In 1987 legislation was adopted that implied the promotion – by means of tax exemptions and subsidies – of large-scale monoculture alien tree plantations (mainly eucalyptus and pine) for export. It is thus that the country up till then based on agriculture and stock raising, started to convert part of its fertile grasslands into “green deserts” which presently cover over 700,000 hectares.
Other information
By the Alert Against The Green Desert Movement/Brazil
The harshness of capital against life but Aracruz Celulose lost the FSC-certificate!
Paulo Henrique de Oliveira, a Tupinikim leader of Caieiras Velhas and Coordinator of the Articulação de Povos e Organizações Indígenas do Nordeste, Minas Gerais e Espírito Santo - APOINME (Articulation of Indigenous People and Organizations from the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo), and Antônio Carvalho, a Guarani chief, travelled to Europe in April/May 2006, to publicise their struggle to demarcate Tupinikim and Guarani lands in Espírito Santo (see WRM Bulletins Nº 94, 96, 102, 103) .
The social and environmental impacts of monoculture eucalyptus plantations have been well documented in many countries. However, the gender dimension has usually been overlooked, thus hiding the differentiated impacts they have on women. The following quotes from a research carried out in Brazil on Aracruz Cellulose’ plantations and pulp mill operation are therefore very useful to shed some light on the issue and to encourage other people to look further into these less well-known impacts.
Colombia is involved in the same process taking place in several Latin American countries regarding the establishment of fast-growing monoculture tree plantations.
In May 2003, we said that “In nearly all countries, large-scale monoculture tree plantations have been imposed and implemented once the laws of each country have been changed in such a way as to enable national and foreign companies to obtain all kinds of benefits, such as direct and indirect subsidies, tax breaks and even soft loans and refunds for large-scale plantations.” (See the article on Ecuador in WRM Bulletin Nº 70.)
On April 12, 2006, the report “The Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega-project” was released to show the plans of the Indonesian government to develop up to 3 million hectares of oil palm plantations on the island of Borneo, of which 2 million hectares along the Kalimantan-Malaysia border and 1 million hectares elsewhere --in areas still heavily forested and inhabited by indigenous communities--, to cater for international demand for cheap palm oil to meet the domestic and global demand for bio-fuel.
In May 2006, the Mozambique Ministry of Agriculture submitted for discussion the document “National Reforestation Strategy” (the complete document in Portuguese can be found at http://www.wrm.org.uy/paises/Mozambique/Estrategia_Reflorestamento.doc). As stated in the document, the bases to promote the establishment of tree plantations in the country involving fast-growing species are set out.
This August the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will finally catch up to the rest of the pack by putting into effect its first Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (OP-765). Joining the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and numerous private banks, the IDB finally takes its place among the other international financial institutions that have adopted policies over the last decade and a half which recognize the undeniable link between indigenous peoples' rights, sustainable development and poverty reduction.
In the last decade, financial institutions and investment banks have handed out more than US$40 billion for new pulp projects in the South. Analysts expect another US$54 billion to be invested in pulp mills in the South by 2015 much of it in Brazil, Uruguay, China, the Mekong Region and the Baltic States.
Only available in Portuguese -
Introdução
O FSC-Brasil tomou a iniciativa para organizar um encontro em Belo Horizonte no dia 18 de outubro de 2005 com o objetivo de coletar contribuições para o processo global de revisão dos princípios e critérios de certificação para plantações de árvores pelo FSC.
This month WRM is launching a new occasional section to the bulletin: "Pulp Inc". The series will consist of profiles of companies involved in the pulp and paper industry.
In order to campaign effectively on the industry (and certainly before NGOs start talking about collaborating or cooperating with companies), we need to take a careful look at how the industry is structured and the nature of the companies involved in the industry: what they are and what they are not.