Germany

A new report by German NGO Urgewald on the social and environmental impacts of the pulp industry is now available. The report “Banks, Pulp and People – A Primer on Upcoming International Pulp Projects”, produced by Chris Lang, describes the impacts of the industry, analyses the track records of the companies involved and looks at new expansions in the sector. The report is available on Urgewald's new website: www.pulpmillwatch.org , which documents the problems caused by existing operations and flags upcoming problematic projects.

United Fiber System's plans to build a pulp empire in Kalimantan received a blow in January 2006, when Deutsche Bank confirmed that it has pulled out of its role as financial advisor to UFS. Five months ago, UFS announced that it had appointed Deutsche Bank's Singapore Branch as Financial Advisor on a proposed acquisition of the Kiani Kertas pulp mill in East Kalimantan. Michael Hoelz, Deutsche Bank's managing director, confirmed in a statement to German NGOs that "Deutsche Bank no longer holds a mandate with UFS".

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was founded in 1993, with the mission of promoting "environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. FSC forest management standards are based on FSC's 10 Principles and Criteria of responsible forest management." Unfortunately, the FSC decided to also include tree plantations within its scope and this has resulted in widespread criticism, particularly in the South, where many local communities and NGOs are opposing the spread of large-scale tree plantations.

A second joint letter from international environmental and human rights organisations is being circulated urging the head of the financing German bank, the Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), the Prime minister of the German Federal State Nordrhein Westfalen, NRW (the main shareholder of WestLB), and the two responsible ministers for finances and economy in NRW, to stop the financial support to the Ecuadorian oil megaproject OCP (Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados). (to see the full text of the letter please go to: http://wrm.org.uy/alerts/september01.html)

"People in the Rainforest of Ecuador" is an exhibition currently running in Frankfurt's municipal botanical garden, the Palmengarten. The exhibition describes some of the vast knowledge indigenous people have of plants and ecosystems in the rainforest. The posters advertising the exhibition are sponsored by Aventis CropScience and feature the company's name and logo. As a piece of public relations it is brilliant. Aventis CropScience hopes to gain from having its name associated with indigenous expertise.

This statement, endorsed by a large number of mainly international organizations, was released during the UN climate summit in Bonn (July 16-27) and warned "against a further weakening and distortion of the Kyoto Protocol, as governments try to accommodate the irresponsible position of the US (and a growing number of other countries)."

The issue of the environmental services that Southern countries can provide to Northern countries to mitigate the effects of global climate change is controversial. On the one hand there is the question of environmental justice at the global level, since those countries that are most responsible for the dangerous alteration of climate on Earth, instead of addressing the causes that are provoking it -for instance the unsustainable energy use and the huge emissions of CO2 by industry- are looking for doubtful and partial solutions, that can be bought for a low price in the South.

At the inauguration of the international boat exhibition "Hanseboot" in Hamburg on October 25, activists from various ecologist NGOs inflated a 50 feet long, 17 feet high chainsaw, claiming "Mahogany is Murder!" and "No Teak on my deck!". In their statement "Hanseboot kills forests" over 30 organisations from Germany, England, Switzerland and Cameroon called on importers, builders and consumers to stop the plundering of the rainforests and to use only tropical timber which has been independently certified.