The news of the release on September 9th. of the 20 Ogoni youths that had been held without charge since 1994, is a hope for reconciliation and peace in the abused and ravaged Niger Delta. The land, waters and the atmosphere of the Niger Delta have suffered, and continue to suffer much abuse and the presence of the occupation force officially known as the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force. Local people have been bearing the brunt of the adverse effects of oil exploration, exploitation and transportation, that have proved detrimental to the environment and to their livelihoods.
Bulletin articles
Gabon is one of the richest in biodiversity and less populated countries of Africa. Until a few years ago, 85% of its forests were primary rainforests, inhabited by indigenous peoples. However, the current development model --aimed at the exploitation of wood, oil, uranium and other minerals-- is rapidly destroying those rainforests.
In Bangladesh the remaining virgin rainforests are near to extinction. The whole Bangladesh mainland and its off-shore areas are gradually being leased for oil/gas explorations. Even the Sundarbans, considered a world heritage and the largest mangrove forest of the globe and only remaining habitat of royal bengal tiger is being occupied by the exploration activites of oil/gas companies.
The Sarawak State government and the Ministry of Resource Planning have recently proposed to constitute Protected Forest and/or Forest Reserves in the State, that would encroach on areas claimed as Native Customary Right (NCR) lands by the various native communities. The risk exists that the natives will find that their rights to their ancestral lands and forest will be extinguished in the process, without having been consulted.
Phoenix Pulp and Paper Company in Khon Kaen province in northeastern Thailand is the recipient of a large credit extended by the Finnish DIDC (Department of International Development Cooperation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs), former FINNIDA. Between 1990 and 1994 Scandinavian companies including Ahlstrom, Sunds Defibrator, Valmet and Jaakko Poyry delivered most of the machinery, equipment and services for the Phoenix P&P's second pulp line and waste water treatment plant.
Since the Indonesian government wants this country to become the first world exporter of oil palm --overcoming Malaysia-- this industry is currently undergoing a boom. To face the negative effects that oil palm plantations are producing at the local level on the environment and on peasants and their livelihoods, last July a group of Indonesian NGOs created Sawit Watch (see WRM bulletin nr. 14). Several actions have since then been carried out.
Vietnam is currently involved in a large scale "reforestation" programme. According to offical sources 850,000 hectares of trees were planted nationwide between 1993 and 1995. Large areas of the country have been covered with monoculture plantations, often for export as wood chips to Taiwan and Japan. This scheme is not aimed at attending the needs of farmers, villagers, or even the Vietnamese economy in the long run. The Vietnamese paper business is currently suffering a severe crisis, since more wood is being produced than the country's pulp processors can handle.
Last February in the village of Rosita, on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, representatives of the indigenous peoples Sumus and Miskitos, local and regional authorities, NGOs, community and religious leaders, met to consider the illegal activities of the Korean transnational company Kimyung, which operated through the subsidiary SOLCARSA, responsible for invading communal lands and destroying the forests and livelihoods of local people. The meeting approved a declaration demanding the inmediate suspension of the concession awarded to the company (see WRM Bulletin nr. 11).
Greenpeace has launched a virtual boat tour of Canada's endangered temperate rainforest. The site is intended to acquaint web surfers with this remote ancient forest and the impending threats it faces from clearcut logging.
We have received the sad news that a person was killed while trying to protect native forests being cut in Grizzly Creek by the timber company Pacific Lumber.
What follows are quotes from research carried out in the Bolivian Andes by Danish researcher Thor Hjarsen, who is one of our readers.
After a long struggle started in 1995, Brazilian NGOs and peasant organizations, with support from representatives of the Catholic church, succeeded in halting a megaproject of eucalyptus plantation in the state of Amapa in northern Brazil. The plan of Champion Paper and Cellulose. and its subsidiary Chamflora Amapa Agroflorestal Ltda to set up 100,000 hectares of eucalyptus, would have affected the lands and livelihoods of the peasants of the region.