We received a fax from the former President of the Environment Committee of the Venezuelan Congress, Dr. Lucia Antillano, thanking WRM for its activities in that country. The fax says:
Other information
The destruction of Acre, in the Western Brazilian Amazon began in 1877, with the arrival of peasants from Brasil's Northeast, escaping from drought and misery. They were brought to the forest as cheap labour to exploit rubber for the benefit of the so called “seringalistas”, composed by powerful Brazilian and foreign economic groups. They were even forced to fight against the indigenous peoples that inhabited that land: only ten out of the sixty indigenous nations that lived in the Jurua valley, in Acre, survived and their population decreased dramatically.
A workshop on Forests, Plantations and the Multilateral Development Banks was held from 2-4 December in Montevideo, Uruguay, organized by the Latin American and Caribbean NGO Network on the Multilateral Development Banks. Representatives from 18 NGOs -most of them from Latin America- participated in the event. Presentations on the Forest Policy of the World Bank, the situation of forests and tree plantations in the region and case studies on several Latin American countries were made (see article in this issue).
B.C.Y Freezailah, executive director of the International Tropical Timber Organization compared in Tokyo sustainable management of tropical forests with tree plantations and concluded that tropical forestry will need to switch to tree plantations.
He stated that 'tropical timbers from natural forests are increasingly facing competition with timbers from temperate forests, against which tropical timber from sustainably managed natural forests is at a distinct disadvantage.' (the 'temperate forests' mentioned are in fact plantations in Chile and New Zealand.)
Scandinavian NGOs are requesting information on Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish pulp and paper-related firms' activities in the South. Such assistance can be very valuable for all, given that it may result in a collaborative relationship to support local struggles in the South. Many of these companies are crucial actors in pulp and paper projects, many of which are being resisted by local peoples.
Large scale overseas plantation projects planned by Japan's paper industry cannot be accepted in joint implementation or in the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change.
"Glyphosate is less harmfull than table salt", stated one of Aracruz Celulose's managers at a public meeting in Brazil. Artur Duarte Branco, leader of the company workers' trade union SINTICEL, offered to drink there and then a large glassfull of water with table salt if Aracruz's manager drank himself a small glass of glyphosate. The man's loyalty to the company did not go as far as that and he laughed away the challenge. Which was a wise move on his part.
The conclusions of the XI Global Biodiversity Forum, held last November in Buenos Aires -attended by Alvaro Gonzalez of the WRM Secretariat- reveal significant coincidences with some of WRM's viewpoints. One point in common is that which states that even if the increasing number of multilateral agreements on the environment could mean greater concern on the issue, this could also lead to a fragmented and ineffective approach to reality. On the contrary, a holistic vision is needed, that takes into account natural, social, economic and cultural factors working together.
Ricardo Carrere went to the state of Portuguesa in Venezuela following an invitation from AMIGRANSA and from Alfredo Torres, advisor to the Senate's Environment Committee. The objective of the trip was two-fold: 1) To get in contact with local communities affected by large-scale plantations implemented by the Irish-based transnational Jefferson Smurfit to feed its pulpmill in Venezuela and 2) To share WRM's findings on the reasons behind the spread of such plantations in the South, the impacts they are having and the struggles that are taking place against them.
Nothing much seems to have happened during the 4th Conference of the Parties held in Buenos (COP4) Aires from 2 to 13 November. From a broad perspective, this can be regarded as very bad news, given that climate change is happening and will increasingly affect the lives of millions of people.
One point that is not being sufficiently taken into consideration in the debate about plantations as carbon sinks is the production end of the issue. That is, most of these monocultural non-native species plantations are being grown for either of two products: paper or fiberboard. In both cases, the trees will be turned into chips and then made into something else.
How much of the actual wood fiber grown on the plantation is sequestered? Very little, especially in the case of paper.
Press release. Buenos Aires, 9 November 1998. NGO Forest Working Group expresses strong concern about inclusion of forests in the Clean Development mechanism.