Two weeks ago, the WRM and Oilwatch disseminated an open letter to David Kaimowitz, Director of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), expressing our concern over a CIFOR research paper "which appears to give green credentials to two activities that are at the core of deforestation and forest degradation: oil and mining." (see letter at http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/oil/Cifor.html )
Bulletin articles
We have already reported extensively the pervasive environmental and social impacts that the Chad-Cameroon oil-pipeline is likely to have (see WRM Bulletins 66, 45, 41, 35, 14 and 2), but there's already a lot to be said of the present impacts of the three-year long World Bank-sponsored project to build a 670-mile pipeline. The pipeline will channel oil from fields in Chad, through thick rainforests inhabited by Pygmy people in Cameroon up to this country's shores at the Atlantic Ocean.
Madagascar is widely recognised as one of the most ecologically rich countries in the world, hosting unique plant and animal species. However, dating from French colonisation, the export-led production pattern was introduced in the country. Logging of primary rainforests for use in railroad construction and timber exports, and major forest clearance of the most fertile areas for cash-crop plantations was carried out, throwing a mainly subsistence farming society into famine and scarcity (see WRM Bulletin 66).
Sao Tome and Principe is an archipelago covering 1001 km², a tropical paradise located in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea, approximately 300 km from the west coast of Africa. It is made up of the islands of Sao Tome and Principe, which are 150 km apart. The islands of the Sao Tome and Principe archipelago are of volcanic origin, with steep slopes clothed in dense and varied vegetation due to the high rainfall. The country gained its independence from Portugal in 1975.
Senegal has announced it will not grant any new permits for quarrying and mining in the country's 233 forest conservation areas. The government of Abdoulaye Wade has said it will encourage companies already operating there to move out as part of efforts to reduce deforestation and protect the environment.
The Bangladeshi organisation BanglaPraxis, together with other local groups, have reacted against a reported move from Shell Bangladesh to conduct an aerial and seismic survey in the Sundarbans mangrove forest from September 27.
The "Coalition to oppose mining in Indonesia's protected areas" has issued a media release to expose how mining activities are encountering strong and mounting opposition at various levels. The Coalition is composed of the following ten groups: JATAM; WALHI-Friends of the Earth; Indonesian Center for Environment Law; WWF Indonesia; Kehati; PELANGI; Forest Watch Indonesia; MPI; POKJA PSDA; PELA.
Electricité de France has pulled out of the Nam Theun 2 dam project in Laos. EDF announced its departure on 17 July 2003, a day before the consortium developing the dam, the Nam Theun 2 Power Company, was to have signed a power purchasing agreement with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).
The French state-owned EDF was the biggest investor in the proposed dam. In June 2001, EDF and Harza Engineering (now Montgomery Watson Harza) formed a joint venture as head contractor to build the dam.
Two plantations managed by Thailand's Forest Industry Organisation (FIO) are currently certified as well managed under the Forest Stewardship Council system (see WRM Bulletins 48 and 64).
Around the year 2002, the forests in the department of Olancho were being devastated by the action of logging companies. Forest destruction was done to feed many saw-mills (both legal and illegal), and in some of them, several parliamentarians were directly involved. While the companies got richer, the local populations received the impact of timber exploitation, in particular the disappearance of water resulting from felling the forest and the ceasing of its function regulating the water cycle.
The Second Meso-American Forum against Dams "For the Peoples' Water and Life" was held from 17 to 20 July in Honduras. One hundred and fifty delegates participated, "concerned over the increasing invasion by dam-building projects imposed by large transnational companies and multilateral bodies, in partnership with the corrupt governments of the Meso-American region."
Chiapas, in southern Mexico, is home to peasants, mestizos and indigenous Tzontal, Tzontzil, Chole, Zoque and Tojolabal peoples. There, bananas, cacao, sugar cane, and rice are planted. Each family has its own agricultural plot, where they plant maize and beans for subsistence.