Bulletin Issue 23 – May 1999

OUR VIEWPOINT

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  Two years on the road

  The WRM bulletin has completed its second year and we would like to take this opportunity to share some comments with you all. Since the first issue, our efforts have
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LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

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  Kenya: Ogiek people’s fight to protect their forest

  The Ogiek people are a hunter-gatherer people, famed as harvesters of honey, which they consume themselves and exchange with their neighbours, and who have lived from time immemorial in the
  (Read More)
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  Malawi: too many people?

  Malawi, a country with a total land area of 118.484 sq.kms, is located in Southeast Africa. Its lowlands, which receive heavy rainfall, are covered by grasslands, temperate forests and rainforests,
  (Read More)
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  Tanzania: preservation results in human rights abuses

  The preservationist approach to forest protection tends to consider people as a threat to nature protection and frequently results in the violation of the human rights of rural communities and
  (Read More)
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  Zambia: the Minister’s silence on the timber business

  What follows is the editorial comment (“Zambia’s forests”) of the 30 June edition of The Post (Zambia) which sheds light on the real problems which Zambian forests are confronting: “The
  (Read More)
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  Thailand: Authorities play “Ethnic” and “Nationalist” cards

  Recent violent and unconstitutional actions on the part of the Thai Royal Forest Department, provincial authorities and the police against peaceful demonstrators are arousing strong concern both within the country
  (Read More)
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  Malaysia: conflict caused by Bakun dam continues in Sarawak

  The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam Project has aroused widespread concern among environmental and social NGOs and indigenous peoples’ organizations in Sarawak, which have been opposing this megaproject considered unnecessary -since the
  (Read More)
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  Vietnam: Government promotes “bioinvasion”

  The spread of exotic species in natural ecosystems worldwide, known as “bioinvasion”, is deserving increasing attention and causing concern. Several plants, including tree species, have been identified as behaving like
  (Read More)
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  Violence against local fisherfolk in India

  Chilika Lake is one of the largest inland brackish water bodies in Asia, of immense ecological importance for its unique and varied biodiversity. Though Chilika was declared by the Ramsar
  (Read More)
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  Pakistan: local people’s long struggle for the forests

  The oil industry has been denounced for its environmentally destructive practices in Pakistani rainforests (see WRM Bulletin 9). Nevertheless, this is not the only threat hovering over them. For the
  (Read More)
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  Chile: the Treng Treng Mapuche and their struggle for land

  The defense of the environment undertaken by the Mapuche indigenous communities in Arauco, Malleco and Cautin Provinces in southern Chile is something not explicit nor new for them. According to
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  Bolivia: Conservationists against the environment and local people

  The San Miguel-Cuiaba gas pipeline project of Enron-Shell which will cross Bolivia into Brazil has been severely questioned by Bolivian and international environmental and social NGOs for its serious long
  (Read More)
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  Weyerhaeuser subsidized by the people of Uruguay

  The giant US-based Weyerhaeuser Business employs 2,300 people and manages 5.3 million acres of private forests in the United States. Additionally Weyerhaeuser Canada manages 27 million acres of publicly owned
  (Read More)
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  Ecuador: draft bill against mangroves defeated

  To face the critical situation of public finances and meet the demands ot the IMF, last March President Jamil Mahuad sent to the National Congress a draft bill for the
  (Read More)
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  Nicaragua: Australian gold mining company in the rainforest

  Recursos Nicaraguenses y Australianos S.A. (RENAUSTRA), financed by the Australian companies Mars Geosciencies and Boss Resources Corp., is trying to develop its gold mining activities in the buffer area of
  (Read More)
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  South Africa: “How green are my plantations?”

  A very interesting debate on the impacts of tree monocultures in South Africa is currently taking place in the SAWAC (Southern Africa Water Crisis) web site. The debate starts with
  (Read More)

WRM GENERAL ACTIVITIES

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  Trade: NGOs oppose liberalization of the forests products sector

  Trade liberalization is being promoted by governments and multilateral agencies as the panacea for the world’s economy. The idea has also reached the forest sector and it is clear that
  (Read More)
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  Industrial Shrimp Action Network’s achievement at Global Biodiversity Forum

  Member organizations of the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) participated at the Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF) 13 and the Ramsar COP7 held in San Jose, Costa Rica from May
  (Read More)
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  News from the International Secretariat

  On June 4th the WRM International Secretariat sent a postcard to President Fernando Henrique Cardozo joining a campaign of Brazilian environmental NGOs to protect the Iguazu National Park, that this
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