Bulletin Issue 4 – September 1997

The Ghanaian Government has signed an agreement with the FAO to support private forestry plantations in the country. The government will benefit from a U$S 138,500 assistance package under the agreement, to design long term mechanisms to support private forestry plantations in the country. Under a two-month project by the FAO and the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, FAO is providing the money and two foreign consultants to team up with local experts to research into private forestry plantation development and a flexible scheme for providing plantation incentives to firms, land owners, communities and individuals.

The use of Cameroon’s forests is oriented to the logic of private accumulation and economic interests, regardless of the interests of the Pygmy population that depends on those forests for their survival. Forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate, due to the high prices of some types of wood in the international market, to the weight of the country’s external debt and to the collusion of government officials and international forestry companies. The government and corporations view forests as wood to be sold for large sums of money. The Pygmy population see forests in a totally different manner. As a Bakola woman says:

One of the main reasons why Indonesia continues occupying East Timor after its invasion in December 1975 and based upon a continuous repression of the Maubere people are the business interests of president Suharto’s family in that country. The Indonesian Army is heavily involved in protecting the First Family’s interests in the occupied land, that cover many different economic activities, from coffee and sugarcane plantations to textile and mining.

In WRM Bulletin Nr 1 (23/5/97) we informed on PT Tanjung Enim Lestari (PT TEL) plans to establish a huge pulp mill in South Sumatra. Despite protests from local communities and NGOs the project continues. Although PT TEL has not still received the necessary government license (which is to be taken for granted since President Suharto’s eldest daughter, Tutut, is a shareholder in the project herself), the company has already cleared 800 hectares of the 1,250 hectares of forested lands the factory site will occupy. On June 23 -with the strong opposition of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI)- the Environmental Impact Assessment of the project was approved.

The US logging giant Simpson Forestry announced it would abandon its operations in Guatemala since a Constitutional Court ruling prohibited its access to the Rio Dulce for the transportation of logs. Guatemala’s National Commission of Protected Areas (CONAP) played a very important role in the matter by presenting a study before the Court, showing that the dredging of the river needed for log transportation, was very risky for this biodiversity-rich area.

According to a decision of the Federal Public Ministry and the Court of Justice of Acre State, the swiss NGO Selva Viva is up to be expelled from the Brazilian territory. CIMI and the Union of Indigenous Nations of Acre (Uniao das Nacoes Indigenas do Acre) had denounced Selva Viva in the courts for suspected activities of biopiracy, because of its activities of cataloguing roots, barks and seeds for international laboratories (Ciba-Geigy, Hoechst, Sandoz, Lilly and Johnson & Johnson. Acre is the first Brazilian State that approved a law to protect biodiversity. In case the expulsion takes place, it would be the first effective judicial action against biopiracy in Brazil. Source: CIMI, 7/8/97.

The controversy over Presidential Decree Nr. 1850 that opened Imataca Reserve to mining and logging companies continues. As informed in the second issue of our Bulletin (10.01.97), the Venezuelan Government approved in record time a management plan for Imataca, beneficial to the powerful international mining and logging lobby. Since then, signs of disagreement have increased all over the country at the academic, political and social levels. Prof. Centeno -from the Universidad de los Andes, Merida- has stated that such decree not only violates several previous norms at the national level -e.g.

On August 12th representatives of the Tupinikim and Guarani, the federal deputies Nilton Baiano and Joao Coser and CIMI held an audience with the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Mr. Jose de Jesus Filho, to claim once again the delimitation of the boundaries of indigenous lands. During the audience, the representative of the Brazilian government asked about the possiblity of an exchange and/or a reduction of the claimed lands, with the aim of not jeopardizing the activities of Aracruz Celulose S.A. (ARCEL) and even questioned about the necessity of the claimed lands. He also expressed that the Ministry had decided to carry out an additional survey within the period of 90 days.

We wrote an article on the issue of tree plantations, aimed at a South African audience, for the Environmental Networking Justice Forum's bulletin. Chris Albertyn, current director of ENJF, had previously been extremely helpful in providing us with information on the plantations issue in South Africa, much of it included in "Pulping the South". Chris is also actively distributing copies of the book, which, he says, "is clearly having an impact -in the province where I live (Kwa Zulu Natal) we have formed a coalition of organisations which calls itself TIMBERWATCH". If anyone wants a copy of the article (Industrial tree plantations: a growing problem), please let us know and we will send it by email.

We are in the stage of trying to implement a WRM web site, and we would welcome your ideas and input for it. The process will begin by posting a description of WRM and the Penang Declaration, the WRM External Bulletin and establishing links with other relevant web sites. We would also like to include all WRM statements and publications (containing at least a listing and summaries of all our books) and to have a section for each of our affiliates, including description, publications, web sites, etc. Please let us know if you have material in electronic format which you would like us to include in the site or web sites you think we should link to and any suggestions you wish to put forward. We will let you know the site’s address as soon as its ready.

As commented in the last issue of our bulletin, we addressed a letter to the Government of Michoacan, Mexico, to inquire on the death of the peasant activist Alberto Alonso Salmeron. By means of a fax sent on August 19 we have been informed by the government that the policeman Juan Equihua Ortiz is being prosecuted for his suspected responsibility concerning this murder.

During the recent visit of Ecuatorian President Alarcon to Santiago de Chile, the police violently repressed a peaceful demonstration against a mining project of the Chilean firm CODELCO together with Mitsubishi at Imbabura province in the Ecuatorian Amazon. As a consequence Ivonne Ramos (Accion Ecologica/Friends of the Earth,Ecuador) Lucio Cuenca (Observatorio de Conflictos Ambientales, Chile) and Luis Mariano Rendon (IEP and RENACE, Chile) were arrested. We sent faxes to the Minister of Energy and Mining of Ecuador, the Chilean Ambassador in Ecuador and the president of CODELCO, expressing our concern over these events and supporting the opposition of the Chilean and Ecuatorian NGOs against the depredatory activities of CODELCO in the Ecuatorian territory.

We addressed a letter to the President and to the Forest Department (Superintendencia Forestal) of Bolivia, inquiring about the concession of indigenous territories situated in the Western Region to logging companies. This action not only is suspected to be illegal and anti-constitutional but also threatens the livelihood and cultures of forest peoples of Bolivia. We urged that these territories are given back to their legitimate owners.

International Alliance of Indigenous-Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forest & International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Indigenous Peoples, Forest and Biodiversity, London, Eks-Skolen Trykkeri, ISSN 1024-0217. The book brings together the main statements and interventions made by the Alliance at various international fora from 1992 to 1996, expressing their concerns and proposals. Those interested in receiving it can contact the Alliance or IWGIA.