Bulletin Issue 43 – February 2001

OURVIEWPOINT

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  Those who protect and those who destroy the forests

  For years the mainstream “experts” were wrong in the identification of the main causes leading to deforestation and they were thus equally wrong in the solutions they put forward to
  (Read More)

LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

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  Cameroon: New electronic bulletin

  The Cameroonian Center for Environment & Development (CED) has sent out the first issue of “Inside Cameroon”, a monthly electronic bulletin in English containing update information on environment, development, economics
  (Read More)
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  Cameroon: Research questions myths about fuelwood use and deforestation

  A study, published by IITA and CIFOR in 1997, on the production and consumption of firewood and the relationship between this use of wood and deforestation in southern Cameroon shows
  (Read More)
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  Congo, D.R: The case of the Twa of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park

  The book written by Albert Kwokwo Barume recently published by the Forest Peoples Programme and IWGIA –“Heading Towards Extinction? Indigenous Rights in Africa: The Case of the Twa of the
  (Read More)
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  Kenya: International campaign for the Ogiek

  The Ogiek people of Kenya constitute an ethnic minority community, which has lived basically from hunting and honey-gathering since time immemorial in the highland Tinet forest area, which are part
  (Read More)
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  Gold Medal to Shell: A mockery to Nigeria’s peoples

  Oil companies are worldwide known for the negative environmental impact they produce both at the local and the global levels. While in the places where oil prospection and exploitation is
  (Read More)
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  India: The Dandeli dam project scandal

  Dam megaprojects worldwide have proved detrimental to the environment and to local communities, who directly bear the brunt of their consequences. Frequently corrupt practices are adopted by governments, consulting firms
  (Read More)
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  Indonesia: Pulp and paper industry menace in South Kalimantan

  The growth of the pulp and paper sector in Indonesia since the late ’80s has been based on the clearcutting of vast area of forests –estimated in at least 800,000
  (Read More)
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  Asian Development Bank subsidising deforestation in Laos

  Lao government officials, international aid agencies and forestry consultants are almost unanimous in claiming that large-scale reforestation is urgently needed in Laos to address the problems associated with deforestation. Yet,
  (Read More)
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  Malaysia: Blockade against logging in Sarawak forests

  The struggle of the Penan and other indigenous peoples of Sarawak to defend their ancestral lands and culture, is a very long and hard one. A way through which the
  (Read More)
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  Belize: Where forests can still be saved

  Much of the Belizean territory is still covered by forests, which host an enormous diversity in plant and animal life. Those forests have however been exploited for centuries in an
  (Read More)
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  Colombia: “Tailor-made” legislation for Smurfit

  Private commercial tree plantations began to be implemented in Colombia in the 1960s. Long-fibre wood commercial plantations –pine and cypress– are mostly located in the West of the country, in
  (Read More)
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  Ecuador: Action to save mangroves in Guayas

  Industrial shrimp farming is one of the direct causes of the deforestation of mangroves in the tropics. In Ecuador the level of destruction caused by the 1970s and mid 1980s
  (Read More)
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  Guyana: Transnational mining companies’ impacts on people and the environment

  Inner land in Guyana consists of a 150 kilometre wide tropical rainforest, mostly untouched. However, the official perception since the ‘70s of mining as essential for “development”, and the opening
  (Read More)
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  Peru: Who pays the bill for oil exploitation “accidents”?

  The spill of 5,500 barrels of oil at the Marañón River that occurred on October 3rd 2000 in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, at Urarinas and Parinari Districts in
  (Read More)
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  Papua New Guinea: Social and environmental destruction by logging

  What follows are extracts from the findings of an environmental and social impact assessment of logging operations in the west coast of Manus province, carried out in 1997 and during
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THE WORLD BANK, FORESTS AND PEOPLE

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  The World Bank’s broken promises on its forest policy review

  The World Bank’s Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy process (FPIRS) is entering its final stages. After having received input from numerous stakeholders throughout the world, the Bank suddenly appears
  (Read More)
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  New World Bank Resettlement Policy Is Flawed

  The World Bank has been drafting a new resettlement policy for the past three years. After a long period of external consultation, a revised policy has now finally been submitted
  (Read More)
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  Future Forest Policy must exclude GMO trees

  One of the issues that has not been addressed in the discussions about the World Bank’s future Forest Policy and Strategy is that of the Bank’s position regarding genetically modified
  (Read More)