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WRM Bulletin
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WRM GENERAL ACTIVITIES - Underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation As was informed in WRM Bulletin Nr.5, a group of NGOs present at the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests' (IFF) first meeting in October 1997, initiated a solution-oriented process to address the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, to be considered by the IFF. A number of governments were approached and their reaction was very positive to the initiative. The government of Costa Rica officially accepted to host a global workshop by the end of 1988. During the Antalya (Turkey) World Forestry Congress, those same NGOs met and decided to create a Global Secretariat to coordinate the process and they elected the Netherlands Committee for IUCN and the World Rainforest Movement as a joint global secretariat. A project proposal was produced and initial funding was provided by the UK's Department for International Development. It was also decided that the process needed an Organizing Committee, composed by the regional focal points (see below), the government of Costa Rica -as host country- and a representative from UNEP -the lead agency for the Interagency Task Force on Forests. A Steering Committee, composed by the Organizing Committee and a number of other non-governmental (NGOs, indigenous peoples organizations and community based organizations), governmental and intergovernmental representatives was also created. The first meeting of the Organizing and Steering Committees took place in New York in February and was attended by NGOs from Indonesia, Japan, CIS, Australia, USA, UK, Colombia, Uruguay, Netherlands, Paraguay, Costa Rica and Canada; two representatives of indigenous peoples organizations; one representative from a community based organization; representatives from the IFF and UNEP; representatives of the governments of Costa Rica, Nepal and Portugal (a number of other government representatives expressed their willingness to participate in the Steering Committee but were unable to attend the meeting). The meeting was very positive and a general plan of action was approved. The general idea is to organize 7 regional workshops (Latin America, Africa, Asia, CIS, Oceania, Europe and North America) and one indigenous peoples workshop, all feeding into a global workshop to be held at the end of 1988 in Costa Rica. Case studies will be prepared for the workshops and the aim is not only to reach conclusions on the major underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, but also to agree on proposals for action to address them. The whole process will feed into the IFF, although its conclusions and proposals will not be mandatory. Each regional workshop will include 5 case studies, as well as more general presentations by other stakeholders. The case studies will be undertaken jointly by a community facing deforestation or forest degradation and an NGO, and represantives from both will make presentations at the workshop. Each regional workshop will include at least one case including indigenous peoples. The indigenous peoples workshop will take place after all the regional workshops, part of which will feed into their own process. Finally, the whole process will feed into the global workshop, where governments will also present their case studies, as requested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests' proposals for action. We believe that this process is a major step forward and a success for NGOs that have for years put forward the idea that forests were being destroyed by a number of direct causes (such as logging or conversion to agriculture), but that it was necessary to identify and address the underlying causes if forests were to be saved. This is a good opportunity for NGOs, indigenous peoples organizations and community-based organizations concerned over deforestation and forest degradation to influence both their governments and the IFF and to raise awareness at country and regional levels on the chains of causalities which lead to the destruction of forests. We therefore invite all our readers to get in contact with their respective regional or IPO focal point and to get involved in this process. REGIONAL / IPO FOCAL POINTS: AFRICA Lambert Okrah The Institute for Cultural Affairs, GHANA e-mail: afariwaa@ghana.com ASIA Mia Siskawati RMI the Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment, INDONESIA e-mail: rmi@bogor.wasantara.net.id personal e-mail: siskawati@bogor.wasantara.net.id Yoichi Kuroda - Alternate ASIA Focal Point, JAPAN Japan Tropical Forest Action Network e-mail:ykuroda@jca.ax.apc.org CIS (former USSR) Andrei Laletin IUCN Temperate and Boreal Forest Programme, RUSSIA e-mail: andrei@public.krasnet.ru EUROPE Marcus Colchester, UNITED KINGDOM Forest Peoples Programme e-mail: wrm@gn.apc.org Saskia Ozinga, - Alternate EUROPE Focal Point, United kingdom FERN e-mail: saskia@gn.apc.org) LATIN AMERICA Rosario Ortiz Fundacion Ecotropico, COLOMBIA e-mail: rosortiz@colnodo.apc.org OCEANIA Ian Fry, AUSTRALIA Pacific BioWeb e-mail: ifry@peg.apc.org NORTH AMERICA Juliette Moussa, USA Biodiversity Action Network e-mail: bionet@igc.apc.org INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ORGANIZATIONS Marcial Arias Alianza Mundial de Pueblos Indigenas de Bosques Tropicales, PANAMA e-mail:marcial@inkarri.net Max Ooft - International Technical Secretariat of the International Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Tropical Forests, UNITED KINGDOM e-mail: morbeb@gn.apc.org GLOBAL Secretariat Ricardo Carrere World Rainforest Movement URUGUAY e-mail: rcarrere@chasque.apc.org Simone Lovera Netherlands Committee for IUCN-The World Conservation Union e-mail: Slovera@nciucn.nl - News from the international secretariat The WRM International Secretariat endorsed a letter sent by a number of environmental organizations to the FSC Board Committee on February 4th, requesting that the deadline of the comment period of Principle 9 (January 28th, 1998) is extended. Principle 9 deals with the issue of how and under what circumstances, the FSC should choose to endorse logging in primary and high conservation value forests. We supported the campaign of Brazilian NGOs against the weakening of the Environmental Crimes Act (PL 1.164). Unfortunately, President Fernando H. Cardozo, responding to pressure from big landowners and industry, finally partially vetoed the act approved by the Senate. A letter was sent on February 25th to authorities of the Canadian Government to express our concern for the logging permits recently issued in the Northwest Territory, in lands occupied by the indigenous people Deh Cho, who resist this measure.
WRM CAMPAIGNS - Tupinikim and Guarani lands: Imminent decission The difficult process related to the definitive recognition ot the indigenous territorial rights in Aracruz seems to come to an end. The President of FUNAI, Mr. Sulivan Silvestre Oliveira -responding to pressure from Aracruz Cellulose- has continued trying to delay a final decission on land demarcation. On January 8th, a new Working Group (WG) was sent to the indigenous communities in order to carry out yet another study, because according to him the previous re-study was insufficient. The indigenous peoples did not accept this new WG, that they considered useless, because it could add nothing to the studies already carried out and was a mere way to delay the whole procedure for at least another six months. As a result of this firm opposition the President of FUNAI sent on January 15th the documentation to the Minister of Justice, confirming the last study of FUNAI in favour of granting the claimed 13,579 hectares to the Tupinikim and Guarani. But only one week later a delegation of FUNAI, headed by Mr. Oliveira visited the Tupinikim. He threatened them that he would set in motion all possible repressive instruments to impede the demarcation action of the indigenous people after January 30th. The President of FUNAI and other government officials resorted to a very strong pressure, combined with an authoritarian attitude in their conversation with the indigenous leaders, and forced them to take a decision at the end of the meeting, instead of consulting their communities like some leaders suggested. He also offended CIMI people and threatened to get them arrested. The authorities looked very much worried for the support that the Movement of Farmers Without Land (Movimento dos Sem Terra) has expressed to the indigenous struggle. The chiefs and leaders of the Tupinikim and Guarani villages that attended the meeting with the governmental authorities issued a statement which says: "We, Tupinikim and Guarani, reaffirm that if the Minister of Justice does not sign the decree which will order the demarcation of our lands by the 24th of February, we will implement the self-demarcation of our lands, and we expect that the President of FUNAI will comply with the commitment which he assumed in the presence of the Executive Commission of the Tupinikim and Guarani and will support us and give us protection." On March 2nd. a meeting between Mr. Iris Rezende, Minister of Juctice, and a delegation of the Tupinikim and Guarani will take place. It is expected that this will be the last event before a final decision about their land claim is taken. Source: CIMI. - Defer Resettlement of Bakun residents in Sarawak We have received the following statement from Sarawak with a request to circulate it as widely as possible: "The Bakun Region People's Committee (BRPC) urges the State government and the Bakun Resettlement Committee (BRC) to shelve the resettlement of the Bakun residents which is tentatively set for July this year, as announced recently by the Chairman of the BRC, YB Dr. James Masing. The BRPC makes this urgent appeal for the deferment of the resettlement exercise based on the following:- 1. The Federal government has repeatedly announced that the Bakun HEP is postponed indefinitely. The status of the Bakun HEP is now fraught with uncertainties. As such, there is no valid reason for the Sarawak government to compel us, the affected residents, to move out of our present area, our ancestral lands and our source of sustenance and livelihood. 2. The resettlement exercise is also untimely and unnecessary in view of the prevailing economic and currency crisis faced by our country. If our people are moved to the new area, we will be at the mercy of the market as it will take us some time to start a new life and re-establish new gardens and food crops. Every food item and all our daily necessities will have to be purchased. Where we now live, we can still depend on our farms, gardens, forests and rivers and supplement our daily needs from these. 3. If the government intends to proceed with the resettlement exercise, the Bakun residents must be given the choice or option, that is, those who are willing and ready to move, they can go, while those who chose to remain in the present area must be allowed to remain until the Bakun HEP is actually implemented and the area flooded. The government should not use force or intimidate our people to move because by doing so, it is not only unjust in a democratic and civil society that our government leaders proclaim ours to be all this while it also reflects insensitivity and total disregard of our people's choice of their way of life and determination of their own destiny. There are also a number of unresolved issues that have not been seriously and satisfactorily looked into. Some of the issues which have caused grievances and disappointment among our people are:- 4. The house (bilek) built for resettlement is very costly, i.e. around RM50,000 per unit/bilek. (A unit of low-cost house in Malaysia costs around RM30,000 to RM35,000). There are many complaints about the quality of materials and standard of workmanship in the construction of the houses. Given the high price, what the government is doing, literally speaking, is to give something to our people with the right hand (the compensation money) but takes it back from the people with the left hand (making us pay dearly for the resettlement house). 5. The three acres of land to be given to each family in the resettlement area is inadequate to support the family and our present way of life. Even in the foreseeable future, a family of four or more children will end up with a very tiny piece of land or worse, landless! Is this the price of development and reward for our people's sacrifice? Our people fought during the Japanese Occupation, the Communist Insurgency and during the Confrontation to defend our country but at the end of it, we are forcibly uprooted from the land we zealously guarded, the land upon which we shed our sweat and blood to nurture, the land upon which we lay our hopes for our children and our future generations -all by a mere stroke of the pen and terse statements from high public officials. We do not have to wait that long to see how crucial and important the land is to us. The present economic crisis gripping the nation is a very glaring example. How sure are we that there will be no more similar crisis in the future? To make it worse, each resettled family is required to pay around RM2,200 to RM2,500 for the land title. This is adding insult to injury; we did not ask for this land in the first place. 6. The State government has not fully paid the compensation money to the Bakun residents. So far, only 30% have been given out. Full compensation should be given to our people before the government can ask us to move out. The people do not want to be trapped in a situation where they are forced to move and not fully compensated. The entire project has been riddled with problems and uncertainties right from the start. The people do not want to be dragged into such a situation not of their own doing. 7. There are still many parcels of lands and gardens which are under dispute and their status yet to be properly determined. Some parcels of lands and gardens have been arbitrarily classified as statelands although we have cultivated and continuously occupied these lands for decades. As long as these lands which are rightfully ours under native customary rights are not compensated for, we will not vacate them. We will assert and enforce our rights thereon. Given the above reasons, the Bakun Region People's Commitee strongly urges the State government to seriously and sincerely reconsider and review its decision and plan to proceed with the resettlement exercise. To go ahead with the resettlement programme given the conjuncture of circumstances i. e. the national economic crisis and the indefinite postponement of the Bakun HEP does not make sense. We strongly feel that it is unjustified, unnecessary, untimely and shortsighted. This decision flies in the face of received logic and wisdom and it can only court disaster. The government should fully realise that no amount of compensation is considered adequate for the losses and sufferings to be borne by our people because they cannot be quantified. It will unleash untold economic and social costs in the long run. At this point in time, the government should seriously look into alternative models of development, including mini-hydros, and not focus on mega-projects because at the end of the day, it will also have MEGA implications and consequences and MEGA headaches! Let us uphold the principles of democracy - From the people, of the people, by the people, with the people and for the people and not a few individuals! Thank you. "Bersatu Berusaha Berbakti" (Unite, Strive, Serve) Yours sincerely, For and on behalf of BRPC, (Signed by BATO BAGI)Chairman - Oil palm plantations in Sarawak: promotion and resistance Sarawak will open up some 50,000 hectares of land every year for the next few years to be developed into oil-palm plantations due to rising demand for edible oil. Business will be developed and managed jointly by state development agencies and publicly-listed companies that have the experience and expertise in plantations. According to the government, the state is prepared to invest heavily in the palm-oil sector (see WRM Bulletin nr. 8) because the products would remain attractive despite the economic downturn, as can be seen from the increasing demand for edible oil worldwide. Local communities strongly resist the installation of oil palm plantations in their lands, since they mean the destruction of the forest and the loss of their livelihood. For example, on December 29th 1997, Iban Headman Banggau and two other chiefs, on behalf of themselves and all the members of their longhouses, filed a suit to stop the activities of the oil palm plantation companies, Empresa Sdn. Bhd, Prana Sdn. Bhd, and Segarakam Sdn Bhd within their native customary land. Source: Stephen Then, The Star, December 1997; BRI, 23/1/1998.
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS INTERNATIONAL - End of boycott: "Eco-Agreement" between RAN and Mitsubishi "The agreement between Rainforest Action Network, Mitsubishi Motor Sales America and Mitsubishi Electric America is a testament to the efficacy of consumer boycotts! In this age of corporate supremacy, this is an unprecedented success in consumer activism. The far reaching programs and the potential of grass roots movements to bring adversaries to the negotiating table will serve as the template for other consumers to stand up for their rights." - Ralph Nader, Consumer Rigths Advocate and 1996 Presidential Candidate A landmark agreement was announced February 11,1998 in an eight-year consumer boycott against Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America and Mitsubishi Electric America, major U.S. marketers of automobiles and electronic products. As part of their Memorandum of Understanding, the two Mitsubishi companies announced they are undertaking in conjunction with RAN and other environmental specialists an unprecedented top-to-bottom environmental review of their business activities. In particular, both companies pledged to end use of old-growth forest products and phase out the use of tree-based paper and packaging products by the year 2002, in favor of alternative fibers. The companies also announced the creation of a "Forest Community Support Program," to provide funding to actively restore and preserve the world's remaining ancient forests and support the indigenous cultures who inhabit them. Funding for this program will come from the proceeds of U.S. sales of specific Mitsubishi products. In addition, customers of both companies will be given opportunities to make additional voluntary contributions to this fund. The three parties have also agreed to set up a joint system of "ecological accounting" to track improved environmental performance in manufacturing, distribution and sales. The new accounting system will measure resource productivity, pollution and waste intensity, energy use, product sustainability and overall environmental progress. For its part, the Rainforest Action Network announced that it has ceased its consumer boycott against the two firms, as well as its persistent campaign of disruptive protest actions at auto industry shows, car dealerships, electronics stores and on college campuses. Source: Rainforest Action Network - Human Rights violations against Forest Campaigners We have received the following message from the Forest Peoples Programme, requesting assistance for preparing a document to submit to the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests at its July-August meeting, on 'Human Rights violations against Forest Campaigners': "This report will detail the oppression of indigenous peoples, other local communities and forest campaigners, by State agencies and commercial operators destroying forests all around the world. We hope to illustrate social and political issues of forests born from conflicts of interests between relatively powerless citizens as against big business and the government. The aim of the report then is to highlight the human aspects of forests and the way that peoples rights are being violated by economic interests. We will be looking at incidents from both temperate and tropical forests during the last six years since Rio in 1992. We will include all violations of civil and political rights including abuse of rights to free speech, freedom of expression, the right to travel, slap suites, police harassments and the usual crimes against the person. While compiling information for the above report I would be very grateful if your organisation could supply me with any incidents you feel should be included in this report. We would of course cite your organisation as the source and give you full credit for this information unless you ask us not to, as well as send you a copy of the final report. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Louise Henson Forest Peoples Programme e-mail: wrm@gn.apc.org"
AFRICA - Nigeria: WRM "unwittingly subversive" As a response to a fax sent by the WRM International Secretariat requesting information about Baton Mittee, Nigerian activist arrested in connection with the Ogoni Day, we received the following letter from the Embassy of Nigeria in Buenos Aires: "Mr. Ricardo Carrere World Rain Forest Movement Re: Arrest of Baton Mittee in connection with Ogoni Day. 1. I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 28th January '98 on the above subject matter, and to inform you that its contents have been forwarded to appropriate authorities in Nigeria. 2. I am also to draw your attention to the facts that all reports of ill-treatment, torture, isolation and alledged denial of medical attention said to be meted out on detainees (of whatever kind) in Nigeria are not only baseless, but are wild allegations which cannot be substantiated, but only part of a poorly orchestrated campaign aimed at tarnishing the image of Nigeria and exposing its authorities to disrepute. For the avoidance of doubt, prison conditions in Nigeria are in consonance with acceptable international standards, and all prisoners regardless of their crime, are treated humanely. 3. Finally, you should endevour to authenticate the reports you receive from people whom you know little about, so that your organization does not unwittingly become an instrument for subversiveness. Sincerely, A. Yusur for: Charge d'affaires"
ASIA - SE Asia menaced by renewed fires in Indonesia Concern is growing in Singapore and Malaysia that the region will again be smothered in smoke pollution from uncontrolled forest fires in Indonesia. Last year, such fires caused widespread health problems, disrupted air and sea traffic, and affected tourism in the region. Indonesian fires cannot merely by considered a "natural disaster" but the result of both an economic policy based upon the over-exploitation of natural resources and government corruption (see WRM Bulletin nr. 5). If the fires continue to gain a strong foothold in Indonesian Kalimantan and Sumatra, then Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand and the Philippines could see a repeat of the pollution that blotted out the sun for days at a time in the worst-affected areas between August and November 1997. Indonesian officials have recently identified through satellite images more than 90 "hot spot" areas in Kalimantan. Last December Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia agreed on a joint action plan to prevent a recurrence of the smoke pollution, under which Jakarta agreed to improve its fire-fighting capabilities. Nevertheless the apparent inability of Indonesian authorities to control the fires, despite an official ban on burning and evidence that most fires are deliberately set by plantation companies to clear land, are causing increasing concern in neighbouring countries that have to bear the consequences. A reforestation fund that was intended to help replant and protect the country's tropical forests -the second largest in the world after Brazil- was not used last year to fight the fires. According to Gerry van Klinken, editor of "Inside Indonesia", a magazine published from Melbourne, this money administered via presidential decree, has been diverted to provide cheap loans to commercial timber plantation companies, which replanted cut forests with quick-growing eucalyptus, pine or acacia trees for pulp factories. What international press agencies tend to forget, however, is the terrible problems that local populations are facing with these fires that affect their lives, health, homes and livelihoods. Neither do they emphasize on the fact that local peoples' lands are being appropriated by huge national and transnational corporations, converting forest and agricultural land into deserts of trees for feeding pulpmills instead of people. The disappearance of forests and their biodiversity and the regional and global problems stemming from the Indonesian fires seem to be more important than the lives and livelihoods of the local people of Kalimantan, who are seldom mentioned at all. Source: Michael Richardson, International Herald Tribune, 13/2/1998. Comments: WRM secretariat A Japanese tree planting tour group called "Green Mission" is planning to visit Malaysia in March 1998. The tour is organized by Kumon-Child Institute and Forest Culture Association of Japan, and backed up by the Ministry of Education of Japan, the Environment Agency of Japan, the Forest Agency of Japan, and the tourism department of the Malaysian Government. There will be around 60 children and adults participating in the tour. They will stay in Kuala Lumpur on the 25th, and then travel to other regions of the country, where tree planting activities will take place. A visit to elementary schools and to the mangroves area is also planned. It would be interesting to know the aims behind this unusual interest of Japanese governmental organizations to promote "green" activities, as well as their real nature. The Japanese cooperation agency JICA has been very active in promoting the large-scale fast-growing species plantation model in several countries of the Third World, as for example in Uruguay. At the same time, Japanese companies have been performing unsustainable logging activities worldwide. Source: Kazuko Matsue, Forest Research Center Japan, e-mail: mkazuko@sanmedia.or.jp - Pakistani National Park threatened by oil exploration Oil industry is one of the most polluting worldwide and its activities have caused extensive damages in the Amazon. Now news from Asia arrive. The British-based oil company, Premier Oil, has begun preparations for oil exploration in Pakistan's largest park, Kirthar National Park. This is in spite of the fact that the company was refused permission by the Sindh Wildlife Department. Apparently, a concession was sold to Premier Oil by Pakistan's Director General for petroleum concessions, and has overridden the objections of the Sindh Wildlife Department. In effect, a team of Premier Oil entered the Kirthar National Park to conduct an environmental impact assessment. The Hegler and Bailey team, consultants of Premier Oil, is expected to stay in the park for a few weeks to perform their EIA. For more information address: Ayaz Latif Palijo, Chairman Sindh Research Council(SRC),B-48, Prince Town, (QA), Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan; Tel: ++ 92-221- 651947, 651725; email: ayazl@paknet3.ptc.pk. Source: The Gallon Environment Letter, 20/1/1998. CENTRAL AMERICA - Guatemala: communities take care of forests The communal forest of Totonicapan is located at an altitude of about 3,000 metres a.s.l at the mountain chain Sierra Madre del Sur in western Guatemala. The lowest side of the mountains used to be covered by native oak tree forests. Nowadays they have been substituted by pine trees. However, in the highest parts there still exist thick forests of white pine (Pinus ayacahuite) and fir (Abies guatemalensis) accompanied by a great variety of tropical forest species resistant to the cold. It is the indigenous community of Quiches that has conserved the forest since ancestral times. Facing the increasing destruction of woodlands started in the 70's, the Quiches reorganized themselves and in 1990 created an organization called "UleuChe'Ja'", that in their language means "Land, Water and Forest". This democratically managed organization of the indigenous people of Totonicapan has developed a traditional system of use and conservation of the forest, based upon communal property of natural resources. The scarcity of water is a major environmental constraint for their livelihood there. So the role of the forest in the conservation of hydrological recources is of vital importance. The sustainable use of natural resources practised by the Quiches, that obtain from the forest firewood, plants for alimentary and medicinal uses and bushmeat, has permitted them to live in the harsh environment of the high mountain. Their region is one of the most populated -with about 300 inhabitants per km2- while at the same time on of the most rich in biodiversity in the whole country. Meanwhile, the surrounding areas are suffering an accelarated process of loss of native forests and desertification. The Quiches' organization and their relationship with the forest has made the difference. Source: Elmer Lopez, Forest Campaign, Greenpeace Central America. SOUTH AMERICA - Chile: community opposes pulp mill project The fishing community of Mehuin in the 10th Region of Chile is opposing the project of Celulosa Arauco y Constitucin S.A. (CELCO) -a huge pulp and paper company- to build a pulp mill coupled with a pipeline that would discharge toxic pollutants resulting from the production process in the bay where they live. More than 600 lts. of effluents a second would be poured into the waters, causing severe environmental effects on the population of fish that is the livelihhood of this community, and on their own health. The community of Mehuin has firmly stated that it even opposes the realization of an Environmental Impact Assessment and so has the Mapuche community, according to which those lands are protected by the Indigenous Law. This shows the growing discredit of environmental assessments carried out by consultants -usually paid by the company- whose findings are almost always basically favourable to megaprojects and only include "mitigation" measures. In this case, people are simply against the whole idea and that is the reason for the opposition to the EIA. Nevertheless the provincial Government considers the project essential for the "development" of the region, severely affected by unemployment and is strongly in favour of its implementation. The megaproject undertaken by CELCO is expected to produce 550,000 tons of cellulose annualy, consuming 2,240,000 cubic meters of pine and 563,000 cubic meters of eucalyptus every year. This would mean a further increase in the plantation area in Chile, that is increasingly perceived as a big problem by the peasants. Source: Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales, RENACE, IEP - Chile.
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