Recursos Nicaraguenses y Australianos S.A. (RENAUSTRA), financed by the Australian companies Mars Geosciencies and Boss Resources Corp., is trying to develop its gold mining activities in the buffer area of the Bosawas Reserve, which is one of the largest remaining rainforests in Central America. This provoked concern among local people and environmental NGOs, which denounced that the sources of fresh water of the community of Luz de Bocay were in danger and that the company was trying to buy the favour of the population of that poor area.
Bulletin articles
NGO and Indigenous Peoples Organizations' representatives at the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests shared a common feeling in Geneva last May: that of frustration. At its third session, the IFF discussions seemed to be going nowhere; even worse, at times they appeared to be moving backwards. After a number of meetings, NGOs and IPOs decided to present a common statement to the IFF plenary, which began by saying:
Oil exploitation is responsible for the destruction of mangroves, local community displacement and suffering, as well as environmental degradation of water sources and soil in Nigeria. This depredation is usually accompanied by brutal actions against local community members and activists, during which armed corps constitute the executive arm of the companies. The Niger Delta is an area where oil prospection and exploitation are especially active.
International "aid for development" is a major cause of forest destruction in many countries. This is exemplified in the case of Cameroon by the European Union, which plans to give a 55 million ECU grant to the government for road projects in the Southern region of the country. Cameroon has not explained which roads are to be built or rehabilitated and no environmental impact assessment studies have been carried out for these projects.
The South African government announced last March that the state-owned timber plantations company SAFCOL, would be privatized. The company owns 332,000 hectares of commercial tree plantations and other assets valued at between 1 and 1.5 billion Rand (some160-250 million US dollars). Although a number of social concerns are said to be part of the move (job creation, human resources development, promoting greater diversity of ownership and developing downstream activities), the fact is that the true beneficiaries will be the large national and transnational corporations.
The expansion of monoculture tree plantations in the temperate region of the globe is provoking concern due to its negative effects on grasslands that are essential for the world's food production and biodiversity conservation. The shortage of water is one the most important negative effects of this development in temperate countries and South Africa is a good (bad) example.
After the seizure of the Pak Mun Dam in Ubon Ratchathani Province that occured on March 23th to the hands of five thousand people from eight different groups affected by existing or planned dams, false charges have been made against the demonstrators. The Government has alleged that opposition parties are supporting the demonstration, with the ultimate aim of bringing the government down.
As part of the 'reform movement' since President Suharto was ousted last May, the interim Indonesian government has introduced several important pieces of new legislation on natural resources exploitation. One of these is a controversial new Forestry Law.
Most fires that destroyed vast areas of the Indonesian tropical forest in 1997 were deliberately set by plantation companies to clear land. The government itself accused several companies as responsible for the fires. The consequences of the fires reached the regional level, producing concern in the neighbouring countries. Nevertheless, the most affected were local populations whose lands were apropriated by huge national and transnational corporations, converting forest and agricultural land into pulpwood or oil palm plantations (see WRM bulletin 9)
Pulp wood and oil palm plantations expansion in Indonesia has been a direct cause of forest destruction by land clearing. During the 80's the government promoted the creation of large-scale industrial pulp plantations of fast-growing species, mainly acacia, pinus and gmelina to feed the pulp and paper industry. At the beginning of this decade, as timber resources were becoming rapidly exhausted, oil palm began to be regarded by private companies and national authorities as an interesting commodity for export and plantations started to expand.
Friends of the Earth-Bangladesh is seeking international support to halt Sundarbans destruction. Sundarban is the largest mangrove in the world, situated in a land where three of Asia's mightiest rivers -the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna- mingle before flowing into the Bay of Bengal (see WRM Bulletin 15).
The Solomon Islands, an archipelago of Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean, are an independent state since 1978. The country's economy is based on agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Its territory has undergone a severe process of deforestation and consequent soil erosion in exposed areas. For example, in 1995 the government ordered the logging of all trees on Pavuvu island and their residents were relocated under protest. A relevant actor behind the scenes have been the forestry industry, concentrated in a few hands -mostly foreigners- and very influent over the national timber policy.