For Immediate
Release 19 September 2008
Joint
Release from World Rainforest Movement, Friends of the Earth International
and Global Forest Coalition
Groups call for Action on 21
September: International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations
Large-scale monoculture tree
plantations cause serious environmental, social and economic impacts
on local communities. These impacts have been amply documented around
the world, and include the depletion of water sources due to changes
in the hydrological cycle; deterioration of rivers and streams;
air and water pollution due to the use of pesticides and other agrochemicals;
the displacement of entire communities when their land is occupied
by plantations; violations of human, labour and environmental rights;
differentiated impacts on women; the deterioration of cultural diversity;
widespread violence; and the critical loss of biodiversity. For
that reason, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples' Organisations and social
movements all over the world will commemorate the International
Day against Monoculture Tree Plantations this weekend by organizing
actions, demonstrations, marches and sending out joint letters to
express their concerns. (1)
Sandy Gauntlett of the Pacific
Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition, states: "Tree plantations
are not forests. A plantation is a highly uniform agricultural system
that replaces natural ecosystems and their rich biodiversity. The
trees planted are geared to the production of a single raw material,
whether it is timber, pulp, rubber, palm oil or others. Nevertheless,
international institutions like the FAO and the World Bank, as well
as government agencies in countries like New Zealand, incorrectly
define plantations as forests, despite abundant documentation which
proves that the only thing they have in common is the presence of
trees. By calling them forests, these institutions and governments
help to impose and perpetuate an unsustainable monoculture plantation
production model."
“Plantations form part
of an industrial model for the production of abundant and cheap
raw material that serves as an input for the economic growth of
the industrialized countries. What the producer countries get are
environmental degradation and rising poverty, which are the ‘externalized
costs’ of this cheap raw material,” stressed Simone
Lovera of the Global Forest Coalition.
“On the lands currently
occupied by plantations, there used to be or could be agricultural
crops that would help ensure the people’s food sovereignty,
managed by peasant communities. Or these communities and indigenous
peoples could use the land for sustainable activities that would
improve their quality of life, such as community forest management,”
added Isaac Rojas of Friends of the Earth International. (2)
The struggle waged by local
communities against tree monocultures has become a part of daily
life in countries around the world. It is a struggle that none of
these communities asked for, but one that has been imposed on them.
In Asia and the Pacific, local communities in Malaysia, Indonesia
and Papua New Guinea are fighting against oil palm plantations.
In Africa, there are struggles against plantations that produce
rubber, palm oil and wood pulp in Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Swaziland
and South Africa. And in Latin America, countries like Brazil, Argentina,
Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay are suffering the impacts of “green
deserts” of pine and eucalyptus trees, while Colombia is now
facing the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations for agrofuel
production, as are Venezuela and the countries of Central America.
To make matters worse, large-scale
tree plantations are being promoted – falsely – as a
solution for climate change. On the one hand, the European Parliament
and other institutions are promoting the so-called second generation
of biofuels (3) produced from wood, which would lead to the rapid
and wide expansion of tree monocultures, including transgenic trees.
(4) On the other hand, some southern countries view a potential
fund under the Framework Convention on Climate Change as a possible
source of financing for large tree plantations as carbon sinks to
compensate for the loss of forests. As a result, mechanisms like
REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries)
could be turned into a massive subsidy scheme for plantations.
“All ‘international
days’ refer to problems of global importance that need the
world’s attention. The expansion of large-scale tree monoculture
plantations is one of these problems. That is why this 21 September
will give greater visibility to the great many struggles being waged
around the world and demonstrate the negative impacts of this model,
and the world will have the opportunity to join in this struggle,”
explains Ricardo Carrere of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM).
“21 September is also the International Day of Peace, and
this is what the people waging this struggle are fighting for: Peace,
so that the communities affected can recover their way of life in
harmony with Nature and with other people.” he added. “This
21 September, we will also celebrate the fertile resistance that
is growing in so many communities every day of the year, in pursuit
of a world with justice and without these destructive plantations.”
NOTES:
(1) All of these impacts have
been documented in many publications, case studies and declarations
made by the communities themselves. For more information see the
World Rainforest Movement website: www.wrm.org.uy
(2) Community forest management
has been documented as a sustainable livelihood initiative by Friends
of the Earth International. For more information see their website:
www.foei.org
(3) For a more thorough analysis
of the problems associated with agrofuel plantations see the Global
Forest Coalition website at: www.globalforestcoalition.org
(4) More information on transgenic
trees is available at www.wrm.org.uy,
www.foei.org, www.globalforestcoalition.org,
http://nogetrees.org
For more information, contact:
- Ricardo Carrere, World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay: (+598) 2
413 2989 rcarrere@wrm.org.uy
- Simone Lovera, Global Forest Coalition, Paraguay: simonelovera@yahoo.com
595-21-663654/ 595-981-407375
- Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International, Costa Rica: (+506)
8338-3204
