Hereby we share a number of activities, new materials and media coverages from different countries to commemorate the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations 2017.
- Women organizations from several countries from West and Central Africa launched the petition: “Stop all forms of abuse against women in large-scale monoculture tree plantations”.
They released it simultaneously urging a stop to the suffering and the violent impacts the expansion of industrial oil palm plantations is creating on women’s lives (violence, sexual abuses, rape, harassment, persecution, destruction of their means of livelihoods). If you wish to read and endorse the petition in solidarity with these women organizations in Africa, please click here. (Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French).
More information: Cameroun: Lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes…, Yaoundé: une pétition contre les violences subies par les femmes vivant autour des plantations lancée. (Available in French).
- In Sierra Leone, nearly 200 women affected by SOCFIN’s industrial oil palm plantations organized a demonstration to urge the national authorities to take action against SOCFIN for grabbing their lands. A press release “Police block peaceful action by women affected by SOCFIN oil palm plantation in Sierra Leone” was published. Read the press release here. (Available in English and French).
- In Cameroon, SYNAPARCAM, one of the organizations struggling against SOCAPALM’s (owned by the SOCFIN group) oil palm plantations organized a rally to raise their voices against the company’s oil palm plantations impacts. See the pictures here. (Available in French).
- In Gabon, the NGO Muyissi Environnement, of Mouila, visit Mboukou to inform and talk with the villagers about the impacts of the activities of Olam Palm Gabon. Watch the video target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here. (Available in French).
- The RIAO Coordination in Kisangani organized a day of reflection on the importance of trees in human life and the history of monoculture plantations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. See the pictures here. (Available in English and French).
- In Mozambique, the organization Justiça Ambiental (JÁ!) disseminated a press release announcing a new briefing titled “Como resistir às empresas de plantações de árvores?” (How to resist tree plantation companies?), aimed at strengthening communities resistance against industrial timber plantations.
The press release can be read here. (Available in Portuguese).
- In Latin America, the RECOMA Network (with focal point organizations in more than 13 countries) produced and disseminated the Statement “¡Por la vida y las aguas NO más monocultivos!” (For life and water, NO more monocultures!), in defense of life and water, raising their voices against plantations.
Read the statement here. (Available in Spanish and Portuguese)
- In Brazil, the Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones para el Desarrollo del Extremo Sur de Bahía (CEPEDES) released a video documentary: “Green Deserts: Eucalyptus plantations, agrotoxins and water”. Watch the video here. (Available in English and Portuguese).
- The article “Eucalyptus monocultures are not forests” was published by the Brazilian newspaper Seculo Diario. Read the article here. (Available in Portuguese)
- The Brazilian portal Brasil de Fato published the article "Farmers denounce the transposition of the Pacuí River in Corazón de Jesús, North of Minas", on the impacts of tree monocultures on water. Read the article here. (Available in Portuguese)
- Use and conservation of the cerrado: limits and possibilities. A workshop with an agroecological market, a video exhibition and a round table discussing the impacts of the expansion of monocultures tree plantations were held at the campus of the University of Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul - Brazil, on September 21st. See the pictures here.
- A banner’s exhibition denouncing monoculture tree plantations are not forests was organised in Argentine by the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (ATE). The activity was held in the Family Agriculture national office, in El Dorado, Misiones province. See pictures here. (Available in Spanish)
- The article “Una apuesta para limpiar la tierra de agrotóxicos” was published by the Argentinean newspaper Pagina 12. It is about the land recovery by peasants in Misiones province. Read the article here (Available in Spanish)
- In Chile, the Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales (OLCA) disseminated the Statement: “En el día internacional de lucha contra los monocultivos de árboles: la tarea de transformar nuestros modelos productivos” (International Day of Struggle Against Tree Monocultures: the task of transforming our models of production). Read the statement aquí (Available in Spanish).
- The Stop GE Trees Campaign and the Global Justice Ecology Project produced a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">video called “10 replies to 10 lies about tree plantations”. It summarizes the ten replies to the most often used lies by the timber and pulp industries to argue for the expansion of industrial tree plantations. Watch the video and read more here. (Available in English)
- The Global Forest Coalition published a striking photo essay about the role of eucalyptus plantations in Portugal’s awful forest fires and an opinion article on Ecologist Magazine. (Available in English).
- Videos: Plantations are not forest. Five short videos, produced by WRM, that show why industrial tree plantations are not forest. (Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French).