World Rainforest Movement
For years forest activists have focused their attention –and rightly so– on the World Bank’s role in forest destruction. Those efforts have to a certain extent been instrumental in the (Read More)
The dense, moist forests of the Central African Republic cover about four million hectares. Although the country has maintained loan arrangements with the IMF dating back to the 1980’s, it (Read More)
For over a decade, the Ivory Coast has been under the influence of IMF structural adjustment programs, of which intensification of exports has been a significant factor. The 1990s saw (Read More)
Beginning in 1983, Ghana has been implementing IMF structural adjustment programs focused on export-led growth, which has included measures to devalue the currency and remove various barriers to trade. While (Read More)
Called the “naturalist’s promised land” by French explorer Phillippe de Commerson in 1771, Madagascar is one of the most ecologically rich countries in the world. Twelve thousand species are found (Read More)
A project is in progress to build a number of roads in Kachin State in return for huge logging concessions. While improving and expanding the infrastructure in Kachin State is (Read More)
Tapping trees for resins has a long history in Southeast Asia. The traditional tapping practice involves cutting a hole in the base of the trunk and using fire to stimulate (Read More)
As we had reported in our last bulletin (December 2001), the possibility of a moratorium on logging was looming on Cambodian timber industry’s horizon, which had previously attempted a “voluntary (Read More)
Last year the Vietnam Paper Corporation (Vinapimex) announced an ambitious plan to expand the pulp and paper industry in Vietnam. With a total cost of more than US$1 billion, the (Read More)
The Belize National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) announced in November 2001 that the government has granted environmental clearance for the construction of a proposed hydro-scheme (see WRM bulletin 44) slated (Read More)
The Mexican authorities themselves have recognised, through the Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the seriousness of the Mexican situation in terms of forest loss. On 3 December (Read More)
Ted Williams, author of the excellent article on the impacts of monoculture pine tree plantations in Southern US (“False Forests”, Mother Jones magazine, http://bsd.mojones.com/mother_jones/MJ00/false_forests.html ), has now published an equally (Read More)
As a result of successful campaigning efforts in the state of Espirito Santo –where Aracruz Cellulose has its huge pulp mill and most of its eucalyptus plantations– the state Parliament (Read More)
On 27 December 2001, the Colombian Inter-Congregational Justice and Peace Commission sent the President of the Republic, Doctor Andrés Pastrana Arango and other national authorities a letter in which, among (Read More)
Since the 2nd of January, the inhabitants of local communities, students and environmentalists have been carrying out a permanent and peaceful occupation of the most fragile zone of the Los (Read More)
The Department of Rio Negro, located in the western side of Uruguay, presently has 70,510 hectares of plantations (mainly eucalyptus) which makes it one of the Departments having more tree (Read More)
Mining operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are part of the IMF backed policy which opens the country to foreign investments for the unsustainable export-driven exploitation of natural resources. The (Read More)
A new report clearly links the disappearance of the world’s forests with the horrifying catalogue of human rights abuses taking place as a result of conflicts between forest peoples and (Read More)
What follows is a letter circulated by Fern, explaining the objectives of the EU Forest Forum and inviting interested organizations to join: Dear friends, As most of you know, we (Read More)