Bulletin Issue 9 – February 1998

As a response to a fax sent by the WRM International Secretariat requesting information about Baton Mittee, Nigerian activist arrested in connection with the Ogoni Day, we received the following letter from the Embassy of Nigeria in Buenos Aires: "Mr. Ricardo Carrere World Rain Forest Movement Re: Arrest of Baton Mittee in connection with Ogoni Day. 1. I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 28th January '98 on the above subject matter, and to inform you that its contents have been forwarded to appropriate authorities in Nigeria.

Concern is growing in Singapore and Malaysia that the region will again be smothered in smoke pollution from uncontrolled forest fires in Indonesia. Last year, such fires caused widespread health problems, disrupted air and sea traffic, and affected tourism in the region. Indonesian fires cannot merely by considered a "natural disaster" but the result of both an economic policy based upon the over-exploitation of natural resources and government corruption (see WRM Bulletin nr. 5). If the fires continue to gain a strong foothold in Indonesian Kalimantan and Sumatra, then Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand and the Philippines could see a repeat of the pollution that blotted out the sun for days at a time in the worst-affected areas between August and November 1997.

A Japanese tree planting tour group called "Green Mission" is planning to visit Malaysia in March 1998. The tour is organized by Kumon-Child Institute and Forest Culture Association of Japan, and backed up by the Ministry of Education of Japan, the Environment Agency of Japan, the Forest Agency of Japan, and the tourism department of the Malaysian Government. There will be around 60 children and adults participating in the tour. They will stay in Kuala Lumpur on the 25th, and then travel to other regions of the country, where tree planting activities will take place. A visit to elementary schools and to the mangroves area is also planned.

Oil industry is one of the most polluting worldwide and its activities have caused extensive damages in the Amazon. Now news from Asia arrive.

The communal forest of Totonicapan is located at an altitude of about 3,000 metres a.s.l at the mountain chain Sierra Madre del Sur in western Guatemala. The lowest side of the mountains used to be covered by native oak tree forests. Nowadays they have been substituted by pine trees. However, in the highest parts there still exist thick forests of white pine (Pinus ayacahuite) and fir (Abies guatemalensis) accompanied by a great variety of tropical forest species resistant to the cold.

The fishing community of Mehuin in the 10th Region of Chile is opposing the project of Celulosa Arauco y Constitucin S.A. (CELCO) -a huge pulp and paper company- to build a pulp mill coupled with a pipeline that would discharge toxic pollutants resulting from the production process in the bay where they live. More than 600 lts. of effluents a second would be poured into the waters, causing severe environmental effects on the population of fish that is the livelihhood of this community, and on their own health. The community of Mehuin has firmly stated that it even opposes the realization of an Environmental Impact Assessment and so has the Mapuche community, according to which those lands are protected by the Indigenous Law.

"The agreement between Rainforest Action Network, Mitsubishi Motor Sales America and Mitsubishi Electric America is a testament to the efficacy of consumer boycotts! In this age of corporate supremacy, this is an unprecedented success in consumer activism. The far reaching programs and the potential of grass roots movements to bring adversaries to the negotiating table will serve as the template for other consumers to stand up for their rights." - Ralph Nader, Consumer Rigths Advocate and 1996 Presidential Candidate A landmark agreement was announced February 11,1998 in an eight-year consumer boycott against Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America and Mitsubishi Electric America, major U.S. marketers of automobiles and electronic products.

We have received the following message from the Forest Peoples Programme, requesting assistance for preparing a document to submit to the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests at its July-August meeting, on 'Human Rights violations against Forest Campaigners': "This report will detail the oppression of indigenous peoples, other local communities and forest campaigners, by State agencies and commercial operators destroying forests all around the world. We hope to illustrate social and political issues of forests born from conflicts of interests between relatively powerless citizens as against big business and the government. The aim of the report then is to highlight the human aspects of forests and the way that peoples rights are being violated by economic interests.

The difficult process related to the definitive recognition ot the indigenous territorial rights in Aracruz seems to come to an end.

We have received the following statement from Sarawak with a request to circulate it as widely as possible: "The Bakun Region People's Committee (BRPC) urges the State government and the Bakun Resettlement Committee (BRC) to shelve the resettlement of the Bakun residents which is tentatively set for July this year, as announced recently by the Chairman of the BRC, YB Dr. James Masing. The BRPC makes this urgent appeal for the deferment of the resettlement exercise based on the following:-

Sarawak will open up some 50,000 hectares of land every year for the next few years to be developed into oil-palm plantations due to rising demand for edible oil. Business will be developed and managed jointly by state development agencies and publicly-listed companies that have the experience and expertise in plantations. According to the government, the state is prepared to invest heavily in the palm-oil sector (see WRM Bulletin nr. 8) because the products would remain attractive despite the economic downturn, as can be seen from the increasing demand for edible oil worldwide.

As was informed in WRM Bulletin Nr.5, a group of NGOs present at the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests' (IFF) first meeting in October 1997, initiated a solution-oriented process to address the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, to be considered by the IFF. A number of governments were approached and their reaction was very positive to the initiative. The government of Costa Rica officially accepted to host a global workshop by the end of 1988.

The WRM International Secretariat endorsed a letter sent by a number of environmental organizations to the FSC Board Committee on February 4th, requesting that the deadline of the comment period of Principle 9 (January 28th, 1998) is extended. Principle 9 deals with the issue of how and under what circumstances, the FSC should choose to endorse logging in primary and high conservation value forests. We supported the campaign of Brazilian NGOs against the weakening of the Environmental Crimes Act (PL 1.164). Unfortunately, President Fernando H. Cardozo, responding to pressure from big landowners and industry, finally partially vetoed the act approved by the Senate.