Large-Scale Tree Plantations

Photo: credito: Greenpeace/Alex Yallop On 25 November 2013, the President of Cameroon issued three decrees granting 19,843 ha of native land to SGSustainable Oils Cameroon/Herakles Farms in southwest Cameroonfor the establishment of a large-scale oil palm plantation.

In the business world, “sustainability” promises, among other things, that economic activity does not violate the rights of the communities affected, and that future generations will be able to continue to benefit from the natural setting where the activity is practiced. NGOs, companies and governments who promote “sustainable forest management” (SFM) claim that this is possible to achieve in tropical forests, using certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as a guarantee.

The No REDD in Africa Network (NRAN) initiated the “Week of Action Against False Solutions”, from October 28 to November 4. The action, joined by the global convergence Reclaim Power! http://reclaimpower.net/, opposes the “dirty energy” and the companies who try to greenwash themselves with false solutions like REDD and other false solutions such as carbon trading, CDM, 'green economy', biodiversity offsets, CCS, geo-engineering and of course the big false solution- 'clean coal'.

   

   Also available in French We, members of communities affected by industrial monoculture oil palm plantations, including peasant movements, as well as other civil society organizations from Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia, and signatories to this declaration, met from 2 –5 November 2013 in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria,

For many years WRM has been denouncing the FSC certification of monoculture tree plantations. The scale of these monocultures is one of several reasons for such opposition. Large-scale tree plantations occupy vast areas of land leading to displacement of communities, they consume huge amounts of water and soil nutrients and require enormous amounts of agrochemicals. These characteristics make them intrinsically unsustainable and therefore they can’t be certified as ‘sustainable’.

Only available in Spanish -

New York, US -  On 21 September, the International Day of Action against Monoculture Tree Plantations [1], organizations, forest dependent communities, and Indigenous Peoples from around the globe will denounce industrial tree plantations due to their devastating social and ecological impacts.

Produced by WRM.

  Here in Indonesia, ever since a child entered the school, he/she has been familiar with “Merauke” through a patriotic song entitled “Dari Sabang Sampai Merauke” (lit. from Sabang to Merauke – from the westernmost to the easternmost part of Indonesia). The song talks about the unity and glory of Indonesia across its large and small islands reaching from Sabang, the westernmost part, to Merauke, the easternmost.

  Few places in Southeast Asia can match the distinction of Palawan, in the Philippines. This is home to seven protected areas, a declared “Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary” since 1967 and a “Mangrove Reserve” since 1981. UNESCO declared the whole Province a ‘Man and Biosphere Reserve’ in 1990.