Bulletin Issue 36 – July 2000

OUR VIEWPOINT

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  The invisible Nordic countries’ footprint

  Sweden, Finland and Norway rarely appear in the media. At least not in relation with the North’s footprint in the South and even less so in deforestation-related matters. The US,
  (Read More)

LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

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  Gabon: Rich forests or cheap source of wood?

  A report recently released on the situation of the forestry sector in Gabon confirms the existence of a negative trend that is leading to the destruction of the country’s rich
  (Read More)
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  Nigeria: Poverty, oil pipelines and death

  Blaming the victims is common practice in many places. In the case of Nigeria, such practice can only be defined as criminal. On July 11, more than 200 villagers from
  (Read More)
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  Togo: Community rights and forest conservation

  Located at the Northern limit of the African tropical forest region, Togo still has 1,396,200 hectares of forest cover, which represents 24% of the country’s total area. In a landscape
  (Read More)
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  Uganda: The same old story about dams

    The story is not new. Dam megaprojects, presented to Southern governments and local communities as a token of prosperity and progress, bring disaster with them. The promotion of foreign
  (Read More)
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  Burma: Gas, dictatorship and multinationals at Yadana

  Gas and oil exploitation constitute a cause of forest destruction and human rights abuses in many countries and particularly in Burma. The construction of the Yadana gas pipeline -linking gas
  (Read More)
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  Indonesia: A new victim related to Indorayon

  Indorayon’s pulp and rayon factory (PT IIU) in Porsea, North Sumatra, has provoked a long socio-environmental conflict in the region, where villagers and local NGOs have been demanding its closure
  (Read More)
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  Thailand: Massive eucalyptus plantations planned

  Over the last decade or so Thailand has seen repeated protests against eucalyptus plantations. Villagers have taken part in marches, uprooted trees, set fire to plantations, declared their lands “eucalyptus
  (Read More)
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  Honduras: Garifuna communities threatened by palm disease

  Palms are typical of the coastal landscape in the Pacific region of Honduras, inhabited by the Garifuna communities. They are descendants from Africans that were brought to the region after
  (Read More)
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  Guatemala: Actions to defend natural reserve against oil exploitation

  The Maya Biosphere Reserve in the region of Petén has been at the centre of a strong dispute where peasant communities, Guatemalan and international NGOs, the national government and oil
  (Read More)
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  Argentina: Forest destruction and authoritarianism in Santiago del Estero

  Northern Santiago del Estero Province is mostly inhabited by people of mixed Quichua and Spanish descent. During the 19th century the province -as well as the whole region of the
  (Read More)
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  Brazil: The marriage of Stora Enso and Aracruz

  News about the association of Stora Enso with Aracruz Celulose is certainly bad news for local people in the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espirito Santo, dominated by three major
  (Read More)
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  Chile: The exploitation of forestry workers

    The forestry sector in Chile has reached an enormous development basically thanks to the resources that the Chilean state has devoted to it and to the aggressive behaviour of
  (Read More)
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  Mangrove replanting initiative in Ecuador

  Ecuador’s lush mangroves at the Pacific Ocean coast have been suffering for long the effects of commercial shrimp farming that, together with the government’s shortsighted vision and irresponsible behaviour on
  (Read More)
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  Mexico: Ecosystem fragmentation and inequity

  Two-thirds of Mexico’s territory was once covered with different type of tree formations, such as the riparian forests, the thorny chapultepeco thicket, the low thorny forest, the high evergreen forest,
  (Read More)
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  Pulping the South . . . of the USA

  Destruction of forests to make place to tree monocultures is a well documented fact in many Southern countries. A similar but less known process is also happening in the southeastern
  (Read More)
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  Australia: Plantations, plantations and still more plantations…

  Vast areas of the southern island of Tasmania in Australia are being planted with tree monocultures as “carbon sinks” and causing concern at different levels (see WRM Bulletin 35). At
  (Read More)
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  Easter Island: A mirror of humanity’s future?

  Easter Island (Rapa Nui in Polinesian language) is famous worldwide for its anthropomorphic stone monuments and the enigmas surrounding them. But most people haven’t heard about the island’s environmental degradation
  (Read More)
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  Bolivia: Indigenous peoples’ forests menaced by oil exploration

  Bolivia hosts 440,000 sq.km of rainforests, which represent 57% of the lowlands total surface in the country. Deforestation rate reaches 168,000 hectares/year, being the promotion of export crops and logging
  (Read More)

GENERAL

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  Assembly of Oilwatch in South Africa

  The Oilwatch network will be holding its International Assembly in Durban, South Africa, on 1-2 August. The Assembly will be preceeded by a preconference on “Dictatorships and Oil” (28-29th of
  (Read More)
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  New book on Cambodia

    “Chainsaws speak louder than words” is the title of a new briefing document issued by the UK-based NGO Global Witness in May 2000, which studies the situation of the
  (Read More)
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  Project in Colombia seeks support

  Fundación Beteguma is a Colombian NGO, with headquarters in Quibdó at the Pacific coast region, which seeks to promote the social, cultural and environmental development of the Biogeographic Chocó through
  (Read More)