Responding to a request of the U.S.-based independent electrical power producer Applied Energy Services Inc. (AES), in 1988 the World Resources Institute identified and evaluated forestry projects to compensate the carbon dioxide emissions of the company's new coal-fired powerplant in Connecticut, expected to emit about 14.1 million tonnes of carbon over its 40-year lifespan.
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In the last decades several South American countries have been the scenario of the expansion of tree monocultures --basically eucalyptus and pines-- mostly devoted to pulp production. The newly created carbon market can mean a renewed push to further expand this activity, this time with a new or additional purpose. In fact, forestry companies and some governments are very enthusiastic about the idea of using part of the already existing plantations and installing new ones to serve as carbon sinks.
The Oilwatch network will be holding its International Assembly in Durban, South Africa, on 1-2 August. The Assembly will be preceeded by a preconference on "Dictatorships and Oil" (28-29th of July 2000). During their meetings, the Oilwatch people will be addressing the problems generated by the oil industry in the tropics and the ways forward to support local peoples resisting it. For further information, please contact the network's International Secretariat
Fundación Beteguma is a Colombian NGO, with headquarters in Quibdó at the Pacific coast region, which seeks to promote the social, cultural and environmental development of the Biogeographic Chocó through activities of research, conservation and sustainable production involving local communities. The Chocó is one of the few biodiversity hotspots in the world and is suffering a process of environmental degradation because of illegal logging and mining, as well as abuses to human rights.
In May this year, the WRM held a meeting in the Mount Tamalpais area near San Francisco, California. Among many other important issues, the meeting addressed the increasing pressure to promote large scale tree plantations as a means to "offset" carbon dioxide emissions, and issued a Declaration detailing the reasons for opposing such approach.
Following an existing trend at the global level, oil companies in Argentina have enthusiastically embraced the idea of entering the carbon permits market, as an effective way to increase their profits and revamp their image to the eyes of public opinion: from the bad guys responsible for global warming to champions of forest conservation!
The expansion of tree monocultures in Tasmania -which is paradoxically the centre of origin of Eucalyptus globulus, one of the most widely used species for establishing monocultures throughout the world- under the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol is provoking widespread concern in Australia.
Forestry companies worldwide are enthusiastically trying to implement the idea of establishing tree plantations in Southern countries under the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, allegedly as a way of sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere to mitigate the effects of global warming ... and of making good profits at the same time. Even if presented as "environmentally friendly", the whole idea of plantations as carbon sinks is based on weak scientific arguments and does not constitute an effective way of reducing CO2 concentrations in the air.
Genetically engineered trees are a new threat pending on native forests and other ecosystems worldwide. The development of "Frankentrees" is being promoted by joint-ventures formed by biotechnology, chemical and paper giants, together with some of the world's largest landowners. Monsanto -which has a long dark history in the field of genetically engineered food- ForBio, International Paper, Fletcher Challenge Forests, GenFor, Canada Interlink, Silvagen, the Chilean Development Agency, Shell and Toyota are some of the firms involved in the development of this technology.
The Tupinikim and Guaraní of Espirito Santo, Brazil, have been struggling for years against powerful Aracruz Celulose in order to defend their traditional lands, that the company started to occupy in 1967. After having suffered intimidation and violence to the hands of the company and the military, and having taken direct actions of occupation of the lands that historically belong to them, in April 1998 the Tupinikim and Guaraní were forced into signing an agreement with the company, which was valid for a period of 20 years.
The World Bank is not a monolithic structure and many staff members are increasingly aware about the impacts that large-scale tree monocultures have on people and the environment. However, there are signs that within the Bank's higher hierarchies there is a will to promote such plantations, either as carbon sinks or as providers of raw material for the paper, timber and palm oil industries.