The expansion of the paper industry worldwide is provoking severe social and environmental problems through three types of activities which are part of its production chain: the chipping of native forests, the plantation of extensive monocultures --that generally follow the previous clearcutting of the forest-- and the pollution of water and air caused by the industrial process itself.
Bulletin articles
Forests of Cambodia are being menaced by Vietnamese loggers (see WRM Bulletin 18). However, this not the only problem that Cambodian forests are facing. Half of the mangroves of the province of Koh Kong have been cleared either for shrimp farming or for high quality charcoal production. Of the province's original 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest, only 5,000 remain nowadays. Five years ago, the Ministry of the Environment had warned that the clearing of the mangroves would irreparably damage fisheries and wildlife in the area.
Industrial shrimp pools are increasingly occupying mangroves areas (see article above and the one related to Ecuador in this issue) and agricultural lands in many Southern countries. Their expansion is being strongly resisted by local peasants who have to suffer repression together with the loss of their land and livelihood. Sometimes peasants are forced to become exploited workers at the service of the companies. One example is coming from Indonesia.
For years, environmentalists have accused Indorayon's paper and rayon pulp factory (PT IIU) in Porsea, near Lake Toba in North Sumatra, of polluting the lake and its rivers, clearing the surrounding forests and setting up monoculture plantations of eucalyptus and acacia to obtain raw material. Countless demonstrations and protests have accompanied the company's activity and an Indonesian NGO (WALHI) even brought up a court case against both the company and the government which sanctioned its construction in 1989, for the high level of pollution it was provoking.
Carmelita and Uaxactun are two communities who for over 80 years have been living within the boundaries of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala (created in 1989), which is currently menaced by oil concessions. The Reserve involves an area of 16,000 sq.km, and constitutes the largest protected tropical forest in the country. Both communities have traditionally lived on the extraction of “xate” (Chamaedorea spp.), the exploitation of "chicle" (chewing gum, Manilkara achras) and the commercial use of pepper (Pimenta dioica), having established a sustainable use pattern of the resources.
At the end of October and the beginning of November 1998, the Northwestern region of Nicaragua was devastated by hurricane Mitch. The consequences of this natural disaster were enhanced by the extreme vulnerability of the country, by the lack of organization to face this kind of phenomena and by a historically unsustainable use of the land. For example, in the Western Region almost 80% of the rivers have dried up during the last 30 years because of the felling of dry tropical forests (see article below).
The Nicaraguan territory lies in a zone of the Earth especially prone to natural phenomena such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Their consequences are generally presented as the result of the rage of nature, without taking into account that the negative effects of natural agents depends not only upon their intensity but also on the vulnerability of the affected society and territory.
Statistics of year 1997 show that the deforestation rate in Costa Rica reached 16,400 hectares a year while the reforestation rate was by that time of 12,600 hectares a year. These figures could make us think that there is only a slightly negative balance in annual forest cover. Nevertheless it needs to be underscored that “reforestation” is based upon monocultures of exotic species as gmelina, teak and pine, and the regrowth of secondary forests, while primary forests continue to disappear.
Critics to tree plantations mostly refer to eucalyptus or pine monocultures and to their negative environmental and social impacts. Here we present a different case, based on interesting comments whose more relevant fragments we transcribe- we have received related to a recently published book on a teak plantation project in Costa Rica, written by Dr. P. Romeijn:
The Chilean forestry model has been publicized as an example of modern forestry development and has been exported as such to the countries of the region. However, such forestry development style, implemented during the military dictatorship and resulting in economic concentration, the displacement of thousands of peasants and indigenous people and negative environmental impacts is now being severely challenged --through direct actions-- by those affected. In this case, by the Mapuche indigenous peoples.
Indigenous communities of the Sierra de Perija and a group of organizations gathered at the Federacion Ecologista del Zulia are calling for a national march to denounce the problems that are affecting indigenous peoples in that country. The demonstration, that is being organized simultaneously in Caracas, Maracaibo, Trujillo, Barinas, Cabimas and Machiques, will take place next Earth Day (22 April)
Oil prospection and exploitation is one of the most destructive activities affecting tropical forests and local communities worldwide. He are happy to announce that -at last- something positive has happened in Ecuador, where the Government has issued two decrees declaring the territory of Tagarei (773,220 hectares) and the zone of Imuya in Cuyabeno (435,000 hectares) as protected areas in perpetuity.