• Bangladesh: Gas pipeline threatens Lawachhara National Park
• Burma: Ceasefire, Logging and Mining Concessions in Kachin State
• India: A controversial draft bill deciding on forest-dwellers’ fate
• Taiwan: “Development” is destroying mangroves

- Bangladesh: Gas pipeline threatens Lawachhara National Park

In a report, the environmental activist Philip Gain describes how oil giant Unocal is setting a gas pipeline through the Lawachhara National Park, posing a major threat on that unique patch of forest. What follows are excerpts of Gain’s report:

Lawachhara National Park, a 1250 hectare forest patch, is part of the West Bhanugachh Reserved Forest in the Maulvi Bazar district. The state of the public forestlands outside the Sundarbans in the southwest of the country is appalling.

The Lawachhara National Park is home to diverse plant species and rare wildlife like Hoolock Gibbon, a threatened primate species, as well as many species of birds. On the winter morning of 18 January (2005) we head for Lawachhara National Park from Sreemangal town. It takes hardly 20 minutes to reach the park along a road that cuts through a huge tea estate of Sterling Company, Finley. Most of what we see as tea estates today used to be forest a century and a half ago. Now we see a fenced area on our right hand side as we go north. This is the newly established Maulvi Bazar Gas Plant. Close to it is the Magurchhara gas well that exploded in 1997 and the massive inferno caused immense harm to the soil, trees, people [ethnic community, Khasis in particular], and wildlife. From here we follow the rail track through the park.

As we advance we come to a point where the rail track and a mud road crisscross. The mud road disappears into the forest in the northwest. We are to follow the mud road. We are charmed at the diversity and size of the trees at this point. As we go further down we feel like being in a true forest, which is rarely seen on the public forestlands outside the Sundarbans. The golden sunshine blended with the mist spray around through stages of the forest. But our amazement is disturbed by massive size steel pipes and construction workers all along the mud trail. We have already known that a gas pipe line is cutting through the National Park. Unocal, a multinational oil giant is installing a gas pipeline under a contract with Petrobangla.

The setting up of the gas pipe line violates the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Order of 1973. This Order prohibits "any type of hunting, killing or capturing of wild animal or making disturbances within the park as well as within one mile radius area from the outer boundary of the park." The Order also prohibits cutting of trees, gathering of other forest products, extraction of barks or causing any harm to plants. The environmentalists argue that according to the Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and the Environment Conservation Rules, 1997 no commercial activity such as setting a gas pipe line can be set through the Lawachhara National Park.

Nishorgo, a project to protect the Lawachhara National Park, is funded by the US Government through USAID. The same government supports setting up of the pipeline through the park at high risk.

The gas pipeline could have been set up in a roundabout way from the well site. There are opinions that Unocal is setting the gas pipeline through the park to save money.

Unocal overtly talks about the protection of the forests and environment. No one will miss scores of Unocal signboards with nice words for the protection of the trees and wild animals. Some signboards bear advices or warning about not disturbing the animals.

Nasir Ahmed, Unocal's manager for external affairs stated in Dhaka that no machine would be used at the time of setting up of the pipes and that everything would be done manually. The day we visited the park, five generators were running to produce electricity for welding activities. The generators were issuing immense noise around. We had no doubt the Hoolock Gibons went into hiding. We gave up the hope of seeing the rare wildlife.

We followed the mud trail through the forest to the end. Steel pipes were scattered all over the trail. Unocal officials (foreigners) tried to convince us that the pipeline would cause no harm to the forest because the pipes will lay under the ground. They also said that bricks will be put on two sides of the mud road so that Forest Department trucks can move. This is frightening. Given the size of the park, one can imagine what would happen to this forest once the mud road is ready for heavy vehicles.

There are already gas wells and pipelines around the park. The explosions and fires that we have witnessed in Magurchhara and Tengratila [gas field in eastern Chhatak which exploded in January of this year and caught fire cracking the soil of the area and burning down 40 houses] are signals that the pipeline to transport gas through park is a threatening act.

The prime minister's office hastily gave permission in October 2004 for the installation of the gas pipeline. Unocal claims it has rightly assessed the situation. But there are allegations, the environmental assessment (Initial Environmental Examination and Environmental Impact Assessment) done so far are eyewash and flawed. It is difficult to judge these reports because they have not been made available to the public. On the one side of the Lawachhara National Park is Magurchhara Khasi Punji (village) and on the other side is Lawachhara Khasi Punji. There has not been any consultation with the Punji people regarding the pipeline. In 1997 the fire accident at Magurchhara caused enough damage to the people of the Magurchhara Punji in particular for them to be worried about the pipeline through the park.

So, Unocal's contention that the gas pipeline through the Lawachhara National Park will not cause any concern does not satisfy the environmental groups and the local people.

The condition of our reserved and protected forests is precarious. Now, if a patch like Lawachhara National Park is further threatened, it is a very bad signal. Many fear that the pipeline through the Lawachhara National Park is the beginning of a process of demise of a unique forest with unique diversity.

Excerpted from “Lawachhara National Park under Severe Threat”, Philip Gain, sent by the author, Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), E-mail: sehd@citechco.net, www.sehd.org

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- Burma: Ceasefire, Logging and Mining Concessions in Kachin State

Kachin State in northern Burma (Myanmar) is currently undergoing dramatic ecological change. Kachin State contains one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last remaining large areas of intact natural forests, and is one of the eight “hottest hotspots of biodiversity” in the world. But the hotspot is now under threat since one of Burma’s largest and best organized ethnic political groups, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), agreed to a ceasefire with the Burmese military regime (State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC) in 1994 that allows the KIO to retain its arms and have some territorial sovereignty while surrendering legal control of natural resources to the SPDC. Ceasefire concessions offering rights to exploit Kachin State’s exceptionally rich natural resources enticed a few Kachin elites to agree to a ceasefire. That is why one Kachin elder believes “if there was no ceasefire agreement, we would have no environmental crisis.”

A Kachin youth simply explains: “When there was fighting in Kachin State there was no chance to take the trees out.” Now that warfare no longer deters natural resource extraction, logging and mining have drastically increased in pace and scale, with a recent report estimating no less than 500,000 m3 of timber every year passing across the Kachin border into Yunnan, China.

Two key reasons are China’s soaring economic growth and Yunnan’s logging ban in 1998, which has forced China to import timber from northern Burma in order to feed its insatiable consumer demand. Another reason is that the ceasefire required the KIO to switch from jade mining, previously its primary source of income, to granting logging concessions in order to continue to support itself and its armed branch, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). “The KIA mostly funded themselves through jade; but after the ceasefire agreement they took trees instead.” A KIA official further explains: “After the ceasefire, local people don’t have a chance to mine [jade]. The miners are now Burmese because the Burmese government controls the jade mines and gives contracts to Burmese companies.” In addition, the SPDC has granted many gold mining concessions to Chinese companies, which poison rivers and people with mercury.

The political coziness between former battlefield enemies enables cooperative plundering of natural resources, benefiting a few Burmese, Kachin and Chinese elites at the expense of local Kachins. This collusion of elite networks after the ceasefire shifted control over forests away from Kachin village headmen to the KIO, SPDC and Chinese officials and businessmen. The Burmese regime and the KIO try to justify the ceasefire concessions to local Kachin through offering “extractive development” packages, such as infrastructure. In reality, however, “The only thing the Kachin people get is roads to get the trees out.” Ceasefire concessions highlight how an end to war, which is obviously beneficial to people, opens opportunities for natural resource extraction and its related environmental degradation. The situation is so severe that a Kachin leader believes “the environment is the most important issue in Kachin State right now.” A Kachin doctor agrees, but added an extra caution: “Most Kachin people are very concerned about the environmental situation, but they can not complain. If they complain, they get the bullet or go to jail.”

By Zao Noam, researcher on environmental politics in Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Burma, E-mail: zaonoam@yahoo.com

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- India: A controversial draft bill deciding on forest-dwellers’ fate

The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Land Rights) Bill 2005, which seeks to recognise the rights of forest-dwelling scheduled tribes (FDSTs) over forest produce, has been pulled off the agenda for discussion by the Indian cabinet.

The Bill, drafted by the Tribal Affairs Ministry, is pending consideration before the Indian parliament, following a heated debate between tribal rights and social groups on the one hand and environmentalists on the other, over provisions in the draft bill.

The alleged intention of the Act is to recognise the rights of forest-dwelling scheduled tribes over forest produce, and proposes to give them 2.5 hectares of land per family, ownership of minor forest produce, rights of grazing, and access to traditional seasonal resources. In turn, the communities are entrusted with some conservation and protection measures.

Social groups are concerned that the bill in its present form could lead to societal divisions between those groups that benefit from the provisions and those whose concerns are not addressed by it since it will drop tribes not scheduled in some areas but who are linked to the forest, for livelihood needs. “This can create conflict among the forest people,” says Souparna Lahiri of the NGO Delhi Forum.

“How can you give rights to one community in a forest village and ask the other to leave, if it fails to verify its claim of being a forest-dweller,” asks Sanjay Bosu Mullick of the Jharkhand-based Jungle Bachao Andolan. The move will create social divisions in villages where different communities have been living in peace for decades. “The government will take away the right to food and work from people who will be asked to leave their habitat,” he adds.

According to Soumitra Ghosh, an activist from north Bengal, by transferring all authority to initiate action on determining the extent of forest rights that may be given to FDSTs, the draft bill will be almost impossible to implement in all non-scheduled areas and even in scheduled areas where a Gram Sabha (body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls of a village or a group of villages which elect the local authorities), has not been properly constituted or formed.

The draft is also unclear about how common property resources like pastures and forests suitable for ‘jhum’ cultivation (shifting cultivation, which involves the slash-and-burn of forest biomass. ‘Jhum’ is a traditional means of agriculture based on the indigenous knowledge systems and a major form of livelihood for indigenous communities in Northeastern India) will be recorded and protected within the framework of 2.5 hectares per family, says Ghosh.

“In fact, the biggest drawback of the draft is that it confuses scheduled tribes with adivasis and forest-dwelling populations of traditional communities that include large numbers of non-scheduled populations as well. The end result will be that the bill, in its present form, will be thoroughly unacceptable to a large section of India’s forest communities, and unimplementable in other areas.”

Article based on information from: “India shelves law empowering tribals”, One World South Asia, May 2005, http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=41626

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- Taiwan: “Development” is destroying mangroves

Taiwan has many different ecosystems. Due to its complex topography and environment, the island is extremely rich in animal and plant life. On land, it has tropical coastal forests, evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, and grasslands. On water it has rivers, marshes, lakes, estuaries, sea coasts, coral reefs, etc., including wetlands.

Despite Taiwan's small size, it has quite a number of wetland areas, including Yuanyang Lake, Takui Lake, Hsiaokui Lake, the Taoyuan lakelets, Kuantu Marsh, Luchou Island at Wuku, and coastal mangrove swamps. Wetlands include lakes, marshes and other permanently or intermittently flooded areas. Mangrove swamps in Taiwan concentrate in the southwest coastal areas, e.g., nine in North Taiwan, five in Central Taiwan, and as many as seventeen in South Taiwan, totaling 22 mangrove swamps throughout the island.

The major portion of mangrove forests in Taiwan is located at the western coastal line. Two decades ago, extensive land was covered by mangrove forests composed of six different mangrove species. But today, there are only four species left at the shrinking sites.

In the past the decrease of mangroves was a result of wetland over use and wetland reclamation, but now devastating threats are industrial activities like fish farming, port constructions, land reclamations from the sea, industrial zones, tourism, environmental pollution, expanding residence sites, and infrastructure developments.

Local groups involved in mangrove and wetland protection are implementing conservation initiatives, and local governments governing mangrove areas are transforming mangroves into windbreaker forests, but mangroves are still being damaged and decreasing rapidly as a result of the prevailing development model. Mangrove protection in Taiwan therefore requires major changes in economic development to make it compatible with conservation efforts.

Article based on information from: “Conservation of Mangroves in Taiwan”, MAP News, 154th Ed, April 24, 2005, sent by Alfredo Quarto, MAP, e-mail: mangroveap@olympus.net