What is happening in Brazil is a historic event, not only for Brazil, but for all of us who are struggling against the advance of large scale monoculture tree plantations.
Bulletin articles
The Yasuni National Park, considered to be a Pleistocene refuge and declared Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1989, covers an area of 982,000 hectares and spreads out to the basins of the Yasuni, Conanoco, Nashiño and Tiputini Rivers. Its forests are host to the greatest number of species of trees per hectare in the world as well as a great diversity of species of fauna. The Huaorani indigenous peoples and some non-contacted groups such as the Tagaeri and Taromenane, live in the Yasuni Park. For this reason it is considered to be one of the most emblematic parks in the country.
The Ayoreo group (self denominated Ayoreode: “the true men or true people” comprising various clans, inhabit a region of the Paraguayan Chaco covering the Departments of Alto Paraguay and Boqueron,
Between 17 June and 19 July 2005, Nippon Paper Group is asking for comments and suggestions on its draft "Philosophy and Basic Policy" on obtaining raw material for its pulp and paper mills. The company claims to be "engaging in a dialogue with stakeholders" and promises to publish responses to comments in September 2005 at the same time it publishes its "Philosophy and Basic Policy".
Until the 1950s, countries were just that: countries. During the US presidency of Harry Truman, countries were classified into “developed” and “underdeveloped”, depending on how close or distant they were from the US model. Since then, the negative adjective “underdeveloped” has been replaced by the more positive “developing”. The fact that most of the so-called “developing” countries are now in a worse social, economic and environmental situation than they were when they were classified as such is not even a matter of much debate.
Development can provide --indeed, it does-- great opportunities for corporations eager to profit from business in so-called “developing” countries. International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have proved to be extremely good instruments for achieving that, and extremely bad for improving southern peoples’ livelihoods or protecting the environment.
Founded in 1966, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) claims to be "dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific". The Bank's lending to the forestry sector indicates that in fact the Bank's focus is on promoting industry and corporations rather than addressing the needs of the region's poor.
“The worst immorality is a studied ignorance, a purposeful refusal to see or know” (Andrea Dworkin)
When the World Bank approved US$270 million in grants and guarantees for the controversial one thousand megawatt Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydroelectric dam in Laos on 31 March of this year, most of its Directors were convinced that the project’s economic benefits outweighed its environmental and social downsides.
Camisea is the greatest energy project in the history of Peru. This project involves the extraction of natural gas in an area known as Lot 88, located on both sides of the Camisea River, one of the richest biodiversity areas in the world. The cost of building the whole project amounts to 1,600 million dollars, including the exploitation and processing of gas and the construction of gas pipelines that will pass by the Andes Cordillera before reaching the coast for distribution.
Uruguay is in the sights of the pulp industry. The Finnish multinational company, Metsa Botnia and the Spanish company Ence are proposing to install two pulp mills to produce bleached eucalyptus pulp (using ECF process with chlorine dioxide) for export, with Botnia producing a maximum volume of 1 million tons per year and Ence 500,000 tons. The pulp mills would be installed on the banks of the Uruguay River, which Uruguay shares with Argentina, in the locality of Fray Bentos.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) does not have a specific forest policy or sector strategy, as they claim they have covered forests in other policy and strategy documents, including those on rural poverty reduction, rural finance, agriculture, water resources, coastal resources and energy. The IDB’s current draft of its Environment and Safeguards Compliance Policy also touches on protection of natural habitats.