Canada

During the meeting of the Subsidiary Body (SBSTTA) of the Convention of Biological Diversity held in Montreal, Canada from November 12 to 16, NGOs raised the issue of the contradiction between the Kenyan Government's commitments and actions regarding forest biodiversity conservation.

by Forest Peoples Programme, Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links and the World Rainforest Movement

Last September Canada reached a controversial deal to "buy" oxygen from Honduras within the framework of a "debt for nature" swap and the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) will "forgive" about U$S 680,000 of Honduras' U$S 11 million debt with Canada. In exchange, a so-called joint implementation office will be established in Honduras to promote tree plantations and monitor forest conservation programmes in that country.

The expansion of the paper industry worldwide is provoking severe social and environmental problems through three types of activities which are part of its production chain: the chipping of native forests, the plantation of extensive monocultures --that generally follow the previous clearcutting of the forest-- and the pollution of water and air caused by the industrial process itself.

Western Forest Products (WFP), a Canadian logging company with a long record of clearcutting ancient temperate rainforest, has applied for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification for an operation in a watershed on British Columbia's central coast called the Ingram-Mooto. WFP is seeking the FSC stamp of approval to combat the international market campaigns targeting the company's customers in Europe and the United States. WFP has already clearcut, blasted and bulldozed a logging road several kilometers deep into the once pristine Ingram-Mooto.

Greenpeace has launched a virtual boat tour of Canada's endangered temperate rainforest. The site is intended to acquaint web surfers with this remote ancient forest and the impending threats it faces from clearcut logging.

Daishowa Inc. is a Canadian corporation with business premises in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, that operates in the paper, packaging and sawmilling sectors. Daishowa is a subsidiary of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd., a Japanese corporation. Daishowa Canada Company Ltd, another subsidiary of the Japanese holding, negotiated a Forest Management Agreement ("FMA") with the Government of Alberta in 1988 and.