WATERSHED: Commercial Tree Plantations in the Mekong Region

Plantations are not Forests
Commercial Tree Plantations in the
Mekong Region

Vol. 9 No. 3 March - June 2004

Published by Towards Ecological Recovery and
Regional Alliance (TERRA)

Contents:

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- Commercial tree plantations in Thailand: Flawed science, dubious politics and vested interests
In Thailand, the state and the pulp and plantation industry continuously promote industrial tree plantations for anything from forest conservation to economic development. Pornpana Kuaycharoen reviews the controversy surrounding these tree plantations, and the resistance of local communities to these "plastic forests".

- Making money from trees? Commercial tree plantations in Lao PDR
Urged on by the Asian Development Bank, the Government of Lao PDR is promoting industrial tree plantations as "reforestation". The private sector is using the state's Land and Forest Allocation programme - originally intended to serve the needs of rural families - to establish tree plantations on the common lands of local communities.

- Forest destruction for poverty reduction: The Turn Ring rubber plantation
The highly productive forest and secure means of livelihood of the communities of Turn Ring commune in central Cambodia are being replaced by a monoculture rubber plantation and severe hardships. Andrew Cock explains how a plantation for "poverty reduction" has enriched a few and impoverished many.

- Tree plantations and Erosion: A case study in Yen Lap district, Phu Tho province, Vietnam
Koen Maathuis and Elise Pinners investigate the social and environmental impacts of eucalyptus plantations in the hills of northern Vietnam.

- Community-driven regulation: Towards an improved model of environmental regulation in Vietnam
For more than a decade, a community affected by pollution from the state-owned Tan Mai Paper Mill near Ho Chi Minh City has been demanding recourse for a damaged fisheries, damaged crops, and polluted drinking water. Dara O'Rourke reports that with its strong linkages to the state, the Tan Mai Paper Mill can ignore local demands.

- Plantations are not forests - Even when certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in an international organisation that has 10 "Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship". Great. But the FSC thinks industrial tree plantations are forests. Chris Lang questions the independence, and the credibility, of the FSC.

- Jaakko Pöyry and the Fin(n)ished Forests of the Mekong Region
Tove Selin describes some of the social and environmental disasters planned by the forestry consulting company Jaakko Pöyry Group of Finland, one of the leading proponents of large-scale industrial tree plantations in the world.

- Finnish forestry aid fails to deliver
After four decades of subsidising Finnish forestry industry exports, the Government of Finland has finally evaluated its aid policy on forestry (during the 1990s). Timo Kuronen summarises the evaluation findings and questions whether the evaluation actually evaluated anything at all.

- Plantations: The 'Green Wastelands'
Conventional forestry defines "plantation" and "forest" as the same thing. Ricardo Carrere shows how local communities challenge such a definition, based on their experiences and in their own language.

All materials may be used without payment as long as the author and Watershed are appropriately cited and a copy of the publication is sent to Watershed.
Articles published in Watershed do not necessarily express the views of TERRA or of the Editor.

Editorial Office TERRA 409 Soi Rohitsuk, Ratchadapisek 14 Road, Huay Khwang, Bangkok 10320, Thailand Tel: (66 2) 691 0718-20, Fax: (66 2) 691 0714
E-mail: watershed@terraper.org / Website: http://www.terraper.org