

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 LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

AFRICA

Jacques Ngoun is one of the 'Pygmies' of Cameroon. His people, the Bagyeli, are in danger; their forest is being invaded, and the hunting and gathering on which they depend ruined, by logging companies and settlers.

On 23 May the World Bank will decide whether to continue to back a controversial oil pipeline from Chad to Cameroon. This pipeline will go through the Bagyeli's territory, and will not only destroy the crops and trees that they depend on, but also drive away the animals that they hunt. The pipeline plan is widely attacked for damaging the environment and local development and benefiting only the elite. Oil companies involved include Exxon and Chevron. Jacques says: 'The Pygmies were not informed; many only heard of the pipeline when they saw the machines.'

Jacques is Coordinator of CODEBABIK, an organisation formed by the Bagyeli to fight for their survival. He will be in London on 21-23 May as part of a tour to seek international support; with him is Didier Amougou of Planet Survey, a Camerounian organisation for the protection of the environment and of marginalised peoples.

Jacques and Didier will be meeting journalists and NGO representatives at Survival International's Office in London on Monday 22 May, at 2.30pm. If you wish to attend or make an appointment at another time contact Virginia Luling or Sara Watson on 020 7242 1441 or by email at vl@survival-international.org

'The logging companies destroy the forest... Our children have no future. We ask the government not to forget us, to do something so that our life today and tomorrow will not be as black as a night without stars.' Jeanne Silpen, of the Bagyeli.

Article reproduced from Survival International's web page: http://www.survival-international.org/index2.htm

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Rainforests in the centre and northern regions of Congo Democratic Republic (ex-Zaire) occupy more than half of the country's total area of 2,345,409 square kilometres and represent 82.5% of the original forest cover. About 47% of the whole dense tropical forests of Africa and 6% of the Planet's forests are in Congo DR. The long distances between the forests and commercial harbours, as well as the political crisis and the armed conflict between domestic groups and with neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi during the decade of 1990 caused that most of the country's forests remained untouched, which constitutes a difference with respect to other countries of the region. However, logging concessions are now threatening those forests.

SIFORZAL -subsidiary to the German Danzer Group- has been granted an area of 2.6 million hectares. Since 1996, several Malaysian timber companies are also exploiting vast areas: Idris Hydraulic Bhd. has got timber concessions totalling 1.25 million hectares in Congo DR and Gabon, while in 1997 Innovest Bhd announced it was buying two timber concessions for 707,000 hectares. Additionally, China is promoting logging in Congo DR to supply its huge internal market, which has increased its external demand due to an internal logging ban. Conserve at home and cut abroad seems to be the motto.

Even though being very rich in minerals and forests, Congo DR is among the poorest countries in the world according to its social indicators. The government has seemingly reacted to defend the vast area of remaining forests, and in April 1999 log exports were banned for three months. Foreign companies immediately claimed that this would be "the end of the forestry sector in the country" and soon logs were again being exported.

The question is if the government will submit to foreign interests -and give indiscriminate logging the green light- or if it will try to use forests sustainably and equitably for the benefit of present and future generations. Given the critical economic situation prevailing in the country, much will depend on support from all those governments which in international fora appear to be gravely concerned over the fate of the forests ... among which Germany, Malaysia and China, whose companies are now eager to begin the destruction of the forests of Congo.

Article based on information from: Greenpeace España, "Deforestación y Pobreza en Africa Tropical", Abril 2000; World Rainforest Movement and Forest Monitor, "High Stakes. The need to control transnational logging companies: a Malaysian case study", August 1998; The World Guide 1997/98.

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The World Bank first and the Hutu-Tutsi civil war later have led the Batwa pigmies to near extinction and years of suffering, without this being reported by the world mass media.

In 1967 the World Bank and the European Fund started to implement a project of cattle raising and potato production in the forests occupied by the Batwa. They were expelled from their forest without explanation nor compensation of any kind. In 1982 the World Bank considered that only 5,000 hectares of these forests should be protected, while the rest was to be converted to cattle raising, pine plantations and military objectives. During the whole process the Batwa were completely ignored by the Bank's "experts". As a result, the Batwa were deprived of their livelihoods and the Gishwati forest shrunk to a mere 3800 hectares.

The already serious problems that the Batwa were facing dramatically increased during the 1990-1994 Hutu-Tutsi war, were they suffered attacks from both sides. Before 1994, the Batwa population was estimated in some 30000 people and 10000 -a third- were killed during a confrontation in which they did not take part. In spite of this, they were never mentioned in the mass media's coverage of the war. The country's forests also suffered and it is estimated that some 15000 hectares of forests were destroyed, while a further 35000 hectares were seriously degraded during the war.

A 61-year old Batwa says: "We were chased out of our forest, which was our father because it provided us with food through gathering and hunting ... The State chased us out of the forest and we had to settle in the fringes, where we die of starvation. All the development projects that were carried out in Gishwati forest have done nothing for us and no Batwa has even received the benefit of a job."

During all these years, the World Bank has been recognizing its past errors and has developed a number of policies regarding the protection of forests and forest peoples' rights. Although these are positive developments, they are useless for the Batwa unless the Bank commits itself to redress its past errors and works out a solution for them, whose plight began with a World Bank project. It may not be a bureaucratic necessity, but it certainly is a moral obligation.

Article based on information from: "Etude Sur L’Impact Affectant sur Les Peuples Autocthones par le Projet No. 1039-RW Financé par la Banque Mondiale dans la Prefecture de Gisenyi-Rwanda" by Kalimba Zephyrin. Draft version. Workshop on Indigenous Peoples, Forests and the World Bank: Policies and Practice, Washington D.C., 9-10 May 2000. Sent by Marcus Colchester, e-mail: marcus@fppwrm.gn.apc.org

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The Timberwatch Coalition of South Africa is organizing a symposium -that will take place on June 10^th in the city of Pietermaritzburg- to discuss the issue of timber plantations. These constitute a cause of concern in that country since they are occupying vast areas of grassland -and are still expanding- provoking negative social and environmental impacts (see WRM Bulletins 7, 22, 23 and 26).

Representatives from the environmental, academic and official fields will take part in the event. The WRM has been invited to present the Plantations Campaign. A visit to four plantation areas has been programmed for June 11^th. Those interested in participating can contact Timberwatch at the below email address.

Source: Timberwatch, 9/5/2000; e-mail: plantnet@iafrica.com

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ASIA

A recent report on sustainable forest management in Cambodia, funded by the Asian Development Bank, has prompted the discussion of this important issue among stakeholders. The report states that the management of the country's forests is a "total systems failure" since "at the current level of cut every concession will be logged out within seven years", and recommends immediate reforms.

Forestry officials, logging concessionaires and representatives of civil society expressed their respective viewpoints during a workshop that took place on April 20th and 21^st in Phnom Penh. According to the Cambodia Timber Industry Association the report was unfair to the concessionaires, making them responsible for the present situation, while the real culprits would be "illegal loggers, many of which are powerful entities within the military and provincial authorities". But even though members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are involved in illegal logging (see WRM Bulletin 22), concessionaires themselves usually cut forest beyond the limits established in their contracts. At the same time, according to the report, officials of the Forestry Department work on behalf of the concessionaires.

A three-member international panel of forestry experts -who led the above workshop- will be issuing a summary of key recommendations, among which the following would be included:

- Local communities must have access to forest resources as is the right under law as well as customary use. This use must be taken into consideration under Susutainable Forest Management plans.

- The panel noted that many workshop participants felt that environmental and social values were not given enough emphasis in the report.

- Standards for sustainable forest management should include the requirement of an environmental and social impact assessment

- For all concessions, the Government should implement a one-year partial moratorium consistent with a 75 per cent cutting reduction as recommended by the Cambodian Timber Industry Association.

- Concessionaires who do not meet performance milestones within one month after receiving notification from the Department of Forestry and Wildlife that they have lapsed in their commitment should have their concessions cancelled.

A member of the panel was reported as stating: "It remains for the sovereign Government to set the pace of change. The pace must be fast if the country is not to suffer irredeemable loss to a priceless heritage and to the resource base on which so much of its peoples' present and future livelihood depends." Will the pace be set on time?

Article based on information from: "ADB report sparks talks on forest crisis" by Stephen O'Connell, Phnom Penh Post, Issue 9/9, April 28-May 11, 2000; Global Witness, "The Untouchables. Forest crimes and the concessionaires - can Cambodia afford to keep them?", London, December 1999

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A research recently performed on oil palm plantations in Indonesia studies the past and future trends of the sector, reveals its effects on the country's economy, local communities and forests and proposes recommendations to this regard.

The rapid growth of the sector from 1967 to 1997 (planted areas increased 20-fold and crude palm oil production augmented at an average annual rate of 12%) can be considered a success from the point of view of conventional economy. Nevertheless, the author stresses that, "the rapid growth of the oil palm sub-sector has displaced local communities, resulted in social conflict, contributed to the devastation caused by the 1997/98 forest fires, and posed a significant threat to Indonesia’s existing forest cover".

Due the economic crisis initiated in 1997, a slowdown in area expansion and palm oil production took place. The research mentions internal and external causes for this decline, as social unrest and the consequent withdrawal and withholding of foreign investment, credit access difficulties, an increase in production costs, the decline in the world price of crude palm oil, and the drought and fires promoted by the 1997/98 El Niño phenomenon. Nevertheless, as some of the above mentioned factors changed and others appeared -e.g. the availability of land cleared through the fires subsequent to the El Niño related forest fires, a predicted growing global demand for palm oil, and the cooperation established between Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil producers to push up the price of this product and regain their niche in the world market- there are signs that from 1999 on palm oil production in Indonesia will return to the previous pace of growth. Many companies increased their planting targets for 1999 and crude palm oil production was expected to increase about 12%.

It is not sure that the new Wahid-Soekarnoputri government will uphold the same policy of oil palm plantations' promotion implemented by the Suharto and Habibie regimes. Nevertheless, since obtaining external revenues is a priority for the government and palm oil is mainly exported, there is a high probability that this will happen. In such case, "unless there are fundamental changes in the way forest land is allocated in Indonesia, further expansion in the oil palm sub-sector will continue to pose a significant threat to Indonesia’s forest cover" emphasises the author. Additionally, she proposes several recommendations in order to mitigate negative social and environmental effects of such development. The regionalization of concession granting according to the present situation of forests in the country, the consideration of environmental impacts by state owned companies, and the need to consult local communities before any project is implemented are some of the points to be highlighted.

The full version of this paper is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/plantations/material/Anne.htm

Article based on information from: Casson, Anne, "The Hesitant Boom: Indonesia’s oil palm sub-sector in an era of economic crisis and political change", Programme on the Underlying Causes of Deforestation, Centre for International Forestry Research, Bogor, February 2000

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For years, the Dayak indigenous peoples of Sarawak have been defending their forests and livelihoods from the depredatory activities of logging, oil palm and eucalyptus plantations promoted by the Malaysian and the Sarawak state governments. In an unequal struggle, local communities -supported by Malaysian and international social and environmental NGOs- have been resisting the destruction of their forests and the installation of plantations. The issue of land tenure and the recognition of their Native Customary Rights is in the background of this dispute, and local villagers have frequently suffered pressure and brutality from the government's forces while defending their rights.

Last April, people belonging to the Dayak Iban longhouses of Rumah Ketip, Rh Lanyau, Rh. Mulok, Rh. Anchih, Rh. Lipo and Rh. Madak carried out a direct action of protest against logging operations within their native customary rights land in upper Balingian area of Mukah District in Sibu Division, Sarawak, by putting up a human blockade to stop the timber company "Always Yield" from carrying out logging in their lands. The action had been preceded by several requests to government authorities and the police to stop the trespassers' activities, which proved useless.

Additionally, the longhouses of the area are resisting the establishment of oil palm plantations within their native customary rights land by the company Novelpac. Malaysia is the world's largest palm oil producer and the invasion of oil palm plantations has a long history of negative social and environmental impacts, starting with the appropriation of local peoples' lands. Although plantations appear to constitute a more positive activity when compared with logging, they are in fact worse, because land appropriation becomes permanent. As a local person said: "Logging companies destroy our forest and leave. Plantation companies destroy our forest and stay!"

In the disputes between oil palm companies and local peoples, the government takes sides with the former, thereby forcing communities to resort to different forms of resistance. Many of such actions later result in court proceedings. One of such cases is that of a group of 30 Iban from several villages in the Bakong area in Baram, who will have to appear in Court on May 22^nd. In 1997 they blockaded the oil palm plantation company Empressa and its contractor Segarakam from trespassing their customary lands, on which the company intended to destroy their crops and set up an oil palm plantation. After failing to get any response or assistance from the authorities, the Ibans had no choice but to exercise their right of private defence to protect their lands and crops thereon by detaining three bulldozers of the company.

The Company lodged a complaint with the police accusing the Ibans of gang robbery of the bulldozers. On 19th December, 1997, the police went to the Iban village wanting to arrest the village chief for the said offence and to retrieve the bulldozers. The Ibans resisted the arrest on the ground that it was the company which trespassed on their customary lands and which destroyed their crops. In the scuffle, the police fired several shots at the Ibans. Three of them were shot and one who was shot with a pistol on the head died on the spot.

Not content with having the police on their side, the companies hire thugs to intimidate local peoples. This policy has resulted in increased violence and further court proceedings. Now 19 Ibans from Ulu Niah are being charged with the murder of four Chinese gangsters whom a plantation company paid to intimidate and harass the Ibans for opposing its oil palm plantation activities in their traditional lands and will have to appear in court on May 19^th.

For a comprehensive view of the conflict going on in Sarawak and the long campaign of support to the Dayak you can visit our web site: http://www.wrm.org.uy/english/sarawak/index.html

Article based on information from: Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), 17/4/2000, 11/5/2000; e-mail: brimas@tm.net.my ; bri@tm.net.my

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Thailand’s villagers are fighting to prevent a 120,000 hectares (ha) eucalyptus plantation project that would lead to widespread forest clearance and threatens the farming livelihoods of hundreds of rural communities in eight eastern and northeastern provinces.

In February 2000, Thailand’s Cabinet gave approval in principle for the US$ 1 billion joint venture between the Chinese government and Advance Agro Company. Thailand’s Royal Forestry Department (RFD) will provide 40,000 ha of "degraded" forest reserves and the Agricultural Land Reform Office another 80,000 ha for the project.

The company will give money to villagers settled in the forest reserves to vacate their land for a 30-year lease. Villagers with legal titles under the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) will be contracted by the company to plant eucalyptus. The RFD will set up a working committee, comprising representatives of the RFD and the company, that will survey the targeted areas, draw up a land-use map and request final approval from the Cabinet.

Forestry officials at Kao Ang Ruenai Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao province state that the project will lead to widespread forest clearance as there is no land left for farmers to resettle on. Many of the villagers say they have lived on the land for generations. Most of the villagers have been fighting for decades to get some kind of land ownership document or "sor por kor" but have failed.

Few of them are willing to accept compensation to leave their lands for eucalyptus because there is no vacant land available for them to buy and resettle. For most of these communities, it is not worth selling their land because the project only lasts for 30 years.

Wiboon Khemchalerm, well-known organic farmer from Chachoengsao province, states that many villagers would be forced to accept money from the company and sell their rights to the land. "However, once the money is gone, and there’s no more land to work on, where will these people go?" he asks.

Established by the Soon Hua Seng (SHS) group in 1993, the Advance Agro Company is Thailand’s first and largest integrated pulp and paper manufacturer. SHS holds the majority of Advance Agro shares, while the rest are held by Stora Enso of Finland (19.9 percent) and Oji (five percent), Japan’s largest paper producer. The company presently operates two pulp mills producing 450,000 tons of paper per year. The joint venture will include a third mill requiring 3.5 million tons of eucalyptus to produce 700,000 tons of paper, mainly for export to China.

The Soon Hua Seng (SHS) group already owns an estimated 32,000 ha (200,000 rai) of eucalyptus plantation in Chachoengsao province, arguably one of the largest contiguous plantation areas of eucalyptus in Thailand.

The SHS group has amassed much of this land using a variety of strong-arm tactics over the past several years. Without official land titles and no recourse to legal assistance, villagers have been forced to sell their lands and forest commons to the company for prices ranging from 1,200-1,500 baht per rai (about US$31-39 per rai; 1 hectare is equal to 6.25 rai). As the eucalyptus trees encircle their farmlands, villagers are left with little choice; many take up contract farming of eucalyptus while others sell their lands and find work in the plantations and the pulp mill.

Sombun Khamkaew of Ban Khao Kluay Mai in Chachoengsao province started growing eucalyptus on 4.8 hectares of land six years ago. Since then, the ponds and streams around his community began to dry up. He states that the money he made from selling the first crop after four years was not worth the investment and his efforts.

"I got only 40,000 baht (about US$1052) after four years of waiting and not counting how much I put in. And its too expensive for me to have the roots dug up and destroyed," he says.

Ms Lum Jumchai, 60 years old and single mother of ten children, fought a six-year legal battle with the company to reclaim 4.5 ha of land in Laemkowchan village in Chachoengsao province. When Ms. Lum refused to part with her land, the SHS group filed a lawsuit for encroachment on private property and provincial police repeatedly threatened to dismantle her house. Assisted by lawyers from the Bangkok-based human rights group, Union for Civil Liberty (UCL), Ms. Lum finally obtained a court ruling asserting rights to her land.

"I plant cassava now. After the court order, the company does not harass me anymore," she says. But she faces problems with her cassava crop because the surrounding eucalyptus plantation is drying the underground water sources and hardening the soil.

By: Noel Rajesh, TERRA/PER, Thailand, e-mail: rnd7@hotmail.com

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CENTRAL AMERICA

Together with the alarming destruction of primary forests in tropical South and Central America, in Costa Rica something positive is happening: an increase in the area of secondary forests, which are those that are starting to regenerate after having suffered a degradation process. These forests have a great potential for the production wood and non-wood products, as well as in the provision of environmental services.

A recently performed research has revealed that in Costa Rica secondary forests -comprising a total area of 425,000 hectares- constitute the most plentiful forest resource in the country. The conversion of woodlands into pasture lands to breed cattle was one of the main causes of deforestation in Costa Rica. The fall in the profitability of this activity and the consequent abandon of such destructive practice by cattle breeders has allowed vast areas of secondary forests to regrow. Additionally, the implementation of incentives for forest conservation, which started with the Forestry Law of 1996, and the inclusion of secondary forests into a programme of payment for environmental services have contributed to this process.

Costa Rican secondary forests bring economic benefits with them. The study proves that they are the home of different tree species which have acceptance in the domestic timber market. Likewise, this type of forest supplies a wide range of products, such as food, medicinal and ornamental plants, honey and textile fibres.

In spite of the above, the adequate management of this resource is still facing difficulties. On the one hand, even though legislation promotes natural regeneration in "forestry apt denuded soils", fragments of less than two hectares are excluded. Since these are the most numerous in the country, their elimination is therefore being promoted. At the same time, no funds are devoted for the sustainable management of secondary forests. On the other hand -and this is perhaps the most worrying issue- forestry "experts" that were interviewed during the research have a more positive view of gmelina monocultures than the one they have of secondary forests as a source of raw material for industry. The research also points out that the state has not been until now interested in the promotion of secondary forests and that this attitude needs to be modified.

From an environmental point of view, forests that have been cut down and that restart growing constitute efficient carbon sinks, apart from having several other environmental functions. The study mentions that secondary forests have a variable capacity to fix carbon, according to their growth rate and mean density of the wood present in the species that form them. Several other studies in Costa Rica reveal the importance of other environmental functions performed by secondary forests, such as the protection of water quality, the conservation of plant and animal biodiversity and the improvement of soil structure.

This study confirms the conclusions reached by a forum that took place last September in northern Costa Rica: that unlike plantations, secondary forests in that region constitute an interesting option for wood production and at the same time provide valuable environmental services (see WRM Bulletin 27)

Taking into account the multiple social and environmental benefits that secondary forests can supply, it is clear that one of the main strategies to be adopted in the region is to try to create the necessary conditions so that forests can occupy again the areas where they were eliminated to give place to other activities that proved to be unsustainable. Those interested in receiving the complete version of this work, please contact the International Secretariat of the WRM.

Article based on information from: Berti Lungo Carlo G., "Transformaciones recientes en la industria y la política forestal costarricense y sus implicaciones para el desarrollo de los bosques secundarios", Tesis Magister Scientiae, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica, 1999.

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SOUTH AMERICA

Every event happening in Brazil in relation to forests can be considered important, taking into account its huge area, the diversity of forests present in its territory, and the opposing interests at stake.

On March 29^th the CONAMA (National Environmental Council) approved the proposal of a Forestry Law elaborated by its Technical Committee and sent the project to the Ministry of the Environment that will present it to the National Congress. The final document resulted from a round of 30 meetings, where a total of 370 organizations from civil society and the industrial sector, as well as delegations from the federal and municipal governments took part. The draft law has support from small peasants, social and environmental Brazilian organizations, since the project takes into account some of their main claims and constitutes a step towards democratization in the planning and use of natural resources in a rich country, paradoxically full of poor.

The proposed Forestry Law has got a holistic view and establishes links with the Conservation Law nr 07/99, and the Hydrological Resources National System passed by Law nr 9433/97, and the Brazilian Constitution itself, making it possible that the state accomplish the environmental principles present there. Additionally, it includes principles of international treaties as the CITES Convention for the conservation of endangered species and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Nevertheless, powerful interests are undermining this initiative. The National Agricultural Council (NAC) -which represents the interests of big landowners- has announced its opposition, even though one member of this organization is part of the CONAMA and took part in the discussion process. Already in November 1999 the NAC had influenced the government to present to the National Congress a Forestry Act bill which, if passed, would have increased the process of destruction and degradation that affects Brazilian forests and their peoples. Luckily this project was not considered by Parliament thanks to the mobilization of local and international NGOs and to the opposition party, which refused to consider it (see WRM Bulletin 29).

A committee of the Chamber of Deputies has presented its own forestry project to the Ministry of the Environment, which differs from that of CONAMA in several relevant points. For example, legal reserves in the Amazon region and the Cerrados region would occupy 50% and 20% of the respective territories, whereas the CONAMA project includes 80% and 35% respectively. Additionally, this new project adds some proposals to favour big land owners' interests, as the idea of establishing the possibility for landowners whose legal reserve surpasses the limit established by the law to "sell" this portion to someone else who has not reached the obligatory minimum. The absurd of this rationale based in percentages would permit, for example, that a land owner buys forests in faraway places and keeps them untouched while he completely destroys other forests located near profitable consumer markets. Additionally, putting prices to nature and thinking that the market can resolve this kind of situations is a simplistic -and useless- approach.

Two positions are now confronted: on the one hand the CONAMA project, that resulted from a negotiation through an open and participatory process and on the other hand the project presented by some deputies, influenced by big landowners, elaborated in a small and closed circle. Within such framework, Greenpeace Brazil has launched an international campaign to support the former. Those interested in joining this campaign to support the CONAMA project, please visit: http://www.greenpeace.org.br

Article based on information from: http://www.greenpeace.org.br ; Observatorio Ambiental Agropecuario MERCOSUR Nro. 10, 3/5/2000.

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The so called Chilean development model is presented by neo-liberals as a paradigmatic example to be copied by Southern countries in the quest for "progress". However, the nice figures and indicators of conventional economy that Chile has shown in the last two decades cannot hide the high social and environmental costs of the model. The forestry sector is one of the most dynamic and at the same time conflictive in this regard. The Mapuche people of southern Chile have seen their ancestral territories invaded by huge plantation companies supported by the state since dictator Pinochet's times. Large areas of forests have been cut down and substituted by pine and eucalyptus monocultures. The Mapuche have been gaining in strength and organization to face an opponent -pulp and timber companies, successive Chilean governments and the military- who have used physical violence, threats, bribes, criminal proceedings, and arbitrary detentions as means to "persuade" them (see WRM Bulletins 26 and 27).

During February, March and April this year the Mapuche have carried out a number of actions: on February 29^th, Mapuche people from the community of Ercilla occupied the headquarters of Bosques Arauco, denouncing that the company had usurped their ancestral lands in the region; on March 1^st, Mapuche people belonging the community of Pascual Coña in the BioBio region occupied the Lleu Lleu estate, which they claim to be part of their ancestral territories; on March 7^th, indigenous people of the community of Cotulmo -together with non indigenous peasants- blockaded the route to prevent the access of lorries of Forestal Mininco; on April 14^th -and coinciding with Easter celebrations- a group of Mapuche, most of them women and children, occupied the Cathedral of Temuco to protest over the arbitrary detention of leaders belonging to the Arauco Malleco Mapuche Coordination.

The powerful foresters' lobby CORMA -which sees that its control on the territory and resources is being threatened- has reacted asking the authorities to apply a "zero tolerance" policy to prosecute any action of the Mapuche that could be considered a crime. Even though forestry companies try to show themselves as defenders of the law, they have continued their campaign of intimidation against the indigenous people. On April 21^st a group of Deputies denounced that private guards of Bosques Arauco had attacked members of the Mapuche community of Pablo Quintriqueo Huenuman in the VIII Region, and had spread herbicide on their crops. The indigenous people have also repeatedly been victims of violence by the police, which always act to defend the companies' interests and consider the Mapuche as terrorists. This is also what the mass media is doing to influence public opinion.

A lasting solution to the Mapuche can only be achieved if a true dialogue is established, the indigenous peoples' territorial ancestral rights are recognized and the underlying causes of this long conflict are perceived and addressed. Is the new democratically-elected Chilean government ready to change the course set years ago by the old dictator now under siege? Will democracy prove -to the Mapuche- to be different from dictatorship?

Article based on information from: http://www.soc.uu.se/mapuche/lumaco/alumaco02.html

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In spite of the experiences accumulated during all these years with regard to the damages caused by large-scale tree plantations, the draft bill of the so-called Special Law for Sustainable Forestry Development in Ecuador is inspired in the Chilean legislation of the 1970s, which has been the model for the legal framework that regulates forestry activities in other South American countries. Such model is based precisely on the promotion of tree plantations, while forests occupy a secondary place in importance.

Article 15 of this Ecuadorian draft forestry bill establishes that the state will promote the implementation and management of tree plantations for production and protection. According to Article 23, subsidies, tax exemptions and the provision of public security services will be provided as incentives.

This scheme will be useful to make forestry companies -to a large extent responsible for the high deforestation rates in Ecuador- rich, given that only plantations of more than one hectare will receive such subsidies. In this way agroforestry, natural fences, windbreaks and other projects that can benefit small farmers, peasant communities, indigenous peoples and afroecuadorian communities are excluded.

An original aspect of the law -if compared with the Chilean model- is the way in which it intends to raise funds to pay such subsidies. Sources mentioned in Article 28 are related to taxes for the use of fossil fuels and with negotiations on carbon sinks, in accordance with the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. The rationale underlying this proposal is coincidental with the one that Northern countries and transnational oil companies have imposed in the process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This logics, which leads to the commercialization of nature is not operative but helps to make essentially unsustainable projects look "green".

Based on this rationale, those who are most responsible for the increase in the level of greenhouse gases associated with global warming have proposed different activities in Southern countries, so that Northern countries do not have to reduce their emissions, which would allegedly negatively affect their economies. The promotion of tree plantations and the manipulation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems -especially the oceans- to capture atmospheric carbon are two of these measures. Even though this kind of initiatives lack serious scientific basis (in fact the latest research findings on the issue consider that tree plantations are not useful as carbon sinks), several Southern governments -now including Ecuador- seem to have found the magic wand to increase their countries' incomes. Forestry companies have obviously accompanied them. Nevertheless, social and environmental effects of such "brilliant ideas" -already proven in several countries- are ignored.

Environmental NGOs and some academics are proposing instead a change in the present production and consumption pattern based on oil, whereby oil would be left in the subsoil and humanity would resort to clean, renewable and low impact energy sources. At the same time, they are proposing the need to protect watersheds and forests, since primary and secondary forests are respectively carbon reservoirs and sinks, apart from providing multiple benefits at the local and global levels. Unfortunately, it seems that Ecuador has got on the bandwagon of the easy but useless solution of plantations as carbon sinks. In case the law is passed this will be a lost opportunity for Ecuador, but a good one for forestry companies which -with the help of the state- are ready to make big money out of tree monocultures.

Article based on information from: "Los madereros han encontrado dos formas de enriquecimiento: la nueva ley forestal y el mecanismo de desarrollo limpio". Alerta Verde (Acción Ecológica), No. 89, abril 2000 e-mail: cbosques@hoy.net

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Malaysian logging companies have recently expanded to a large number of Southern countries. Even if Malaysian authorities have publicly urged their home-based companies to operate within the law and to be sensitive to environmental issues in their activities abroad, this expansion -that has been promoted by the government itself- has proved detrimental to the people and the forests in host countries' remaining rainforests. Countries in different continents, like Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Guyana, Belize, Cameroon and Cambodia have witnessed the way these companies work. In fact, the operation scheme adopted in the Malaysian state of Sarawak -based on ignoring local communities' and indigenous peoples' rights and depleting the forest as soon as possible- has been exported to such countries. This has been favoured by the political and legal frameworks of several countries where these logging companies operate, which are weak and susceptible to be influenced by powerful corporate interests.

The Malaysian timber sector has now set its sight on the Peruvian rainforests, one of the most biodiverse on the planet. With the support of some Peruvian logging companies, the Malaysian group has been lobbying the national Congress to delay the discussion on a new bill on forests and wildlife, aimed at the protection of the Amazon, which represents 60% of the country's land area. The bill was expected to be approved in November 1999 but with no explanation it was removed from the agenda. In the meantime, forest concessions in the Amazon region continue to be administrated wantonly and arbitrarily by decree. According to national observers, the decrees related to the exploitation of Peru's Amazon jungle issued in the past two years have favoured large foreign investors and hurt small and medium-sized national logging companies.

The activities of Malaysian logging companies in the Amazon are not unknown. According to a report prepared by a special committee of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in 1997, Malaysian companies entered the region in 1995 and have already exploited vast areas in a destructive way, sometimes in association with domestic capital (see WRM Bulletin 3). It is feared that similar patterns are applied in the Peruvian Amazon. Unfortunately, the negative record of Malaysian timber companies in their own country and abroad can only strengthen such fears.

Article based on information from: "Malaysian Firms Eye Peru's Amazon Jungle" by Abraham Lama, InterPress Service, 6/3/2000, sent by Forests Monitor, 30/3/2000, e-mail: fmonitor@gn.apc.org; "Asian Economies Fuel Forest Meltdown" by Richard Wilcox, The New Observer, 8/4/2000; e-mail: rwilcox@interlink.or.jp; World Rainforest Movement and Forest Monitor, "High Stakes. The need to control transnational logging companies: a Malaysian case study", August 1998.

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OCEANIA

Meeting in Moruya over the weekend the National Forest Summit, Australia's major body representing forest campaign groups, has roundly condemned the federal Government's push for an Australian Forestry Standard in the face of growing calls for "certified" wood.

Internationally, consumers are demanding wood products that can be certified as having been sourced from forests that have been managed sustainably. The most well known of these management standards is that developed by the Forest Stewardship Council, which has now certified over 18 million hectares worldwide.

"This so-called standard is clearly a desperate attempt by the Australian government to respond to the large number of contracts that have recently been cancelled by international timber importers unhappy with Australia's appalling forest management practices."

"Real certification includes the participation of environment groups, Aboriginal people and other important stakeholders in the development of management standards. So far all discussions have taken place behind closed doors with no one but the logging industry and everyone else has been locked out. Forestry Minister Tuckey unsuccessfully tried peddling this embarrassing mickey mouse scheme to the rest of the world at a meeting in New York in November which not one single foreign government minister agreed to attend."

"The key to consumer confidence in such schemes is independence from government, and assessment by a third party certifier. This standard will be based on processes endorsed by government for industry and is about as arm's length as the proverbial fox certifying the chook house. In fact, it's a major consumer confidence trick and we will be warning international retailers not to be conned by it. Any standard that fails to stamp out logging of old growth forests, clearfelling and rampant chemical abuse is not worth the paper it's written on."

The National Forest Summit was attended by: Native Forest Network Australia, Australian Conservation Foundation - Forest Campaign Group, Coastwatchers Assoc, Boral Green Shareholders, Tambo Environment Awareness Group, Wombat Forest Society, CHIPSTOP, Conservation Council of South East Region And Canberra, North East Forest Alliance, North Coast Environment Council, National Parks Australia Council, The Wilderness Society, Canopy Native Forest Committee, Friends of the Earth, National Parks Association, Rainforest Info Centre, Forest Activist Network, Environment Victoria, Con Council West Australia, West Australia Forest Alliance and, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.

Source: National Forest Summit media release, 8 May 2000, sent by Native Forest Network Southern Hemisphere, email: tcadman@nfn.org.au

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The big landowner Bishop Estate, which owns the sugar lands of Hamakua, has 12,000 acres planted and 4,000 acres more to expand its eucalyptus plantations. The company is also planting 5,000 acres down south in Ka'u. Also Parker Ranch is beginning to lease another 10,000 acres to eucalyptus. Additionally, concern is increasing among ranchers, since ponds are diminishing their yield because of the presence of eucalyptus monocultures, which can be intensifying the effects of drought. Ranchers are extremely upset that eucalyptus is taking over much of the land. Now the state is letting go of some of the cattle lease land to conservation efforts and not replacing available acreage for pasture. To avoid an open conflict with the government -from which they hope to obtain positive signs- many of the cattle breeders will not publicly proclaim the damage of polluted ponds or drier pastures due to the close proximity of eucalyptus plantations.

To face this invasion, the environmental NGO Friends of Hamakua -known by its succesful action in 1997 against plantations planned by Prudential Insurance and Oji Paper/Marubeni in the Big Island of Hawaii- organized a successful rally on March 18th in Waimea. The central aim was to gain public opinion against a plywood and veneer plant that is being projected to use raw material coming from plantations. Friends of Hamakua is asking the County Council to carry out an economic and environmental assessment of this industry. The organization is also actively working in seeking information on alternatives to this scheme, for example, through the replanting of diverse native hardwoods. Those willing to cooperate with them can contact Linda Lyerly at: lindal@interpac.net

Article based on information from: Friends of Hamakua, 11/4/2000; 8/5/2000, e-mail: lindal@interpac.net

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Indiscriminate logging has been the main cause for the decline of Papua New Guinea's rainforests, that the government has been unable to stop in spite of the announced moratorium on the activities of timber companies. Unfortunately, this is not the only depredatory economic activity that affects the country's forests. Mining is also producing important impacts at the local level. For example, Freeport-Rio Tinto's mining operations at Ajkwa River's watershed has had severe effects on the environment and the level of mercury in this river is four-times higher than the maximum allowed. Local communities are strongly opposing this kind of activities as well as the attempts of Freeport to bribe them with "development" projects (see WRM Bulletin 7).

A new case of pollution produced by a mining source was recently denounced. Responsible is the Australia-based company Dome Resources. Last March a box containing 150 kg of sodium cyanide balls fell accidentally from a helicopter of the company, which was flying from Port Moresby to the mine of Tolukuma, and ended in the deep forest. Even if the company tried to minimize the potential effects of the accident by announcing that 70% of the balls were recovered, it is clear that the impact of the cyanide drop on the hydrographic network has been very important. Professor Kirpal Singh of PNG University warned that cyanide completely spoils freshwater, making it useless for drinking and as habitat for fish. It is even feared that communities living nearby the place of the accident might consume poisoned water. The whole area of rainforest will be affected by the presence of high concentrations of this heavy metal in water and soil.

Dome Resources has argued that this is the first time such an accident has happened in PNG. Nevertheless, a water analysis performed last year seven kilometres downstream Tolukuma mine revealed high levels of toxic metals such as copper, lead, zinc, mercury and silver. Such levels were significantly high even 20 kilometres away from the mine. Geoff Evans, Director of the Mineral Policy Institute, in Sidney, clearly stated that Dome's practices were unacceptable according to Australian standards. The precautionary principle seems to be something unheard of by the company.

This can be considered one more case of abuse resulting from the activities of a powerful foreign company in a Southern country which sees foreign investments with good eyes but at the same time finds difficulties in implementing effective control on the use and conservation of forests and waters. In the meantime, it is local communities who suffer the consequences of such kind of practices.

Article based on information from: Drillbits & Tailings, Tomo 5, Numero 5, 31/3/ 2000

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On a group of Melanesian islands in the South Pacific, a tragic plunder is taking place. Logging by mainly Malaysian companies has escalated in the last five years to more than 3 times the estimated sustainable yield. In other words the forests are being logged at more than three times faster than they are growing. In less than ten years all the productive lowland forests will be logged. The forests are rich tropical rainforests with thousands of unique plants and animals. As well, a diversity of cultures and people who customarily own and rely on the forests are under threat.

Sixty percent of government income comes from taxes on log exports but tax avoidance, transfer pricing (the value received from the log buyers is greater than that officially declared) and logging company connected corruption is common. Yet small scale harvesting carried out by the landowners themselves is rapidly expanding and contributing significant returns to the local economy and can make up to 40 times more for resource owners than the royalties from industrial logging.

Logging in Solomon Islands is dominated by Malaysian and to a lesser degree, South Korean companies. The Malaysian companies are clusters of companies belonging mainly to the Kumpulan Emas Group, Rimbunan Hijau, Golden Springs International, and up till recently the Berjaya Group. The companies largely do their deals with the government and landowners in secret. At the end of 1996, in an unprecedented move, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called on Malaysian companies operating in the Solomon Islands to be sensitive to environmental issues and not overlog.

Although no government Minister has yet been found guilty in a court of law for receiving bribes from logging companies, there is ample evidence that it is common practice. This included direct payments offered by a local businessman to two Ministers in 1994 to resign and join the opposition party and bring down the government. The managing director of the Malaysian Berjaya group company Star Harbour was deported following these allegations.

Common logging company practices used to reduce tax payments and in country profits, are transfer pricing, under reporting of log prices, and tax exemptions. In 1993 is was estimated losses for Solomon Islands due to under reporting of log prices and underpayment of duties was US $40 million, or approximately one third of the total export value.

The Malaysian company logging has been described as the worst seen in any tropical forest. Sediment washed from unplanned bulldozer skid tracks and poor roading is destroying the island's fragile coral reefs. The rich coral reefs shelter a myriad of different types of sea life which is the main source of protein for the local people The reefs include the Southern Hemisphere's largest enclosed lagoon system, Marovo Lagoon, a proposed World Heritage Area, that is under threat from logging silt from Malaysian company Kumpulan Emas subsidiary Sylvania. The operations can "appear more like a clearfelling operation", with no thought to protecting and regenerating the forest for the future.

These impacts have largely taken local people by surprise, as they watch the companies ignore most of the legally required practices. In response to this, angry landowners have burnt company bulldozers in several cases (such as on Pavuvu Island in July 1995), seized company chainsaws, and in January 1997 burnt the offices of Golden Springs International. The social disruption is possibly the worst impact of foreign logging. In October 1995, Martin Apa, a local community leader opposing logging by Malaysian company Marving Brothers Ltd on Pavuvu Island, was murdered. His murder has yet to be investigated.

Article reproduced from: Greenpeace International Forest Campaign: http://www.greenpeace.org/~forests/

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As part of the campaign recently started on genetically engineered trees (see WRM Bulletin 33) a list server has been created by the Native Forest Network for those interested in receiving and exchanging information on this issue. If you wish to join this group, you can do by visiting: http://www.egroups.com/invite/frankentrees-NFN and subscribing to the list.

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