Costa Rica: The dangers of tree monoculture "forests"

As many other Southern countries, Costa Rica is facing the problem of the expansion of tree monocultures. Especially in the Huetar Norte Region, the establishment of industrial tree plantations has been a complete failure during the last 20 years. After having spent U$S 10 million in such programmes, nowadays more than 70% of those plantations are in a bad state and have produced far below the expected rate. At the same time the potential of the secondary forests and its rich biodiversity --which concerning trees comprise more than 150 species-- has been neglected.

In spite of the semantic efforts of plantation promoters to call them "planted forests" and to call the activity "reforestation", the fact is that plantations are not forests and that these plantations result in a number of social and environmental impacts. Industrial tree monocultures imply the occupation of vast territories and concentration in land tenure, and the displacement of small and medium peasants. In the case of Ston Forestal --a subsidiary of the giant Stone Container-- about 300 families had to leave their lands in southern Costa Rica, which were then occupied by gmelina tree monocultures. Additionally, these plantations conspire against the promotion of traditional knowledge in forest management and agriculture. The Melku indigenous people, in the northern region of the country, saw how 40,000 hectares in their region were occupied by tree monocultures with subsidies from the State, while they did not receive any support to recuperate the "mastate" (Poulsenia armata), a species which resulted almost extinct due to the pressure of logging, and which was the basis for local craftwork.

Social impacts have gone hand in hand with negative environmental impacts. Ston Forestry is facing legal prosecution for causing the dessication of wetlands, while gmelina monocultures in the Osa Peninsula are considered responsible of a potential negative effect on the population of parrots and guacamayos in the nearby Cordovado National Park. Oil palm plantations implemented by the firm Palma Tica are expanding in the wetlands of the southern area, in spite of the efforts of local environmental activists, who have even sued the company. Teak monocultures promote soil erosion through the concentration and quick release of large raindrops from their leaves. In the northern region it has been proved that eucalyptus monocultures reduce the flow of water into the aquifers.

In spite of the above, the Costa Rican government is strongly supporting the inclusion of tree plantations in the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. How many more impacts will people and the environment need to suffer to finally reach the obvious conclusion that plantations are not forests?

Source: WRM's bulletin Nº 39, October 2000

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