Bulletin Issue 67 - February 2003

The World Social Forum surpassed all expectations. Fifty thousand people were expected and some 100,000 attended. Participation in the numerous activities organised in Porto Alegre was very active and we all came out strengthened in our endeavour to work for "another world is possible," as announced by the Forum. Regarding forests and plantations, the objective set out in our previous editorial was achieved: that of incorporating the issue in the Forum, which was done during a series of important events. Among these, we would like to highlight the Forest Strategy Meeting, the Workshop on Tree Monocultures and a meeting in which a network against tree monoculture was established.

"We are born in the forest and we do everything there, gather, hunt and fish. Where do they want us to make our lives? They say we cannot go to the forest - where are we supposed to live?" Baka community member from the Lobéké and Boumba region.

Some years ago, wildlife photographer and bushmeat activist Karl Ammann had presented World Bank's President Wolfensohn with evidence linking industrial logging with the commercialisation of the bush meat trade throughout most of Central Africa. Wolfensohn replied that "preventing the types of abuses you describe is a clear responsibility of the industry, as well as the government authorities concerned." On December 2002, Karl Ammann replicated with an open letter. He denounces that in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the World Bank appears to be on the front line of assisting with a proposed massive reactivation of the forestry sector.

The total number of hunter-gatherer Mbuti 'Pygmies' who live in the Ituri tropical forest is not known, although it has been estimated at 30,000 occupying 50% of the 37,860 sq km of Mambasa. Their existence is already extremely fragile: their land rights are not recognised either in law or in the customary rights systems of neighbouring peoples, and the authorities of the 13,000 sq km Okapi Wildlife Reserve no longer permit them to hunt large game. Instead, they survive by hunting small animals and bartering labour, firewood and game with the surrounding Bantu in exchange for food.

Two different natural ecosystems go to make up the Popenguine-Guéréo natural reserve, located 45 km to the south of Dakar, capital of Senegal: a continental part with rugged hills covered by a primary forest and a maritime part, mainly consisting of a rocky habitat where fish come to spawn. The zone was classified in 1986 as a natural reserve with a view to reversing degradation from deforestation, depletion of meadows and successive droughts that had led to a considerable loss of biodiversity.

For the global pulp and paper group Sappi, money does grow on trees. Indeed, the company's latest annual report suggests that it grows most efficiently in South Africa. The report noted that Sappi's southern Africa division, Sappi Forest Products, represented 15% of group sales, but contributed 36% to the group's operating profits in the year to September 2002. "We have an extraordinarily low cost base in South Africa, which has unique competitive advantages in fibre production because of the speed at which trees grow and low inherent energy costs," the report noted.

First commissioned in 1964, the World-Bank funded Bhumiphol dam in Tak province, north west Thailand, has never operated to its full capacity. In March 1994, the reservoirs behind the Bhumiphol and Sirikit dams (both World Bank-funded) contained only 7 per cent of their total usable volume. The Thai government's answer is to propose yet more dams on the Salween River, on the Thai-Burma border in order to divert water into the Bhumiphol reservoir.

The reopening of the PT Inti Indorayon Utama paper and rayon pulp mill, in Porsea, North Sumatra, has caused strong local opposition to resume. The factory is located at the centre of a densely populated district near to Lake Toba, one of the largest fresh water reservoirs in South East Asia, and releases pollutants, often unfiltered, into the environment, pollutes the water and air in the region and destroys the local Batak population's basis for life. During the 1990s, scientific evidence demonstrated that the mill was responsible for the damage caused to the health of the local population: skin diseases, respiratory illnesses and damage to the nervous system are consequences of the production of pulp and rayon.

Last year, presumably in an attempt to clean up its tarnished image, the World Bank produced a glossy brochure: "10 things you never knew about the World Bank". Number seven on the list is the claim, "The World Bank is a leader in the fight against corruption worldwide." The brochure adds, "The World Bank is working to fully integrate governance and anticorruption measures into its planning and operational work. The Bank is also committed to ensuring that the projects it finances are free from corruption."

Even though in 1992 the local government on the island of Palawan cancelled the concessions granted to logging companies (see WRM Bulletin 38) in an attempt to curb the destruction and degradation of the country's forests, it did not halt the threat to the integrity of the indigenous communities in the Philippines. There are also mining companies endeavouring to carry out their business in spite of the opposition of local communities and warnings about the environmental damage their activities will cause.

In the framework of the World Social Forum, representatives of Latin American NGOs got together to discuss the possibility of coordinating efforts with respect to the growing problem of tree monocultures. During this meeting, the factors promoting territorial occupation by monocultures aimed at timber, cellulose fibre and palm oil production were analysed, together with factors limiting this occupation.

By Cabinet decree 123 of 4 December 2002, the government of Panama decided to "excuse the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) from the requisite of selecting contractors and authorise it to hire CUSA (Constructora Urbana S.A) directly for the design, funding and construction of the ecological highway Boquete-Cerro Punta." This is the construction of a highway through Paso del Respingo which would cross the National Baru Volcano and La Amistad International Parks, violating the protected status of the zone. The highway is to be located along the route of the Quetzals' Trail and, according to the company, will cost 7.5 million dollars. The justification for direct hiring is the urgency of making the most of the dry season.

Mexico has joined a model giving priority to the needs of transnational industrial capital demand, aimed at exportation. The environmental policy and rights of the indigenous and peasant peoples are subordinated to this demand (see WRM Bulletin 14).

The inhabitants of Esquel, a small Argentine town in the Province of Chubut, have been undertaking an important struggle in defence of their forests and their environment. An increasing number of the city's inhabitants, together with inhabitants of the Andean region and regional and national organisations are opposing an open cast mine project and the installation of a cyanide processing plant for gold mining, to be located at eight kilometres from this town, which is surrounded by lakes and millenary larch trees.

In a document prepared in the framework of FOMABO (Forestry Management in the Tropical Lands of Bolivia) --a project arising from an agreement between the KVL University of Denmark and UAGRM-UMSS Universities of Bolivia, with the support of DANIDA-- the main characteristics of community-based forest management related with the multiples uses given to forests by the indigenous peoples have been identified. In native understanding, the forest is the "big house" of the indigenous being "for indigenous peoples, the forest is what a supermarket is for non-indigenous peoples," where they are supplied with all the necessary goods and food and where the different labour and socio-cultural relations are concentrated.

Presented as a "clean" source of energy that does not contaminate the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, as in the case of oil or natural gas, obtaining hydroelectric energy by building dams continues to advance along the Xingu river, the last of the great Amazon rivers in good state of conservation.

The Green Party is concerned at the reported aggressive comments of US company, which outline its plans to grow genetically engineered (GE) redwood trees in New Zealand. The timber company, Soper-Wheeler, has said it intends to start planting genetically engineered seedlings from the US in its South Island plantation in August. This is despite New Zealand's moratorium on commercial release of GE not being due to be lifted till October. The company says the harvested logs would be sent to mills in the US. Green Party Forestry Spokesperson Ian Ewen-Street said today it was outrageous that a company from another country thought it could just ignore the laws and regulations that helped make our country clean and green.

A National Workshop on the Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Samoa was held on 17 - 21 December, 2002, in the Village of Aopo, Island of Savaii, organised by Ole Siosiomaga Society Inc. (OLSSI) and hosted by the Global Forest Coalition.

As governments at the 7th Conference of the Parties to the climate change convention, COP7, in Marrakesh in 2001, put the final touches on the decision that made carbon sink projects eligible for credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a group of NGOs formed SinksWatch, an initiative to track and scrutinize carbon sink projects related to the Kyoto Protocol.

Here follows a Call to Action by the International Rivers Network: We invite you to participate in the 6th Annual International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life on March 14th, 2003. This is a time to act in solidarity to celebrate our rivers, protest destructive development, and enjoy the successes of last year. Join the movement for healthy rivers and communities by planning an event or attending an action near you. From campaigning for thriving fisheries and clean water to taking down bad dams, we continue to push our causes forward. Join us on March 14th to show the world that we are standing together in the fight for living rivers and the rights of communities over their natural resources.

The environment department at Skanska, one of the world's largest construction firms, has announced that it is to pull out of dam-building. On 4 February 2003, Skanska's vice President Sustainability, Axel Wenblad revealed that after a strategic review at the company, "We will not be involved in new hydropower projects in the future." Wenblad said that the review was carried out at the request of the company's new CEO, Stuart Graham. In January, a Skanska press release stated that during 2003 to 2004 Skanska would, "Exit Business Unit Skanska International Projects, a project export business . . . The nine on-going projects will be completed - but no new business will be entered."