Bulletin Issue 26 – August 1999

The future credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council is at the crossroads. Aracruz Celulose, one of the largest tree plantation companies and the world's largest producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp has applied for FSC certification for part of its land holdings (95.500 hectares, of which 56.500 hectares of eucalyptus plantations), located in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

The Niger Delta, in the southern region of Nigeria, has been the scenario of environmental destruction and human rights abuses related to oil prospection and exploitation. The activity of oil companies like Shell, Mobil, Chevron and NAOC -supported by Nigerian armed corps- is strongly denounced and resisted by local communities (see WRM Bulletins 22 and 23). Local peoples have just achieved a great victory over the powerful US-based Texaco Company, which has been forced to stop its operations in the Delta region. This successful result was obtained as a result of effective protests and direct actions. For example, community members blockaded the Funiwa and North Apoi platforms, cutting production of more than 50,000 barrels per day of the light crude extracted from that area.

Industrial timber plantations go under the name of forestry. This is deceiving, as it carries the image of beautiful indigenous forests. South Africa needs timber for pulp and paper manufacture, building material, furniture and many other uses, but we must not lose sight of its cost to our country. These plantations are monocultures of highly invasive, alien plants that cover vast areas of some of the most fertile land in our country.

Forests in Cameroon are being destroyed at an alarming rate, due to the high prices of some types of precious wood in the international market, to the weight of the country's external debt and to the collusion of some government officials and forestry companies, especially French (see WRM Bulletin 4).

Plans for setting up an industrial acacia tree plantation in the native customary right (NCR) land of Dayak Ibans people at the Balingian area is being strongly resisted. The plantation will affect the customary land of 23 longhouses. The problem started in 1997, when the State government granted Borneo Pulp Plantation (BPP) provisional leases over two lots in that area -comprising about 300,000 hectares- without the knowledge and the informed consent of the affected people. Soon afterwards, in February that year, Borneo Pulp & Paper -a parent company of the former- illegally encroached onto the Ibans' NCR land at upper Sungai Bawang and Sungai Kemena, clearing their cultivated lands, old settlements and forest gardens.

Massive logging and the development of large scale tree monocultures for the production of fiber and palm oil, together with dams and tourism megaprojects are the main activities that threaten the environment and the rights over resources of indigenous peoples in Sarawak, in the northwest region of Borneo Island in Malaysia. Nearly half of its population is composed by different ethnic groups, known as Dayaks, who live on agriculture, fishing, hunting and gathering. Local communities, with the support of national and international environmental organizations, have been opposing for years this destructive type of development promoted by the private sector and supported by the Sarawak State government and the Malaysian central government. Despite all efforts, depredation continues.

A joint-venture between the KTS group and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp (STIDC) was announced to establish over 260,000 hectares of tree plantations in Bintulu and Baram areas. The project will involve the development of plantations on 15, 25 and 35-year cycle. The KTS group has expertise in tree plantations, as it has a 57,000 hectares project in Sabah, and also in agricultural plantations of cacao during the decade of 1970. The University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) will take part in the project by developing a geographical information system (GIS) for the management of pulp and oil palm plantations.

"Tanah Pengidup Kitai (Our Land is our livelihood): the undermining of indigenous land rights and the victimisation of indigenous people in Sarawak" is the name of a recently published book on the situation in Sarawak. The study includes the following chapters: Chapter 1: The views of indigenous people (a field survey of 45 longhouse communities/kampong of approximately 20,000 people with 759 respondents) Chapter 2: The Law, the State and the Marginalisation of Native Customary Rights Chapter 3: The Law In Action: The Victimisation of Indigenous Communities Chapter 4: Konsep Baru and Its Effect on Indigenous Communities Conclusion: The Way Forward For more details on the book and on how to order it, please visit our web site .

The Sundarbans are the largest mangroves in the world and have been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, as well as included as a Ramsar site. This area, that extends at the border between India and Bangladesh, is menaced by the exploration activites of oil and gas companies, which has provoked the reaction of local and international environmental NGOs (see WRM Bulletins 15 and 23).

On May 2, 1999, Rodolfo Montiel Flores, the Mexican campesino who has been successfully leading public opposition in the Pacific Coast state of Guerrero against destructive logging operations by Boise Cascade -one of the world's largest timber corporations- was arrested by federal soldiers who violently entered the village of Pizotla. During this armed action also another campesino, Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, was arrested and Salome Sanchez Ortiz was shot dead. Military officials characterized both of them as "members of an ecologist-guerrilla organization". Since his detention, Montiel has been psycologically and physically tortured and also been denied adequate medical treatment, food, and water, as well as communications.

Bolivia holds diverse types of forests but they are quickly disappearing to the benefit of a few logging companies and to the detriment of indigenous peoples. Their territorial rights exist only on paper because in reality the government, by means of its concessions policy, prefers to satisfy the companies' interests (see WRM bulletin 22). According to the Centre for Legal Studies and Social Research (Centro de Estudios Juridicos e Investigacion Social, CEJIS) the Bolivian government has allocated a vast area of primary rainforest to logging in indigenous peoples' territories without their consent.

Brazil will soon celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese. Nevertheless, for the indigenous peoples living in what later became Brazil, this is not a day for celebration. The arrival of the Europeans meant the beginning of their genocide and the destruction of the environment in the rich land of the "pau Brazil". When Brazil became an independent state, the situation of indigenous peoples did not improve and in many cases became even worse. The Federal Constitution of 1988 finally recognized the indigenous peoples' cultural and territorial rights, but they are in fact more often than not ignored.

As a result of a long and difficult struggle against giant Occidental Petroleum and the Colombian government, the U'wa indigenous people have achieved a significant victory with the legal recognition of an area comprising an important portion of their traditional territory in the northeastern corner of Colombia. A recent resolution of the Colombian government, in agreement with the U'wa leaders, has increased their legally recognized territory in 120,000 hectares, which now comprises 220,275 hectares in the provinces of Boyaca, Northern Santander, Santander and Arauca. It will be called Unified U'wa Reserve. The official resolution undoubtedly represents a significant victory for the U'wa and an important step for the recognition of the whole of their traditional territory.

Colombia, one of the megadiverse countries in the world, holds a total area of mangroves of 365,902 hectares, of which 80% extend like a green necklace in the Pacific Ocean coast.

Since the signing of the first of Australia's so-called "Regional Forest Agreements" (RFAs), the Australian forest industry has been deregulated and is open for sale to the highest bidder. The RFAs, having failed to provide a decent reserve system to protect forests have opened up Australia to unlimited export woodchipping and plantation establishment.

In many parts of the word, a large number of non-native species are invading forests and other ecosystems, leading to dramatic changes in their floristic composition and related impacts on local wildlife and peoples' livelihoods. The uncontrolled spread of exotic species in natural ecosystems is known as "bioinvasion" (see WRM Bulletins 18 and 24).

Papua New Guinea -home of one of the world's largest remaining contiguous rainforests- is being subject to a destructive deforestation process. In an attempt to increase the country's exports to face a severe economic crisis, the government has adopted a policy of opening the country to foreign logging companies -granting them concessions and turning a blind eye to illegal logging- that threaten to deplete its forests.

Our last bulletin was entirely dedicated to the Plantations Campaign, where we gave a broad overview of the problem and the major actors involved, complemented with a number of suggestions for action at different levels. Since then we have received numerous replies and requests for information from all over the world, showing that plantations are a widespread problem in a large number of countries.

The increase in the international demand for industrial wood and paper, coupled with the idea that tree plantations can be used as carbon sinks to counter the greenhouse effect, are being used by the biotechnology industry as arguments for the promotion of genetically modified trees, especially commercially valuable and fast-growing species such as eucalyptus, pines and poplars.

Organizations all around the world are planning a number of activities for the international Day of Action against the World Trade Organization (WTO) on September 15, 1999. There will be simultaneous press conferences, call-in campaigns to members of Parliaments/Congress, protests, hearings and teach-ins etc., to launch the international campaign against a "New Round" in Seattle. An international sign-on letter will be released on that date. Already 1000 organizations have signed on to it and it is being circulated to receive further endorsements. The letter has been translated into Spanish and French, If your organization would like to sign the letter, send an e-mail to Ronnie Hall at Friends of the Earth, UK.

The course "Plantations are not forests", organized by the Institute of Ecologist Studies of the Third World (Instituto de Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) took place in Quito, Ecuador from July 12-16. Alvaro Gonzalez, from the WRM International Secretariat was in charge of the course, which focused on the main characteristics of the plantation forestry model, its promoters, impacts and resistance against it, with a special focus on forests and plantations in Ecuador.