The "environmentally concerned" French car producer Peugeot, decided to do something about the global warming effect of the millions of cars it produces. Of course, nothing as radical as switching to a different source of fuel. Instead, it decided to go the easy way: to plant "carbon sequestering" trees in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. The project began to be implemented last year, with the aim of converting 12,000 hectares of "degraded" pastures into plantations.
Other information
The promotion of tree plantations as a means of combating global warming has received all kinds of criticism. On the one hand, plantations do not relieve pressures from forests -which are carbon reservoirs- but constitute a direct cause of their destruction. According to a satellite image analysis, in the 1980s, 75% of the new tree plantations in Southern countries in the tropics were made by replacing natural forest that had existed there ten years earlier.
Joint ventures of giant corporations created to carry out research in the tree biotechnology field are mushrooming as the global paper demand increases and tree plantations are regarded as possible carbon sinks by the Kyoto Protocol. Environmental groups -such as the recently formed GE-Free Forests (GEFF)- and representatives of the academic sector have already expressed their concern on the impacts of these "Terminator" or "Frankentrees" and this concern has even led to direct action (see WRM Bulletin 26).
Our last bulletin was entirely dedicated to the Plantations Campaign, where we gave a broad overview of the problem and the major actors involved, complemented with a number of suggestions for action at different levels. Since then we have received numerous replies and requests for information from all over the world, showing that plantations are a widespread problem in a large number of countries.
The increase in the international demand for industrial wood and paper, coupled with the idea that tree plantations can be used as carbon sinks to counter the greenhouse effect, are being used by the biotechnology industry as arguments for the promotion of genetically modified trees, especially commercially valuable and fast-growing species such as eucalyptus, pines and poplars.
The WRM has just published two new plantations campaign briefings ("Pulpwood Plantations: a Growing Problem" and "Ten Replies to Ten Lies") which are available free of charge from the International Secretariat. NGOs, IPOs and community-based organizations can request more than one copy, also free of charge. The first briefing is a summarized version of "Pulping the South" and is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese. The second briefing counters the 10 main arguments used worldwide by plantations promoters and is also available in Spanish.
"Pulping the South: industrial tree plantations and the world paper economy.", by Carrere, R. & Lohmann, L. Book. Published by Zed Books, UK. Provides a detailed overview of the pulp and paper industry, the actors supporting it, its social and environmental impacts and case studies in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, Indonesia and Thailand. Available at the publishers. Southern NGOs can also request a copy free of charge from the WRM International Secretariat.
"Tree plantations: impacts and struggles." (also in paper)
"Pulpwood plantations: a growing problem." (also in paper)
"Ten Replies to Ten Lies." (also in paper)
"Briefing on Finnish Consultancy Firm Jaakko Poyry"
"Plantations and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests"
"The World Bank: a major actor"
Apart from the above, the web page contains many other relevant papers and articles, both on general and specific country-related information, which we encourage you to read.
Trade liberalization is being promoted by governments and multilateral agencies as the panacea for the world’s economy. The idea has also reached the forest sector and it is clear that what it really would mean is further forest degradation and destruction. A group of concerned environmental NGOs have issued the following statement:
“NGO Statement of Oppositon to the Proposed Liberalization of the Forest Products Sector
May 1999
Member organizations of the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) participated at the Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF) 13 and the Ramsar COP7 held in San Jose, Costa Rica from May 7 to May 18, 1999 and at the World Meeting of the NGOs, Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples that also gathered in San Jose on May 7-9.
Andrew Gray, a life-long campaigner in support of the rights of Indigenous Peoples was lost in an air accident in the sea off Vanuatu on May 8th. Andrew was in the middle of a networking trip in the South Pacific linking up with Indigenous Peoples and their organisations in the region as part of IWGIA's expanding programme in support of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The WRM will soon publish in hard copy this Plantations Campaign Briefing Paper in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. In the meantime, it is available in electronic format in our web page (in English), under Plantations Campaign/Plantation Campaign Materials/Briefing Papers. Anyone wishing to receive it through email please let us know and we will send it immediately.