Biodiversity loss is rapid and ongoing. Over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems faster and more extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history. Tropical forests, many wetlands and other natural habitats are shrinking in size. Species are going extinct at rates 1,000 times the background rates typical of Earth’s past. The direct causes of biodiversity loss --habitat change, overexploitation, the introduction of invasive alien species, nutrient loading and climate change-- show no sign of abating. ... It is time to translate our hopes and energies into action, for the sake of all life on Earth.
Bulletin Issue 104 - March 2006
Biodiversity
THE FOCUS OF THIS ISSUE: BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity is not just about species, habitats and genes: it is about life and interactions between the different species, including us humans. In this issue of the WRM Bulletin we aim at putting a human face to biodiversity, providing information about how some human actors (mostly in corporations) impact on species, habitats and genes, and on how this is destroying the lives and livelihoods of many more fellow humans who depend on biodiversity for survival. We have divided the bulletin in two sections -forests and plantations- in order to stress the differences between both, which --incredibly enough-- are still being confused by “expert” actors and processes such as the FAO, the United Nations Forum on Forests, the Convention on Climate Change and even the Convention on Biological Diversity.
WRM Bulletin
104
March 2006
OUR VIEWPOINT
FORESTS, PEOPLE AND BIODIVERSITY
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7 March 2006The situation is much the same in many southern countries: people and supporting organizations are trying to protect the forests against government-corporate alliances. Well known causes of biodiversity loss such as industrial logging, fossil fuel exploration and exploitation, mining, hydroelectric dams, industrial monocrops, road opening and shrimp farming continue being promoted for the almost exclusive benefit of large corporations. Furthermore, most of the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation not only have not been addressed but have been further promoted through international financial institutions’ impositions on southern governments. Even the World Bank has acknowledged this, but has continued business as usual.
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7 March 2006Contrary to the corporate “mining” approach to forests which invariably implies their destruction, stand out the diverse uses transmitted from generation to generation of indigenous and local communities which have developed a wide and deep knowledge (beyond science) of the forest that have allowed them to benefit from it in a sustainable manner. The villagers of the Ansar Chambok commune, nearby Tonle Sap Lake, are a case in point. At present they estimate that approximately half of their income comes from the collection of forest products, in particular resin tapping. What follows are some quotes from a recent WRM report (see details below), which illustrate forest management by a community, now threatened by two powerful tree plantation companies: Wuzhishan and Green Rich.
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7 March 2006Industrial logging is one of the main direct causes of forest biodiversity loss. Many organizations and governments have focused on illegal logging and less so on destructive legal logging (see WRM Bulletin Nº 98). In this respect, a recent report (“Legal Forest Destruction. The Wide Gap Between Legality and Sustainability”) provides a broader perspective by looking at the Dutch timber trade, its focus on legality and the impact of legal logging on forests.
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7 March 2006The Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Mangrove Reserve in the Province of Esmeraldas covers an area of 51,300 hectares and within it is the Majagual mangrove covering 28,367 hectares. The mangrove is the habitat of crustacean species including oysters, blue crabs and shrimps and of tree species such as the red, black, white and jeli mangroves. During the 1950’s the Majagual mangrove had been depredated by loggers who extracted tannin from mangrove bark to use it in the leather industry. Later logging was banned and finally, on 26 October 1995, it became a protected reserve, recognized as having the tallest mangroves in the world (averaging 50 metres tall).
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7 March 2006At a cost of 1,600 million dollars, the Camisea mega project for natural gas extraction from an area located on the banks of the Camisea River -one of the world’s richest areas in biodiversity- has the Inter-American Development Bank as its main public financer. However, it has not brought any benefit to the local communities. As denounced in WRM Bulletin No. 95, the Camisea project will be carried out at the expense of forest destruction, river contamination and noise pollution, soil erosion and the consequent degradation of flora and fauna in the project’s area of influence.
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7 March 2006Earlier this year, a rare thing happened: West Papua hit the headlines. The news was the discovery of a new species of honeyeater bird, a "lost" bird of paradise, a nearly extinct tree kangaroo, 20 new species of frogs, four new butterflies and five new species of palms. The species were found during an expedition to the Foja Mountains organised by Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the group. His words were dutifully reported in newspapers around the world.
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7 March 2006In many cases, forest destruction has created situations of such gravity that company managers and officials -finding themselves cornered by complaints, social pressure or pressure from business sectors whose interests are threatened by the discredit of their activities- are developing their own discourse regarding environmental solutions. From absolute denial of damages, companies later tried to place responsibility on the victims. They are now attempting to change the true situation through discourse, with statistics showing business success regarding environmental and social matters. However, as the severity of the impacts cannot be concealed, the talk is now of compensation and environmental remediation.
INDUSTRIAL TREE PLANTATIONS
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7 March 2006Eucalyptus, pine, acacia, gmelina, teak, oil palm plantations have become a major social and environmental problem. From a biodiversity perspective they eliminate most local plants and provide almost no food to wildlife. Some plantation species become invasive, thus encroaching on natural ecosystems. In spite of this, they continue to be promoted, particularly in the South, for the production of cheap raw material mainly for the pulp/paper and palm oil industries.
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7 March 2006International Women’s Day had an unusual celebration in Brazil. At dawn on 8 March, close on 2 thousand women farmers linked to the Via Campesina organization took lightening action at the facilities of the Aracruz Celulose pulp mill company in the Municipality of Barra do Ribeiro near Porto Alegre. The Barba Negra establishment is the main production unit for eucalyptus and pine seedlings to supply their Guaiba factory. It even has a laboratory for cloning seedlings.
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7 March 2006This month, WRM publishes a new report titled "The death of the forest: A report on Wuzhishan's and Green Rich's tree plantation activities in Cambodia". The report records the impact of two companies' tree plantations on local communities and their livelihoods. For security reasons, the researchers of the report wish to remain anonymous. 2005 was another bad year for democracy in Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen used defamation law suits to arrest or intimidate members of the political opposition, media, trade unions and NGOs.
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7 March 2006The Indio Maiz Biological Reserve is located in the southeast region of Nicaragua, covering an area of 3,180 km². It is called after two rivers, the Indio and the Maiz. It is one of the most important biosphere reserves in the country and contains a tropical rainforest, wetlands and lagoons hosting diverse fauna: jaguars, harpy eagles, green macaws, manatees, sawfish and crocodiles. In the forest you will find cedar, mahogany, almond, medlar, manu and maria trees, among others.
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7 March 2006Papua New Guinea has a communal land system that has allowed most rural communities to make a decent living from the free and easy access to land, clean water and the abundance of natural resources. However, the introduction of cash crop plantations undermines their customary systems and structures bringing up negative environmental and social impacts.
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7 March 2006For over a decade a network of interests has been pushing industrial tree plantations in Laos. The key organisation is the Asian Development Bank. In 1993, the Lao government approved a Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP), carried out with funding from the ADB and the World Bank, among others. The TFAP recommended logging the forests and establishing industrial tree plantations on degraded forest land.
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7 March 2006Two large national plantation companies (FYMNSA and COFUSA), a Finnish company (Botnia-UPM/Kymmene) and a Spanish company (Ence-Eufores), have received the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate. This certificate enables the companies to assure that their “forests” (of pine and eucalyptus!) are managed in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner. At least this is what the FSC mandate affirms. However, a recent study carried out in Uruguay shows the exact opposite.
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7 March 2006The increasing use of biotechnology in the forestry sector has led to the spread of genetically engineered tree planting in at least thirty-five countries. Though --according to FAO-- most research is confined to the laboratories, many millions of GE trees have already been released in open field trials in China, North America, Australia, Europe, and India, and to a lesser extent, South America and Africa.
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7 March 2006Black-necked swans used to have their habitat in the Carlos Andwandter Nature Sanctuary on the Cruces River, a Ramsar site located in the northern zone of the city of Valdivia in the Tenth Region. The black-necked swan (Cygnus melancoryphus) is a migratory bird native of South America. Its landscapes are the wetlands of the south of Brazil, Uruguay, nearly all Argentina and Chile from the Fourth to the Tenth Region. It feeds on plants and in the Cruces River on a waterweed, the luchecillo (Egeria densa). In addition to the fact that the black-necked swan became part of the local identity, the Rio Cruces Sanctuary led to the development of a considerable inflow of tourists, resulting in an important source of income and labour for the local people.