The UNFF must acknowledge that plantations are not forests
The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) will be meeting in Geneva from 26 May to 6 June. NGOs and IPOs have expressed some of their concerns to the UNFF (Read More)
Bulletin Issue 70 – May 2003
OUR VIEWPOINT
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
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Cameroon: Baka Livelihoods Damaged by EU-funded Protected Areas
The Dja Faunal Reserve in South Central Cameroon was created in 1950 by the French High Commission for Cameroon. In 1981 it was named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and in (Read More)
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Rwanda: Indigenous Batwa Opening Channels of Cooperation with Conservation
In 1925 King Albert 1st of Belgium created a Protected Volcano Zone covering present Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and this later became Albert National Park. In 1960 (Read More)
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Swaziland: Paper mill pollutes river and people
Residents south of the Matsapha Industrial Estate, where the nation’s manufacturing sector is based, recently complained of ailments resulting from the consumption of “poison” water from the Lusushwana river. The (Read More)
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Uganda: Will oil solve or increase the country’s problems?
Recently, a joint venture company between Heritage Oil & Gas –a subsidiary of the Canadian-based Heritage Oil Corp– and South Africa’s Energy Africa have announced the preliminary results from trial (Read More)
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China: Following the trite pattern of monoculture tree plantations
The Great Leap Forward in 1958 and the Cultural Revolution had thwarted in China the establishment of high yield timber plantations put forward in the late 1950s by the Chinese (Read More)
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India: Adivasis shot for claiming their ancestral homeland
A longstanding land conflict by the Adivasi indigenous people gave rise in January this year to a toll of some 15-20 (unconfirmed) Adivasis killed and some 32 injured by armed (Read More)
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Laos: Villagers Mount Unprecedented Protest Against Dam in Laos
Late last year, some 40 ethnic Hmong men from Ban Phou Khao Khouay marched to the Nam Mang 3 dam site armed with sticks and guns, and demanded to speak (Read More)
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Thailand: Eucalyptus, encroachment, deforestation and pollution linked to pulp and paper company
Advance Agro, one of Thailand’s largest pulp and paper companies, markets its “Double A” brand paper as environmentally friendly. The company’s advertising explains that the raw material comes from plantations (Read More)
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Guatemala: Deliberate fires raze tropical forest and serve logging interests
Thousands of hectares of forest were razed by the flames in a series of forest fires, which during March and April swept uncontrollably through the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the (Read More)
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Panama: Kuna People denounce a development model that has divested them of their natural resources
On 13, 14 and 15 April, coinciding with the celebration of the First Centenary of the Republic of Panama, the Kuna People feel that their ancestral rights have not yet (Read More)
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United States: International GE tree campaign target International Paper
Genetically engineered trees represent a global threat to native forests and biodiversity as a whole. Traits such as herbicide resistance, insecticide production, rapid growth and reduced lignin content coupled with (Read More)
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Brazil: Plantar’s eucalyptus plantations, carbon credits and local people
A letter with over 50 signatures from Brazilian NGOs, churches, movements and trade unions was sent to investors of the World Bank’s Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) on 26 March 2003, (Read More)
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Chile: Urgent need to reorient forestry policy from tree monocultures to forests
In these times of increasingly fast processes linked to technological development, we are also witnessing an equally vertiginous loss of natural resources due to over-exploitation enabling a way of production, (Read More)
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Colombia: Oil palm plantation project threatens biodiversity in the Choco
The Choco region (an area of 75,000 km2 on the Colombian Pacific coast) is a strategic ecosystem due to its natural and cultural diversity and shows the greatest concentration of (Read More)
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Ecuador: The people said no to plantations at a ministerial meeting
In nearly all countries, large scale monoculture tree plantations have been imposed and implemented once the laws of each country have been changed in such a way as to enable (Read More)
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Solomon Islands: Tribal lands fall prey to loggers
Logging companies are being warned of people presenting documents to them which may appear to have tribal and provincial government approvals. The warning came from former president of West Big (Read More)
GENERAL
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ADB’s Draft Forest Policy: Putting Profits before People
Every time the Asian Development Bank lends money on a project it creates a problem for the government receiving the loan. The project must make money in order that the (Read More)
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World Bank Takes Low Road on Water Policy
In February, the World Bank approved a new Water Resources Sector Strategy (WRSS). The strategy says the Bank needs to shrug off its critics and boost spending on big dams (Read More)