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WRM Bulletin
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| OUR VIEWPOINT |
| LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS |
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OUR VIEWPOINT - The International Monetary Fund: a major actor in deforestation For years forest activists have focused their attention --and rightly so-- on the World Bank's role in forest destruction. Those efforts have to a certain extent been instrumental in the introduction of a number of positive policy changes within the Bank, which have at least meant an improvement in World Bank lending. However, efforts to influence an equally or even more important actor in forest loss --the International Monetary Fund-- have been mostly absent or at least clearly insufficient, while there is ample proof of the direct link between IMF-imposed policies and deforestation. Through its Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), the IMF has for years been imposing on Southern governments the implementation of a number of policies, allegedly aimed at solving those countries' economic problems. Country after country and year after year, the result has been further impoverishment and widespread environmental degradation. Oblivious to the fact that its patients' economic, environmental and social health is not only not improving but, on the contrary, is clearly worsening, the IMF continues imposing exactly the same medicine: open up trade barriers, increase exports, cut government spending, promote foreign investment, liberalise, privatise. It is really hard to believe that IMF economists ignore what's resulting from the implementation of the institution's policy. It is even harder to believe that its most influential members (the US, Japan, the European Union) are unable to make it work adequately. But when one looks at the results of those policies, it becomes clear that the IMF is in fact doing its job very adequately, particularly for Northern-based transnational companies. Abundant and cheap supplies of countless raw materials are now directly or indirectly in the hands or transnational corporations and the same is applicably to huge economic assets which used to be state owned (energy, telecomunications, mines, insurance, banking, etc.) and are now controlled by TNCs. In the tropical region, IMF-imposed programmes have resulted in deforestation, forest degradation, widespread social impacts and generalized impoverishment. Forests are being rapidly destroyed to give way to export-oriented cash crops; large-scale commercial logging is depleting some of the most biodiverse forests on Earth; mining corporations are destroying environments and local peoples' livelihoods; oil exploitation is degrading entire ecosystems and local communities' basic resources; hydrolectric dams drown entire forest areas; export-oriented shrimp farming results in the disappearance of mangroves. The result is that countries rich in natural resources become socially, economically and environmentally poorer the more those resources are exploited and exported. With that track record, the IMF must be considered as one of the major underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation. All governments --North and South-- have committed themselves to protect the world's remaining forests and to address the underlying causes of deforestation. All those governments sit at the IMF. However, this being a non-democratic institution, at the IMF the number of votes depends on the number of shares each country holds. This implies that responsibility for the institution's policies and actions regarding forest destruction lies squarely on the hands of its major shareholders: the US, European Union member countries and Japan. Those governments must be made aware --through increased campaigning efforts-- that the world is holding them responsible for the social and environmental disaster which is resulting from IMF-imposed policies in tropical countries, which must be urgently and drastically modified. More of the same is simply a recipe for disaster.
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS AFRICA - International Monetary Fund and deforestation Africa is one of the continents that has suffered most from IMF-imposed policies. Environmental degradation and social impoverishment have gone hand in hand as more and more of its riches (wood, oil, minerals, etc) are given away to transnational corporations under pressure from and with the blessings of the IMF. For this reason, in this bulletin we have selected examples of four African countries where the IMF has been instrumental in facilitating corporate takeover of natural resources, which has resulted in serious deforestation and forest degradation processes. These four articles have been selected from the recent American Lands Alliance's publication (The IMF: Funding Deforestation), written by Jason Tockman. The full report, which also includes information on Cameroon and Ghana, is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/IMF/Jason.doc Further information on IMF and deforestation in Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire is available from a Friends of the Earth International report (The IMF. Selling the Environment Short), that can be accessed at: http://www.foe.org/imf/index.html
- Central African Republic: IMF, logging and mining The dense, moist forests of the Central African Republic cover about four million hectares. Although the country has maintained loan arrangements with the IMF dating back to the 1980’s, it came under increased pressure when the Central African Republic signed a three-year, $66 million loan agreement with the IMF in 1998. The IMF has encouraged the Central African Republic to increase exploitation of forest and mineral resources. "Mineral resources in the Central African Republic have so far been insufficiently exploited…" reads a policy framework paper jointly drafted by the IMF, World Bank, and Central African Republic in 1998. The Central African Republic has followed the IMF’s advice, and between 1993 and 1999, total log production increased three-fold. About half of the humid forest area is now held by a handful of transnational logging companies. Despite government efforts to ensure that wood exports have been processed to capture the jobs that come from value-added products, raw log exports have increasingly dominated the sector, making up 71 percent of wood exports in 1999. Logging in the Central African Republic tends to be of a selective nature. While the lack of clearcut logging operations may appear to mean that forestry’s impact is lessened, the effect has been that logging companies penetrate deeper into the forest in search of the most valuable species, most notably sapelli, ayous, and sipo trees. Once logging activities have been concluded, additional damage is done as settlers and poachers (of "bushmeat" and ivory) gain access to new areas via the logging roads. This has resulted in tragic consequences for the Central African Republic’s populations of gorillas, elephants, and rhinos: - Survival of two species of endangered gorilla—the western and lowland gorillas—is threatened by continued human encroachment and illegal poaching. - Expansion of commercial logging, human inhabitation, and trade in ivory have led to a decrease in habitat available for forest elephants, which migrate between the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and the Congo. It has been estimated that in the Central African Republic and Congo, as many as 200 elephants are killed each year. - The western black rhino, one of the world’s most imperiled species with perhaps fewer than 10 animals surviving, has already been eliminated from the Central African Republic altogether, due to excessive poaching. New mining codes were also adopted by the Central African Republic in 2000, as directed by the IMF. In 2001, the nation adopted a new finance law that provided for the reduction of duties on the export of minerals. It is anticipated that these measures will cause additional harm to the county’s natural areas. By: Jason Tockman, "The IMF: Funding Deforestation", American Lands Alliance, November 2001, e-mail: tockman@americanlands.org
- Cote d'Ivoire: IMF, cocoa, coffee, logging and mining For over a decade, the Ivory Coast has been under the influence of IMF structural adjustment programs, of which intensification of exports has been a significant factor. The 1990s saw the heightened pursuit of fiscal and structural reform in the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast devalued their currency in 1994 and eliminated export taxes in compliance with the IMF’s adjustment program and in 1995 the country liberalised its domestic markets. As a result, cocoa production exploded by 44 percent from 1994 to 1996. The Ivory Coast became the world’s leading producer of cocoa, with 40 percent of the global market. The country also ranks third in coffee production, behind only Brazil and Colombia. The flourishing of the agricultural sector, under its flagship crop of cocoa has, however, brought about substantial changes in land use. This land conversion has been a major factor in the decrease in the Ivory Coast’s forest cover by 67 percent since its 1960 independence from France. Forests now total about six million acres, where they once covered 70 million acres, or most of the southern half of the country. The lucrative cocoa market has spurred farmers to illegally expand their plots into the Ivory Coast’s protected forests, threatening about one-third of these areas. Forested areas intended for protection through their official government designation of "sacred" and "classified" are being slashed, burned, and cultivated for export crops. In these forests, almost half a million farmers and their families have grown up to 100,000 tons of cocoa, about ten percent of the 1996/1997 harvest. In 1994, Europe-destined wood products accounted for 11 percent of exports. The logging activities continue to expose the more remote areas of the Ivory Coast to poachers. Where local residents have hunted wild animals for sustenance for thousands of years, today’s "bushmeat" trade has evolved into a commercial industry where traditional tools have been supplanted by automatic rifles. The hunting of chimpanzees, birds, turtles and other species has grown into an estimated $121 million industry in the Ivory Coast. The forests of the Ivory Coast remain some of the most significant forested areas throughout Africa. Their loss poses serious risks for regional climatic patterns, which are closely tied to the presence of forest cover. Ironically, the cocoa production is dependent upon these weather conditions and overproduction of cocoa could ultimately threaten the success of the crop. The IMF has also recently pressured the Ivory Coast to expand its mining and petroleum sectors. By: Jason Tockman, "The IMF: Funding Deforestation", American Lands Alliance, November 2001, e-mail: tockman@americanlands.org
- Ghana: IMF, mining and logging Beginning in 1983, Ghana has been implementing IMF structural adjustment programs focused on export-led growth, which has included measures to devalue the currency and remove various barriers to trade. While this has resulted in significant economic gains, it has also meant severe detrimental consequences for the rainforests and forest-dwelling people of this western African nation. Ghana’s most recent three-year, $239 million loan from the IMF was initiated in 1999, and modified in 2000. Upon the advice of the IMF, Ghana relaxed mining regulations and nurtured investment by the mining industry through generous incentives and tariff reductions during the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, more than 250 mining companies have been granted concessions, totalling 58,167 square kilometres. Most of these companies operate surface mines, but a few are underground mining operators. Diamonds, bauxite, manganese, and especially gold are the predominant minerals sought in Ghana, and most are being extracted by Canadian, Australian, South African, United States, and other foreign-owned interests. Export earnings from mining have overtaken earnings from cocoa. From 1992 to 1995, mining exports climbed from $107.9 million to $682.2 million. Output for Ghana’s gold industry alone grew by 500 percent between 1983 and 1995, and by 750 percent between 1983 and 1998. Mining in Ghana has had a tremendously detrimental effect on the country’s tropical forests, which blanket one-third of the nation. Sixty percent of rainforests in Ghana’s Wassa West District have already been destroyed by mining operations, which have also polluted surface and groundwater with cyanide and other chemicals. The mines have also devastated local communities. Nearby villages suffer from contaminated water supplies and cracked buildings from the mines’ blasting. In many cases, the land used for mining operations in Ghana has been forcibly acquired from peasant farmers under ambiguous regulations. Sometimes this acquisition occurred with no compensation. In some instances, the mines have been responsible for the dislocation and forced resettlement of communities numbering in the hundreds and even thousands. Numerous violations of human rights, including shootings and beatings, have also been committed in relation to the mines. Since 1981, Ghana has experienced forest loss at a rate of 750 hectares/year, or two percent. Forest cover has dropped to 25 percent of its original size, owing to a rate of deforestation that has increased by 50 percent in ten years. A combination of logging by multinational companies and rural residents seeking income for their basic needs has fuelled what is now Ghana’s third largest export sector. Between 1983 and 1988, forestry grew six-fold in terms of revenues. At the current rate, the Ghanaian trees mahogany, odum and afromosia are expected to be depleted by 2007. By: Jason Tockman, "The IMF: Funding Deforestation", American Lands Alliance, November 2001, e-mail: tockman@americanlands.org
- Madagascar: IMF opens up the country to mining Called the "naturalist’s promised land" by French explorer Phillippe de Commerson in 1771, Madagascar is one of the most ecologically rich countries in the world. Twelve thousand species are found on the island the size of Texas; 80 percent are endemic, existing nowhere else. Nine new species of lemur were recently discovered in Madagascar, placing the country only behind Brazil in the number of primates that call it home. In 1996, the Malagasy government accepted a three-year, $118 million loan and bowed to IMF pressure in their agreement to further liberalise trade policies and open its economy to foreign investment. Among the measures adopted were allowing foreigners to own land and eliminating export taxes. The liberalisation of Madagascar’s trade and investment policies has encouraged the pursuit of mining plans by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, a London-based mining company. Ranking as the world’s largest mining company, Rio Tinto has an abysmal track record of environmental and human rights violations, stretching from Indonesia to South Africa (under apartheid) to Brazil. The controversial "Mineral Sands Project" would involve the extraction of ilmenite, which is processed into titanium dioxide, used to produce a white pigment for paint, plastics, and other products. Extracting an estimated 350,000 to 700,000 tons of ilmenite each year, the mine would yield between $25 million and $50 million annually. If the mine is approved, it would cover an expansive 15,000 acres and stretch along 40 miles of coastline. The site for the proposed mine includes more than two-thirds of the unique littoral forests that exist on Madagascar’s south-eastern coast. The plant diversity of the mining area is high, including 16 species that exist only where the mining would occur. These species face potential extinction if the mine moves forward; also threatened is the brown collared lemur, which is locally endemic. Several actions by the company and the government indicate that the mine will be approved. In 1998, the Malagasy government agreed to reduce the tax rate on the proposed Mineral Sands Project to two percent from the standard five percent rate. The Rio Tinto corporation has already spent at least $30 million assessing the mineral deposits, and has undertaken an extensive environmental impact assessment. The Malagasy government has agreed to make its decision whether to grant or withhold approval by December of 2001, once Rio Tinto has completed their environmental assessment. By: Jason Tockman, "The IMF: Funding Deforestation", American Lands Alliance, November 2001, e-mail: tockman@americanlands.org
ASIA - International Monetary Fund and deforestation Information on the impacts of IMF policies on the forests of Indonesia is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/IMF/Jason.doc . Further information on IMF and deforestation in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand is available from a Friends of the Earth International report (The IMF. Selling the Environment Short), that can be accessed at: http://www.foe.org/imf/index.html
- Burma: New roads pave the way for massive logging A project is in progress to build a number of roads in Kachin State in return for huge logging concessions. While improving and expanding the infrastructure in Kachin State is much needed, the impact of this deal on the environment could prove to be disastrous. A recent agreement involves the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and a Chinese construction company. The middleman in the deal is the Kachin Jadeland company, owned by Kachin businessmen Yup Zau Hkawng. The agreement stipulates that the Chinese company will build roads leading from Myitkyina to Sumprabum and, eventually, Putao, from Myitkyina to Bhamo, and from Wai Maw (near Myitkyina) to the Chinese border near Kampaiti. In return for building these roads, the Kachin Jadeland company and the Chinese company have been given huge logging concessions deep in Kachin State. There are two concession areas, one located between the Mali Hka and the N'mai Hka rivers (the whole triangle-shaped area), and the other one between the railway line from Myitkyina to Mandalay to the road leading from Myitkyina to Bhamo. This area is in the heart of the Kachin State and has never been subject to large-scale logging. This project is the most massive logging effort ever undertaken in Burma, according to one observer. But, according to a source, the deal with the Chinese construction company has been terminated and Yup Zau Hkawng is negotiating with a Malaysian-Chinese company to do the job. Another Kachin source confirms that companies from China, Malaysia and Hong Kong are working on the road from Wai Maw to the Chinese border. Despite the confusion over the partner company it looks as if Yup Zau Hkawng will go ahead with the plan. Continued logging in Burma threatens one of mainland Southeast Asia's most forested regions as Burma contains half the forest in the region. In the last thirteen years, Burma's border with Thailand has been heavily logged. Concessions granted to Thai logging firms have left areas in the Shan, Karenni, and Karen States without any significant forests. This leaves the Chindwin Valley in Sagaing Division and the Kachin State as one of the few remaining undisturbed forests in Burma. The effect of these concessions will be devastating for the environment, says one Thai-based environmentalist. Further concessions endanger one of the world's remaining sources of biodiversity. The Kachin State is part of the Indo-Burmese region, one of the eight "hottest hotspots for biodiversity" in the world. The hotspots are sites containing the greatest concentration of endemic species that are also experiencing exceptional loss of habitat. A 1998 report by the World Resources Institute, noted that extensive deforestation had already caused massive soil erosion, sedimentation of rivers, increased flooding and acute dry season water shortages in some areas. Further logging looks to intensify the severity of these problems. And the destruction of forests in this area along the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River will not only damage the environment but will also have a grave impact on the livelihood of people downstream. Increased flooding endangers rice paddies along the Irrawaddy as well as riverine fisheries. Logging has been underway in Kachin State for over ten years. Heavy logging has already taken place on the east side of the Nmai Kha River down to Sinbo and Bhamo. Reports from the region indicate that loggers have clear-cut the area. The flow of logs from these earlier concessions has fueled the growth of a thriving border trade in timber. Logging companies have built a network of roads running from China over high mountain passes to extract the timber from a strip of land along the Kachin State's border with China. The roads lead to a string of logging towns -Ruili, Yingjiang, Tenchong, Fugong, Hpimaw, and Panwa. In Hpimaw alone, there are an estimated seventy sawmills. A recent visitor to Pawnwa, a border town in Yunnan, reported a steady flow of logging trucks coming across the Chinese border from Burma. China's appetite for wood is big and growing, particularly after the Chinese government implemented a logging ban for twelve provinces in 1998 after severe flooding in the upper Yangtze Valley. In 2000, six provinces were added to the list. Since the ban, China has become the world's second largest wood importer behind the US. Will the Burmese people and environment pay the price for forest conservation in China? Article based on information from: The Irrawaddy: The War on Kachin Forests (Vol 9. No. 8, October -November 2001), by John S. Moncreif and Htun Myat/Kunming (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greenburma/message/49)
- Cambodia: Villagers defend their resin trees Tapping trees for resins has a long history in Southeast Asia. The traditional tapping practice involves cutting a hole in the base of the trunk and using fire to stimulate a continuing flow. Resin from Cambodia is traded throughout Indochina and to other parts of Southeast Asia and China. In almost all areas of Cambodia that still have forests, people obtain their family income from collecting resin. Those forest areas are subject to highly developed systems of community-based management. Villagers own resin trees privately; when one person has tapped a tree, usually no one else collects resin from that tree. Resin can be collected from a given tree for many years, with resin trees passed on to children at the time of marriage. The forest is effectively divided into plots that are managed by individual families. Due to the value of resin collection as a source of income for local communities, resin collectors play an active role in protecting the forest. The owner of resin trees protects his or her resin trees as well as the surrounding forest and does not allow anyone to cut the forest or convert it to farmland. Both Cambodia's current forest law, and the draft forest law under review by the National Assembly, prohibit the cutting of trees villagers have tapped to collect resin. However many concessionaires, via their subcontractors (and sometimes military units), violate this and other forest laws and regulations. Resin trees are cut, or else villagers are coerced into selling their resin trees. Currently there are villagers in many areas who want official recognition of their resin forests. It is these villagers who are now beginning to play a critical role in monitoring and enforcing forestry laws and regulations in remote areas. In February 2001, seeing that the Pheapimex Fuchan Concession Company was cutting their resin trees, 17 villagers from O Lang village went together to guard their resin trees. When the company workers arrived, the villagers showed them copies of the forest law forbidding cutting resin trees. They stopped cutting. About a month later, Pheapimex workers came to put tags on villager's trees; villagers informed the commune chief and he went with 53 people (from three villages) to the area. They met the workers putting up tags, and explained that the law forbids cutting resin trees. The company took down the tags, and stopped cutting trees. Since then, there has been no cutting of resin trees in the area. Also, early in 2001, villagers in Tum Ar filed complaints to the national government protesting the tagging of their trees by the Grand Atlantic Timber (GAT) Concession Company in preparation for cutting. As a result the company broke off these preparations. Then in July, GAT prepared to cut again. A Community Consultation Committee (CCC) was elected in the village, after which villagers started patrolling their resin forests (in conjunction with collecting resin). In Tum Ar, people now have a very clear understanding of the forest law, and continue to patrol their forest areas. Likewise in Ronteah, when villagers learned recently that their resin trees were being cut, some twenty people went to stop the loggers and succeeded. In Kampong Damrei commune, Casotim Concession Company was cutting trees. Around May, villagers started putting stickers ("Save Resin Tapping") on their trees. They also attached the Department of Forestry "Instruction" on resin to their trees. Those trees were not cut. Recently, just after the Community Consultation Committee was elected, the company cut three resin trees which had not been labelled. They organised 20 people together to go and meet the people cutting the trees. But the loggers had already evacuated their forest camp, and only company soldiers were still there. They said, "Don't you realise that if you create a community forest, you won't have anything to eat? The government will take everything". The villagers then discussed what to do about this at the monthly provincial meetings that Consultation Committee members attend. The Provincial Environment and Forestry Officials said that there should be a meeting in which the provincial governor invites the military to attend and work out how to co-operate on the issue. Local communities living inside or near Cambodia's forested areas have been significantly affected by the cutting of resin trees. Until recently, these same communities were largely ignorant of the laws governing forest concessions. The education and empowerment of forest dwelling communities reliant on resin collection is playing a central role in creating domestic incentives (in effect, a domestic constituency) demanding that forestry institutions enforce laws and regulations governing timber harvesting by concessionaires. As this same domestic constituency becomes more knowledgeable and empowered in relation to forest laws and regulations, it become a most active, and potentially most effective, enforcer of forest laws in its own right. By: Andrew Cock, NGO Forum on Cambodia, e-mail: andrew@ngo.forum.org.kh ; and Peter Swift, Southeast Asia Development Program, e-mail: sadp@bigpond.com.kh
- Cambodia: Logging ban and what else? As we had reported in our last bulletin (December 2001), the possibility of a moratorium on logging was looming on Cambodian timber industry’s horizon, which had previously attempted a "voluntary restructuring process" that proved to be a failure. It has been evident also that it’s not simply a problem of illegal logging. The fierce exploitation of timber resources by large-scale projects developed by big foreign companies has led the country to an unbalanced ecological state that was responsible in 2000 for the worst flood suffered by the country in 70 years, as denounced by the United Nations. The alleged profit returns from forestry activities become null when accounting the ecological losses: it is estimated that the flood cost the country US$156 million. This compares to the total of US$92 million which was generated by the forestry sector between 1994 and 2000. Even the Asian Development Bank had to recognise that the Cambodian forestry sector is a "total system failure" in a 1999 report. And now, national and international criticism to the destruction of Cambodia’s forests have finally born fruit. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced the suspension of all logging operations, effective from 1st January 2002. However, there is a question open: the logging ban is a means towards what ends? Will it imply a policy change for a community based ecologically sustainable forest development and protection? Or just a pause to appease criticism and later return to the same predatory logging industry model? Cambodian’s authorities should bear in mind that there can be no economies without ecosystems. Article based on information from: Forest Conservation News Today, "Cambodia’s Logging Halt, What Next?", http://forests.org/recent/2002/caloghal.htm ; Global Witness, "At long last Cambodia suspends all logging operations" press release, 21 December 2001, http://www.oneworld.org/globalwitness/press/pr_211201cambodia.htm
- Vietnam: Massive plantations ahead Last year the Vietnam Paper Corporation (Vinapimex) announced an ambitious plan to expand the pulp and paper industry in Vietnam. With a total cost of more than US$1 billion, the plan involves 15 new pulp and paper production projects. If they were all built, the projects would raise Vinapimex's annual paper production capacity from the current 171,000 tons to 419,000 tons. The pulp and paper industry in Vietnam presently produces a total of approximately 360,000 tons of paper a year. Vinapimex hopes to increase this figure to more than one million tons by 2010. One of Vinapimex's proposed projects is a new 130,000 tons a year bleached kraft pulp mill in Kontum province, in the central highlands of Vietnam. In October 2001, the government approved Vinapimex's feasibility study. Most of the funding for the US$240 million project has yet to be found, but Vinapimex hopes foreign governments will come to its help with "aid" loans at interest rates below those of commercial banks. The Vietnamese government has agreed to cover seven per cent of the costs by funding roads, research facilities, health clinics and schools. The government will also buy land use rights for the project and will waive land tax during the first tree cycle. To supply raw material to the mill, Vinapimex has already started planting trees and aims to establish an area of 125,000 hectares of fast-growing tree plantations. In addition, according to the feasibility study, Vinapimex plans to use 38,000 hectares of natural forest to supply the mill. Meanwhile, work on expanding Vietnam's largest pulp and paper mill, Bai Bang, is due to start in the next few weeks. The plant is to be expanded from a capacity of 55,000 tons of paper a year to 100,000 tons. At the same time, annual pulp capacity will be increased from 48,000 tons to 61,000 tons. This represents the first stage of a plan to increase the mill's annual paper capacity to 200,000 tons and pulp capacity to 150,000 tons. On 30 November 2001, the Swedish Government agreed to provide a preferential credit of US$12.5 million to fund the first phase of the expansion. In 2000, Vinapimex obtained US$42 million in loans from three Nordic banks to fund the rebuilding of the mill. Vinapimex has signed contracts with Voith Paper and China's Sinochem to rebuild the plant. Elof Hansson and Marubeni won contracts to supply equipment. Hansson leads a group of supplier companies which includes Kvaerner Chemetics, Kvaerner Pulping, Purac, Metso Paper and AF-IPK. In addition to Vinapimex's expansion plans, the Japanese company Nissho Iwai is planning to increase its wood chip production in Vietnam. The company is building a new, US$1.5 million plant as a joint venture with a state-owned forest product exporting agency. The wood chips will be exported and sold to the Japanese Oji Paper Company. Nissho Iwai also plans to increase the capacity of an existing wood chip producer by 15 per cent to 150,000 tons a year. The company's target for the year 2002 is 400,000 tons, all of which is for export to Japan. In an attempt meet the increasing demand for raw material to supply the expanding pulp and paper industry, the government has ambitious plans to plant one million hectares of industrial plantations specifically to feed the industry as part of its "5 million hectare" programme (see WRM Bulletin 38). In a report dated February 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development argues that the 5 million hectare programme should lead to "sustainable land use" and be "financially, environmentally and socially viable". Yet, the industrial tree plantation programme currently underway in Vietnam meets none of these objectives. It is only financially viable with government subsidies and low-interest loans in the form of overseas "aid". Monocultures of fast-growing trees which replace forests, fields and grasslands cannot be described as either environmentally viable or sustainable. And, for rural Vietnamese people, who are dependent on the land and forests which would be lost to the plantations, the social implications are potentially devastating. By: Chris Lang, e-mail: http://chrislang.org
CENTRAL AMERICA - International Monetary Fund and deforestation Information on the impacts of IMF policies on the forests of Honduras and Nicaragua is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/IMF/Jason.doc . Further information on IMF and deforestation in Nicaragua is available from a Friends of the Earth International report (The IMF. Selling the Environment Short), that can be accessed at: http://www.foe.org/imf/index.html
- Belize: Canadian company to dam the Macal River The Belize National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) announced in November 2001 that the government has granted environmental clearance for the construction of a proposed hydro-scheme (see WRM bulletin 44) slated for an undisturbed river valley within the Central Maya Mountains near the Guatemalan border, conditional upon the development of an Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP), which will incorporate the mitigation measures identified in the environmental impact assessment, along with others recommended during the evaluation process. Belize Electricity, Ltd (with Canadian Fortis Inc. holding a majority stake) is behind the project, with governmental support. But huge dams are no longer being constructed in most industrialised nations around the world, despite their increasing energy needs. No wonder. The World Commission on Dams issued a report (November 2000) that has brought international attention to the numerous downfalls of dams, pointing out that the mitigation factors have been largely unsuccessful. Nor do dams provide flood control. Conversely, they increase devastation through the emission of "greenhouse gases" --as equally detrimental as the burning of fossil fuels--, the increase of disease in tropical countries, and the waste of precious freshwater resources. The area known as the Upper Macal and Raspaculo River valley represents a cradle of biological productivity. It is the last known breeding area for the endangered Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera), with less than 250 birds remaining in the country, and provides a sanctuary for other endangered species such as the Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii), southern river otter (Lutra longicaudus), and Morelet's crocodile, (Crocodylus moreleti). This area is also important for migratory bird populations. A 1992 Environmental Impact Assessment produced by Agra CI Power Ltd., estimated that "over 90 percent of riparian (riverine) habitat would be destroyed," if the dam were built. The report, by a subsidiary of Agra, Inc., a Canadian based international engineering, construction and technology company, predicted that serious environmental damage would occur downriver from the proposed dam site, impacting the lives of people who depend on the river for sustenance. The Agra assessment found that the dam could kill fish by generating sulfide gases as vegetation rotted in the reservoir, and by changing seasonal river flows. "We are gambling with our natural resources, treasures that are not duplicated anywhere else in the region," said biologist Sharon Matola, director of the Belize Zoo and a vocal opponent of the project. The Macal River feeds the Belize River, which empties into the Caribbean Sea. Off shore stands the largest barrier reef in the Western hemisphere, a popular destination for tourists from around the globe. Tourism is currently the largest contributor to the country's Gross National Product. "It took millions of years of evolution for this habitat to reach its current unique state. It is unacceptable to trade that for a dam, which under the best of circumstances, would provide electricity for perhaps 50 years. This is environmental crime of the highest degree," warned Matola. Dam proponents continue to stress that the dam is needed to "alleviate poverty" and to "ensure independence from Mexico". However, as the old story goes, people do not benefit from this kind of mega-projects fostered by corporate interests. The only recipe to "alleviate poverty" is sustainable development. Article based on information from: "Chalillo Dam Project Cleared by Belize Government", ENS, November 15, 2001; BETA Position Statement on the Chalillo Dam Project, http://www.belizeecotourism.org/Challio.htm ; International Rivers Network, "Unacceptable Approach to Energy Needs in Belize: The Proposed Chalillo Dam", http://www.irn.org/programs/latamerica/chalillo.subm.html
NORTH AMERICA - Mexico: Deforestation progresses, but not the measures to prevent it The Mexican authorities themselves have recognised, through the Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the seriousness of the Mexican situation in terms of forest loss. On 3 December 2001, the director of SEMARNAT, Victor Lichtinger made public the Forest Inventory, containing deforestation figures for the country. Over the past seven years, the annual rate of deforestation rose to 1.1 million hectares. The previous rate of 600 thousand hectares per year was practically doubled. This places Mexico second in the world in the loss of forests, behind Brazil. Between the years 1993 and 2000, a total of 7.8 million hectares were lost, distributed in the following way: the State of Campeche lost 100% of its forests (200 thousand hectares), Tabasco 58%, Chihuaha, 7% (576 thousand hectares), Yucatán 35% (272 thousand hectares), Querétaro 30% (44 thousand hectares) and Veracruz 22% (270 thousand hectares). If this trend is maintained, the tropical forests, covering an area of 30.8 million hectares, will disappear in 58 years time, while other types of forests, presently covering 32.9 million hectares, will decrease to 26 million hectares in 25 years time and will come to an end in 127 years time. The main causes for the disappearance of forests are attributed to the increased area devoted to agriculture and cattle-raising, which rose from 15% of the national territory to nearly 17%. However, officials have said nothing about the causes triggering off this process, among which the North American Free Trade Agreement, foreign investment, large scale monoculture plantations and land tenure patterns, among other, certainly play an important role. As an example, it may be noted that the need for wrapping paper as a result of the increasing activities of the maquila industry (assembly plants) --producing goods for export from imported inputs-- has given rise to the application of policies to promote large-scale monoculture tree plantations, aimed at providing raw material for cheap paper production (see WRM bulletin 14). In many cases this cause --the exportation to the United States of products elaborated by the maquila industry-- has led to the substitution of forests by large scale monoculture tree plantations, thus becoming a cause of deforestation. Finally, the mere recording of deforestation figures will not be of much use unless the causes are examined in depth and unless the necessary measures are taken to address them. In 1997, the Mexican government participated in the fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, which adopted a series of Proposals for Action, among which, the countries were urged "To prepare in-depth studies of the underlying causes at the national and international levels of deforestation and forest degradation." Additionally they were also encouraged "To formulate and implement national strategies, through an open and participatory process, for addressing the underlying causes of deforestation, and, if appropriate, to define policy goals for national forest cover as inputs to the implementation of national forest programmes." It is clear that, in the dramatic situation of the Mexican forests and woodlands, it is imperative to start this process as an essential first step in the search for solutions. Article based on
information from: Angélica Enciso L., "México, segundo lugar a escala
mundial en pérdida de bosques y selvas: Semarnat"
- USA: Eucalyptus, the largest weed Ted Williams, author of the excellent article on the impacts of monoculture pine tree plantations in Southern US ("False Forests", Mother Jones magazine, http://bsd.mojones.com/mother_jones/MJ00/false_forests.html ), has now published an equally excellent article focused on eucalyptus ("America's Largest Weed"). The following are some excerpts from his recent article: If you smell like a cough drop when you stumble out of the California woods, it's because 100 of the world's 600 species of eucalyptus grow there. None is native. They were imported from Australia during the second half of the 19th century as we were hawking our redwoods to the Aussies. "Wonder trees," the eucs were called, because they shot up in coastal scrub and vast redwood clearcuts. Eucs were planted with varying success across America, but they took off in California. In 1876 Ellwood Cooper planted 50,000 euc seedlings on his ranch near Santa Barbara. Three years later they were more than 40 feet high; 32 years after that they were 175 feet high. Blue gum, the most popular imported euc, was unleashed in 1853. By the 1870s it was a dominant feature in California's coastal and central landscapes. As they continued to spread and grow, their thirsty roots blocked drains, tore up pavement, damaged foundations, and fueled wildfires. Of the many eucalyptus species that evolved with fire, none is more incendiary than blue gum. "Gasoline trees," firefighters call them. Fire doesn't kill blue gums. Rather, they depend on fire to open their seedpods and clear out the competition. And they promote fire with their prolific combustible oil, copious litter, and long shreds of hanging bark designed to carry flames to the crowns. Blue gum eucalyptus doesn't just burn, it explodes, sending firebrands and seeds shooting hundreds of feet in all directions. Living next to one of these trees is like living next to a fireworks factory staffed by chain-smokers. What are the costs of America's infatuation with the eucalyptus? And have we learned anything from it? My search for answers took me to Bolinas, California (population 1,500), an hour north of San Francisco at the end of a mountain road that threads along bare, fogbound headlands. On a bright October morning Geoff Geupel, terrestrial program director for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO), led me through a grazing lease and down to Jack's Creek, in Point Reyes National Seashore. Blue gum eucs towered to the west and east, long, leathery leaves drooping earthward, trunks light brown--almost white in spots--and looking as if they had flirted with a debarker. Between the euc groves, in the dry creekbed, grew some of the last coastal scrub in Marin County, a profusion of plants that belong here and are all vital to wildlife--coast live oak, California bay laurel, monkey flower, coyote bush, wax myrtle, California sagebrush, lizard tail, mule's ear, cow parsnip, willows, native bunchgrasses. The scrub had its own gray, understated beauty, a beauty largely unnoticed by the public. Coastal scrub never had a Joyce Kilmer to write sappy verse about it. Trees don't belong on this riparian corridor or on most of the surrounding hills or, for that matter, in most of earth's terrestrial ecosystems. When the Boy Scouts started cluster-bombing Marin County with seedlings, Ansel Adams helped run them out, declaring, "I cannot think of a more tasteless undertaking than to plant trees in a naturally treeless area, and to impose an interpretation of natural beauty on a great landscape that is charged with beauty and wonder, and the excellence of eternity." Geupel pointed out the rustling, fleeting forms of birds and called my attention to their vocalizations, most of them strange to my Yankee ears --the churring of wrentits; the quiet tseet of bushtits; the high, thin whistle of golden-crowned kinglets; the clicking of ruby-crowned kinglets; the metallic chink of California towees; the bossy flocking notes of white-crowned sparrows; the oh dear me of golden-crowned sparrows, fresh in from the Arctic and so full of blarney that they didn't know they weren't supposed to sing in autumn. In winter a resident race of white-crowned sparrows, rufous-crowned sparrows, and Bewick's wrens (all declining) forage for insects in the green leaves of live oaks, wax myrtle, and bay. They breed here, too. In the eucalyptus grove to the west we met perfect silence, a scene from Keats's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" in which the "sedge is wither'd from the lake and no birds sing." The eucs, I suppose, were beautiful in one sense, but their beauty struck me as cold and otherworldly, the beauty of the hollow-bodied fairy dame who sat sideways on the knight's horse before sucking out his youth. The aliens had sucked out the creek. As eucs' trunks move in the wind, their sinuous roots tear up huge chunks of earth that slide into the channel. A quarter-mile seaward they literally spill onto a beach strewn with their bleached carcasses. Trees totter on a high bluff, then fall, taking more topsoil with them. The only native plants we encountered in the grove were shallow-rooted--mostly poison oak. I stuck my hand in euc leaf and bark litter and couldn't find the bottom; in California it can be four feet thick because the microbes and insects that eat it are in Australia. Native plants that manage to push through the litter often get poisoned; as a natural defense against competition, eucs exude their own herbicide, creating what botanists call "eucalyptus desolation." The full article is available at: http://magazine.audubon.org/incite/incite0201.html
SOUTH AMERICA - International Monetary Fund and deforestation Information on the impacts of IMF policies on the forests of Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Guyana is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/IMF/Jason.doc . Further information on IMF and deforestation in Brazil and Guyana is available from a Friends of the Earth International report (The IMF. Selling the Environment Short), that can be accessed at: http://www.foe.org/imf/index.html
- Brazil: Stopped in Espirito Santo, Aracruz wants to plant eucalyptus in Rio de Janeiro As a result of successful campaigning efforts in the state of Espirito Santo --where Aracruz Cellulose has its huge pulp mill and most of its eucalyptus plantations-- the state Parliament passed a law banning further eucalyptus planting until an agroecological study is carried out to decide where the tree can and cannot be planted. The corporation has reacted in two different ways. On the one hand, it is trying to prove that the law is unconstitutional, but at the same time it is negotiating with the government of the neighbouring state of Rio de Janeiro to implement its plantations there. This latter move is aimed at both paving the way to ensure supply from new plantations in Rio and at putting pressure on the government of Espirito Santo to quickly finalise the agroecological mapping process in a manner positive to the company. Negotiations with the Rio government are well under way and the company's plan includes an investment of some U$ 38 million to plant 42,000 hectares of eucalyptus in the area of Macaé, Campos, São João da Barra and Cambuci. Contrary to other types of investment, this one would generate very little tax incomes given that 95% of Aracruz's production is exported and is therefore not taxable under the Brazilian tax system. It is interesting to note that the project presented by the corporation to the government of Rio has the blessings of the state's Environmental Secretary André Corrêa, who declared that the viewpoints of environmentalists from Espirito Santo are mistaken and narrow while describing them as "ecochatos" (eco-ignorants). This conclusion was "scientifically" arrived at after his visit to Aracruz's plantations, from where he returned "positively impressed with what he saw." This one visit apparently enabled him to learn all about the issue and to state that plantations are socially and environmentally sustainable! At the same time, those negotiations have put pressure on the pro-Aracruz state Secretary of Agriculture of Espirito Santo, Marcelino Fraga, who drew up a very tight timeframe for finalising the agroecological mapping which, according to him, must be concluded in 60 days. This move cleary aims at undermining the possibility of carrying out a participatory and serious process, trying to reduce it to a mere technical exercise. Additionally, IBAMA (the Brazilian Environment Institute) says that there is no scientific proof regarding the environmental impacts of eucalyptus plantations and a forester from the Espirito Santo section of IBAMA recently declared that the lack of water is a result of the lack of rain! Must one assume that this is "scientific proof" about the lack of impacts of eucalyptus plantations on water? Against all those odds, the Network Against the Green Desert --which includes all relevant actors in the state-- continues actively working to halt the spread of plantations and their numbers continue to increase as more and more people become aware about the social and environmental problems generated by them. Article based on information from: 'Polêmica sobre plantio de eucalipto rumo ao Rio', 'Nasser: problema social é mais grave', 'Secretário carioca critica ‘visão’ do ES', Gazeta On line 06/01/2002, sent by Geise Pereira da Silva, e-mail: geiseps@terra.com.br
- Colombia: Logging and violence against Afro-Colombian communities in the Chocó On 27 December 2001, the Colombian Inter-Congregational Justice and Peace Commission sent the President of the Republic, Doctor Andrés Pastrana Arango and other national authorities a letter in which, among many other things, it reported that during the first twenty days of December, the "Maderas del Darién" company had been logging in a place known as Mendoza, in the perimeter of San Jose de La Balsa, La Balsa, Bocachica, San Higinio, within the Collective Territory of Cacarica. The limits of the Cacarica basin border the Los Katios National Park which hosts one of the highest levels of biodiversity per square kilometre in the world. For some time now, the Afro-Colombian Communities, Forcibly Displaced from the Cacarica Basin in Chocó, provisionally settled in Turbo, Bocas del Atrato and Bahia Cupica, have been reporting illegal and indiscriminate deforestation of their territories by the YIREH company. Apparently it is operating in connection with the logging company "Maderas del Darién" (WRM Bulletin 28, November 1999). This forestry exploitation they are complaining about implies a disregard for the Afro-Colombian communities’ rights, set out in Law 70, officially recognising their territories. The artificial channels opened up by the logging company have further exposed the communities to the para-military forces by making access and fast offensive and monitoring movements possible from military locations. It is also stated that the inhabitants of the Riosucio municipality have witnessed and confirmed the installation of armed bases in Cacarica as part of a new stage of the military strategy involving the co-option of the Afro-Colombian and Mestizo population and their participation in economic proposals such as the production of coca and oil palm. After 3 years of complaints about the illegal logging done by the Maderas del Darién company, the Cacarica families continue witnessing the large machines extracting their forest resources, and only find justification and omission on the part of national environmental authorities and monitoring bodies and complicity on the part of the territorial bodies for environmental management such as Codechocó. Territorial defence has implied not only hostility against the returned families, but the community itself has also been accused of deforestation and the responsibility of the logging company has been ignored. The appointment of the Higher Council Board, elected in accordance with procedure foreseen in Law 70 has been omitted and the appointment of other Boards that do not have the backing of the returned communities has been endorsed. This action has opened the way for all types of advantages to be taken. With this demand for justice and moral amendment, the letter states that neither the Trusteeship actions, nor the interviews with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Environment have succeeded in obtaining endorsement for the freezing of land purchase and sale to avoid private interests, associated with major capital, being put before collective and community interests. Article based on information from: Letter to President Pastrana, Inter-Congregational Justice and Peace Commission, 27 December 2001, Justicia y Paz, e-mail: justypaz@andinet.com
- Ecuador: Human shield in defence of the Mindo forest against oil pipeline Since the 2nd of January, the inhabitants of local communities, students and environmentalists have been carrying out a permanent and peaceful occupation of the most fragile zone of the Los Guarumos forest, at the entry of the Mindo Nambillo cloud forest, to halt the construction of a new oil pipeline which will cross the whole of Ecuador. The 500 km long oil pipeline will transport heavy crude oil for the Oleoductos de Crudos Pesados (OCP) company, (see bulletin 45, April, 2001). A number of activists have climbed the trees and built platforms and others are chained to the trunks, with the purpose of preventing the building teams entering the protected zone. Their intention is to remain in the zone until the building company and the government desist in their intention of destroying this unique ecosystem housing a diversity of fauna and flora species, many of which are in danger of extinction. News stations in Ecuador have reported that the police force may evict the demonstrators in the next few days. The oil pipeline is the beginning of an unprecedented boom of new oil investments: more than 2 billion dollars over the next five years for oil prospecting and extraction, oil pipeline feeding, refineries and infrastructure for related processing. A major part of the crude oil necessary to feed the oil pipeline is to be found in the national parks and indigenous lands, in pristine tropical forests. Prominent environmental and human rights organisations in Ecuador and in the world are requesting the cancellation of the OCP project and a moratorium on all further oil prospecting in the country’s forests. The Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) --of which the Westphalia government holds 43% of its shares-- is funding the OCP project with a 900 million dollar loan. In view of the escalation of complaints, the North Westphalia state government has convened an audience to take place on 14 January. Experts from non-governmental organisations will testify as to the way the project is violating the minimum criteria for environmental protection, established by the World Bank. According to WestLB, abidance with the standards of the World Bank is a "prerequisite for any financial commitment by the WestLB in the project." For its part, OCP announced yesterday that it may abandon building work in the Mindo cloud forest during the rainy season that ends in April. While construction of the rest of the stretches along the OCP route continues, protests by Mindo were mentioned as a weighty factor in the consortium’s decision to temporarily suspend work in the region. The environmentalists mention another reason: the consortium’s fears regarding funding. "It is obvious that the OCP Consortium does not want bulldozers facing the defenders of trees at the very time that the 900 million dollar loan is running a serious risk in Germany. This is a significant factor in the OCP announcement that building in Mindo has been suspended," stated Ivonne Ramos from Acción Ecológica. "We are calling on the North Westphalia Parliament to ensure that WestLB does not contribute to the irreversible loss of threatened ecosystems. We urge the Bank to cancel this loan immediately," said Atossa Soltani from Amazon Watch. The construction of the Heavy Oil Pipeline continues to advance at an amazing rate, overriding the opposition of the peoples and local governments and in complete violation of constitutional and legal precepts for environmental protection and respect for the rights of the inhabitants of the zones it passes through. This attitude is generating reactions such as those of the inhabitants of Mindo, or what is being prepared this week in the city of Lago Agrio, where the local population will also prevent continuation of OCP works. Contrary to what has been said about the benefits it will generate for the country, the facts show the true characteristics of this work. In the field of labour, the strike by Estación Amazonas workers has revealed the very poor working conditions that those who are employed by the Techint company are submitted to. In the field of taxation, evasion of all types of tariffs and taxes shows the non-contribution to the country generated by the construction of the OCP. Julia Butterfly Hill, an environmentalist and defender of forests, known all over the world for her long stay on a threatened 2000 year old redwood tree in California, has sent a message of solidarity to the Ecuadorian people: "When we see these Ecuadorian activists prepared to put their bodies where their beliefs are, facing serious danger and adversity, we know that all the other systems fail --corporations, governments and consumers-- all fail in their responsibility towards the planet, towards the people and towards the future. I feel solidarity with my brothers and sisters from Ecuador while they maintain themselves against this absolute avariciousness, destruction and consumption of these invaluable and diverse ecosystems. Alienation of this forest and of all its inhabitants because of the laying of the oil pipeline and the extraction of oil is absolutely incorrect --morally, socially, culturally and ecologically. I, and many other people, are deeply committed to supporting the Ecuadorian people in stopping this crime against humanity and against the Earth." Article based on information from: "Ecologistas Continúan Sitiando Árboles en Mindo", OilWatch, oilwatch@uio.satnet.net ; "Continúa campamento de pobladores de Mindo en oposición al OCP", Acción Ecológica, verde@accionecologica.org
- Uruguay: Will IDB-funded private port include a pulp mill? The Department of Rio Negro, located in the western side of Uruguay, presently has 70,510 hectares of plantations (mainly eucalyptus) which makes it one of the Departments having more tree monocultures in the country. A few months ago, the launching of a new project related to afforestation in this Department was announced. It consists of the installation of a port and industrial complex ("M’Bopucuá) located on the Uruguay River, some 8 kilometres upriver from the city of Fray Bentos. The aim of this project is to build a private port (in a country where until now ports have been state-owned) with wood chipping facilities in its premises. The woodchips would be exported by sea to pulp mills abroad, while the port would also serve for channelling to export markets the wood and wood products from plantations in Uruguay's central, western and northern regions, as an alternative to the port of Montevideo, which is currently the main port for wood exports. The complex will be built by a private company --"M’Bopicuá Logistic Terminal" (TLM)-- formed by some of the most important forestry companies operating in the country. Among them, mention can be made of Eufores and las Pléyades (belonging to the Spanish paper company ENCE), La Forestal Oriental (a joint venture of the Royal Dutch Shell Group and UPM/Kymmene) and Paso Alto, a national forestry investment fund. The Spanish company Unión Fenosa, which has expanded its international investments, is also part of the consortium. Thus, this undertaking will be mainly carried out by multinational companies (with the exception of Paso Alto) with headquarters in Spain, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Finland. The Inter American Development Bank (IDB), which will contribute 23.1 million dollars, will be the project's main funder. According to the Environmental and Social Impact Brief available in the Bank's web page, the project aims at the development of an industrial estate focused on the export of wood and non wood products, ("or timber industrialisation, but for purposes other than the production of paper)" The last sentence ("but for purposes other than the production of paper") is extremely suspicious. In fact, according to information published in the local press, the Spanish pulp and paper company ENCE is considering installing a pulp mill in this location. The information about the installation of a pulp mill has also been corroborated to the press by the associated company Unión Fenosa. Given the well known environmental impact of this type of activity, its inclusion in the project would certainly imply the requirement by the IDB of a full environmental impact assessment, with the corresponding need to open up the subject to consultation and public participation Can the IDB ensure that once the Terminal is finished a pulp mill will never be constructed there by one of the owners, in this case ENCE? We doubt this very much. In 1997, as a result of a previous project to build a pulp and paper mill in Fray Bentos, local organizations organized themselves in the MOVITDES Group (Movement for Life, Work and Sustainable Development). This group is radically opposed to the installation of this type of industry because of its highly contaminating potential. It should be noted that some 20 kilometres down river from the zone where ENCE wants to install the pulp mill, is a tourist resort called "Las Cañas" that enables many families in the area to earn their subsistence. Additionally, the drinking water intake for the city of Fray Bentos is only 8 kilometres away from the projected port and industrial estate. It is evident that both the tourist activity and the quality of drinking water in the city will be seriously affected by a pulp mill located a few kilometres upriver. Furthermore, the local organisations point out that, in addition to the contamination the pulp mill would generate, it will be a further encouragement to the continuation of "planting monocultures and thus they will leave our country without land." The increasing opposition at local level to eucalyptus plantations in the area is due to the impacts that are already being perceived. In particular, in the zone of Cerro Alegre (in the neighbouring Department of Soriano, where the subsidiary company of the ENCE Group, EUFORES has one of its plantations) the local farmers have complained about the depletion of the sources of water on which they depend, which took place a few years after the installation of the large monoculture tree plantations in the area. The situation is a matter of concern, especially taking into account that two of the companies leading the project (EUFORES and Las Pléyades) are subsidiaries of the Spanish pulp and paper company ENCE, which has been accused several times for the serious atmospheric and water pollution it has caused throughout its history. The accusations have resulted in a judicial trial, where the local organization Defensa da Ría is asking for sentences of two years imprisonment for six of nine of ENCE's directors implicated in the case. Additionally, the plaintiffs also request strong fines for the environmental crime resulting from emisions and effluentes discharged in the Ría of Pontevedra. With such background in its own country, it is scarcely believable that it will behave in a more responsible manner in Uruguay, thereby increasing the reasons for concern of the population of Fray Bentos. A few years ago, the MOVITDES Group led a strong and successful popular mobilisation against the installation of a pulp and paper mill in the city of Fray Bentos, supported by other environmental groups in the country. They are now mobilising again to face these powerful multinational companies that also have the financial support of IDB and the political support of the national and departmental governments. Success will not come easily and much depends on the support they can receive from national and international civil society. For this reason MOVITDES is calling on all the organisations in the countries where these companies have their headquarters, to join them in their struggle. Statements of support can be sent to the following e-mail address: movitdes@internet.com.uy Article based on information from: Grupo MOVITDES, Julia Cóccaro, e-mail: movitdes@internet.com.uy ; http://www.iadb.org/exr/doc98/pro/bur0142.pdf ; El Observador, http://www.observa.com.uy/elobservador/Ed010704/ECO/N00200.html ; http://www.cita.es/agua/prensa.htm ; http://www.mercado.com.ar/mercado/vercanal_nota.asp?id=152605
OCEANIA - International Monetary Fund and deforestation Information on the impacts of IMF policies on the forests of Papua New Guinea is available at: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/IMF/Jason.doc Mining operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are part of the IMF backed policy which opens the country to foreign investments for the unsustainable export-driven exploitation of natural resources. The serious record of mining activities includes flooding of forests and homes caused by the dumping of waste rocks and levels of mercury in the Ajkwa river four-times higher than the maximum allowed of 0,001 mg/l (WRM bulletin 7, December 1997). And now, once again, the power of big companies is being felt: mining-related legislation (the Ok Tedi Mine Continuation Act and the associated Community Mine Continuation Agreement) endorsed by the PNG government has caused an uproar in the environmental and human rights communities. They claim that this will enable BHP and Ok Tedi Mining (OTML) --a consortium led by Australia-based BHP Billiton-- to circumvent responsibility for environmental damages in the western province of PNG. According to a summary provided by Slater and Gordon, an Australian law firm which has filed a lawsuit against the company, the agreements will give the consortium unrestricted legal indemnity for the pollution and destruction caused now and into the future by the operations of the Ok Tedi mine. OTML will have no obligation to stop tailings entering the river system in future, and will be permitted to increase the amount of copper it is currently permitted to dump into the river system. The Mine Continuation Agreements will release BHP and OTML from any liability in the current Victorian Supreme Court proceedings in Australia. Landowners will also lose their common law rights to enforce a 1996 settlement as well as any future legal rights to sue OTML for any damage or environmental catastrophes. The Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, extended an interim injunction to block Ok Tedi Mining Ltd from signing landowners to Mine Continuation Agreements. The PNG government claims that 138 of the required 149 villages have already signed the agreements, but OTML is being accused of handpicking people to sign on behalf of their villages. The Mine Continuation Agreements signed by any member of a village with or without proper authority would be binding on other members of that village. The Ok Tedi mine is seen as a national asset by Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta and the government believes that closing the mine would devastate the national economy. The mine accounts for 10 percent of the country's gross national product and 20 percent of total exports. The decision taken therefore implies that the government considers that devastating the environment and local peoples' livelihoods is but a minor "cost" within the overall economy. But those costs are huge. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, nearly 70 kilometers of the Ok Tedi River has become "almost biologically dead," and 130 kilometers of riverbank have been "severely degraded." Fish stocks have declined between 50 and 80%, according to OTML's own internal report while some 30,000 downstream landowners have lost their ability to live off their own land. Additionally, an OTML scientific Peer Review Group identified the potential for a total collapse of the fishery. Gabia Gagarimabu, the South Fly Member of Parliament describes the decision taken by the government as a disgrace. "The Bill is typical of the way BHP has dictated terms to the PNG Government ever since it came to Papua New Guinea." As in elsewhere, the bill is proof of the power of transnational mining companies. Article based on information from: Drillbits & Tailings, Volume 6, Number 10, December 30, 2001 (BHP Billiton Runs From Responsibilities In Papua New Guinea), Project Underground, e-mail: cbaldi@moles.org
GENERAL - Stopping human rights abuses is key to solving forest crisis A new report clearly links the disappearance of the world's forests with the horrifying catalogue of human rights abuses taking place as a result of conflicts between forest peoples and the powerful government and corporate interests within forests. Published by Fern, "Forests of Fear: the abuse of human rights in forest conflicts" calls for governments, environmental groups and aid donors to prioritise the defence of human rights as the primary solution to solving the forest crisis. "Forests of Fear" highlights the stories of over 40 cases of human rights abuse, arising from such conflicts. Four detailed case studies, three country analyses (Indonesia, Mexico and Canada), as well as further examples offer evidence of human rights abuses including murder, threat to life, disregard of land rights, illegal imprisonment, forced resignation and torture. The examples include: - Three children --Kenowuia Nury Bokota, Mauricio Diaz and Jorge Anikuta-- from Colombia's indigenous U'wa population died during police action to evict some 450 people from a road blockade using tear gas, riot sticks and bulldozers. The U'wa have been mounting a massive struggle against oil exploitation by US corporation Occidental Petroleum in forest they claim to be their ancestral territory. - A US Forest Service ranger, Buzz Williams, was accused of insubordination after criticising environmentally damaging timber sales in the Chattooga River corridor. He eventually lost his job. Williams' superior, Tina Barnes, was intimidated, sexually harassed, demoted and forced to resign when she supported him in his views. Fern believes that without halting these abuses and creating a climate in which the fate of forests can be discussed in an open manner with all involved, there is little hope that the ongoing destruction of world's forests can be stopped. Forests of Fear concludes with seven key recommendations, including: - defence of human rights must be made a priority in environmental campaigns - international database of corporations with a record of human rights abuses should be established - documentation of human rights abuses relating to forest conflicts should be formally recognised - the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders should be widely adopted and enforced by governments. The report can be downloaded shortly from Fern's website: www.fern.org . Hard copies can be ordered from info@fern.org
- Invitation to join Forest Forum to influence European Union's aid policies and practices What follows is a letter circulated by Fern, explaining the objectives of the EU Forest Forum and inviting interested organizations to join: Dear friends, As most of you know, we have been involved in monitoring and influencing EU policies in relation to forest aid and trade for the last five years. Although we have decreased our work on aid related policies in favor of trade related policies in the last two years, we now intend to work on EC (European Community) aid issues in a more structured manner, through the creation of an EC Forest Forum. This e-mail is to ask you whether you are interested in participating. It will not cost much time, will increase your knowledge about the world’s largest aid donor --after the World Bank-- and, we hope, will dramatically improve the quality of EC aid. So please join! With this EC Forest Forum we want to: - Support NGOs and IPOs --specifically from the South and East-- to present their issues, problems, solutions and ideas to EC Commission Officials and MEPs in Brussels; - Facilitate on the ground feedback to EC Commission Officials and MEPs from people affected by EC aid policies and practices and people knowledgeable about the situation in their country; - Provide a platform to discuss topical issues --to be decided among ourselves-- between NGOs, IPOs and Commission Officials and MEPs and thereby influencing EC aid (and trade) policies. - Provide joint NGO IPO comments to draft EC policies and practices. There is very little information about the EU's policies and how the EU works. We often get questions from you about EC funding possibilities; policies or problems with EC funded projects. We also often get requests from you to help organise or fund a visit to Brussels. Over the past five years we have also drafted and co-ordinated countless joint NGO comments to EC aid related policies, some of which had some impact, some of which have not. We hope that by the creation of this EC Forest Forum, together with you, we can improve all these activities and thereby have a larger impact on EC policies and practices. What does participation mean? - We will keep you informed about EC forest related policies and practices, briefing notes on funding possibilities etc; - We want you to read, comment on and if possible sign on to joint NGO statements in relation to EC aid policies and practices; - We will support you at project and policy level by getting your message to the relevant people in the EU. If possible and needed, we will support you in presenting your case to the Brussels level; - If relevant --depending on the agenda-- we want you to participate in the forum meeting. We plan to have 2 relatively small meetings a year at which Commission Officials meet with NGOs and IPOs. At these meetings topical and/or regional issues will be discussed. Of course we will continue to provide general information and want to continue to respond as far as possible to requests for help etc, but we hope that by creating an EC Forest Forum we can jointly increase our impact on EC policies and practices. We therefore hope that many of you want to join! Just in a few lines why EC aid is important: - The EC spends about 9 billion Euro every year on development aid, including CEEC countries and Russia, making the EC the second largest multi-lateral donor of development co-operation; - More than 2/3 of all grants world-wide comes from the EC; - Numerous evaluations of EC aid, internal and external, have shown that the quality is very poor; - There is virtually no participation of civil society in the development or implementation of EC aid policies and projects. If you want to join us please send us an email : info@fern.org or saskia@gn.apc.org. If you have any questions please contact us at the UK or Brussels office. Best wishes,
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