Bulletin Issue 58 – May 2002

OURVIEWPOINT

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  The road to Johannesburg

  The last preparatory conference for the World Summit on Sustainable Development is now taking place in Bali, Indonesia and people around the world are increasingly concerned about the process and
  (Read More)

LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS

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  Central Africa: Logging one of the world’s largest areas of primary rainforest

  Six Central African countries –Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire), Cameroon and the Central African Republic– share the rainforest ecosystem of the Congo Basin,
  (Read More)
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  Kenya: Forest degradation and the way ahead for conservation efforts

  Environmental degradation seems to have taken a sad toll in Kenya. As many as 12 people were killed in a landslide at Kanyakine, Meru Central District, where deforestation has laid
  (Read More)
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  Liberia: The long chain of responsibility in forest destruction

  Liberia is a biodiversity rich country with rocky cliffs and lagoons facing the Atlantic Ocean, with plains covered by forests and savannahs, and rainforests in the highlands, crossed by rapids
  (Read More)
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  Tanzania: Community-based forest management as a way forward for conservation

  Biodiversity rich and varied African ecosystems, including tropical rainforests in central and western regions, were disrupted when the European powers landed and encroached on those territories. This disruption extended to
  (Read More)
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  The Pulp Invasion: The international pulp and paper industry in the Mekong Region

  Over the last decade the area of fast-growing tree plantations in the Mekong region has expanded dramatically. Villagers throughout the region have seen their forests, fallows and grazing lands replaced
  (Read More)
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  Malaysia: The long struggle of the Penan of Sarawak to protect their forest

  In the mid 1980s, the plight of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak got visibility when they staged peaceful protests against depletion of their home –the forest– to logging activities or
  (Read More)
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  Philippines: Lessons on gender from community based forest management

  Many community-based forest management projects are implemented in the Philippines aiming at increasing community involvement in forest management and at providing employment and livelihood. Although there are many examples of
  (Read More)
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  Sri Lanka: The Forestry establishment still does not understand a forest

  Together with many other organizations, we have once and again insisted on the need to remove tree plantations from the definition of forest, for the simple reason that plantations are
  (Read More)
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  Guatemala: Opposition to highway project threatening forest area

  In Guatemala deforestation processes are in rapid acceleration; every year around 90,000 hectares of forests are lost and less than twenty percent of the original forest cover is left. The
  (Read More)
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  Argentina: A forestry company invades Guarani community lands in Misiones

  For many years now the indigenous Mbya Guarani communities from the villages of Tekoa Yma and Capii Yvaté (Pepiri Guazu) have been inhabiting lands located at El Soberbio, in the
  (Read More)
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  Bolivia: Peasants and indigenous peoples march in favour of the right to natural resources

  Starting at different points of Bolivia, peasants and indigenous peoples have been carrying out marches in favour of the right to lands and natural resources, arriving in the city of
  (Read More)
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  Brazil: Aracruz Celulose is now facing problems in two states

  After five weeks of functioning, the Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry (CPI), created to investigate irregularities related to Aracruz´ activities in the state of Espirito Santo, has already revealed a large
  (Read More)
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  Ecuador: Clashes between indigenous group and loggers in the Amazon

  Tragic events have recently taken place at the mouth of the Babataro river in Tiguino, the thick Amazon Pastaza basin, resulting in the death of an indigenous inhabitant and of
  (Read More)
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  Aotearoa/New Zealand: Carter Holt Harvey the worst transnational corporation

  In April, the fifth edition of the Roger Award took place. This prize is given to the worst transnational corporation operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand and is organized by the Campaign
  (Read More)
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  Samoa: Eucalyptus vaccine for logging virus?

  The Pacific Ocean country of Samoa includes the islands of Savai’i, Upolu, Apolina and Manono, the two former being the largest and more populated. As in many other countries, forests
  (Read More)

PLANTATIONS CAMPAIGN

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  The “tree armies” as seen by Eduardo Galeano

  Eduardo Galeano, one of the most profound and committed writers on the situation of Latin America and its peoples, is widely known within and outside the continent for his classic
  (Read More)
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  Playing God with trees for money making

  On July 20, 1999, Biogenetic S.A., a joint venture between Fundacion Chile (Santiago, Chile) and InterLink biotechnologies, (Princeton, NJ) announced the creation of a new venture for the development of
  (Read More)