Juan Pablo Orrego, Chilean anthropologist and ecologist, member of the NGO GABB (Grupo de Acción por el Bio Bio), received the 1998 prize from the Norvegian organization Right Livelihood Foundation for his permanent defence of the Bio Bio watershed and the Pewenche indigenous peoples against hydrolelectric projects in the VIII and IX Regions in southern Chile. The award –known as the Alternative Nobel Prize- is confered to people and organizations distinguished by their actions for world environment and peace.
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An action alert for the Costa Rican mangroves launched by the WRM International Secretariat on October 13 –following a request from Mangrove Action Project (MAP) -contributed to leave unchanged the text of the national law that protects these rich ecosystems. The Government had proposed the Parliament to introduce some modifications in the law, that would have opened up these protected areas to the shrimp farm expansion.
In its chapter related to forests, “Life out of Bounds” deals with the menacing trend of tree monocultures for biodiversity. Those interested in purchasing the book, please address the Worldwatch Institute's website <www.worldwatch.org>, or call the Institute directly, at (U.S. dial) 800-555-2028, or the online bookseller amazon.com. Chris Bright, “Life Out of Bounds: Bioinvasion in a Borderless World” (New York: WW Norton, 1998). Issued as a part of the Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series. 288 pages; $13.00.
WRM's International Coordinator participated as part of the Global Secretariat at meetings held in Geneva (20-25 August) of the Joint Initiative to Address the Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation. He was also present during part of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests meeting held at the same time in Geneva. The Montevideo Declaration on Plantations and an analysis of the issue of plantations within the context of the Proposals for Action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (see WRM Bulletin 14) were distributed at the meeting in English and Spanish.
After the launch of the plantations campaign last June (see WRM Bulletin 13), the secretariat has been focusing on:
- preparation of campaign materials.
- information gathering and dissemination
- influencing global processes
As to campaign materials, they are currently being produced in English and will soon be translated into Spanish (some of them already translated), French and Portuguese. These materials are being posted in the WRM web page, where they can be accessed, downloaded, printed and disseminated locally, both in electronic and printed formats.
The World Rainforest Movement is organizing a plantations campaign meeting which will be held in Montevideo on 20-22 June. The aim of the meeting is to discuss and decide a common strategy for the campaign and to agree on a plan of action. The campaign will be officially launched at the end of the meeting.
Last 18th of March the Brazilian Government launched a military operation -similar to the actions against the indigenous peoples undertaken during the dictatorship period- seeking to put a definitive end to the struggle of the Tupinikim and Guarani for the demarcation of their traditional lands. Clearly the aim of the authorities’ action was to create the necessary conditions for the indigenous peoples to be forced to accept the imposition of Aracruz Cellulose.
On March 6th the Brazilian Ministry of Justice finally decided to demarcate only 2,571 additional hectares for the Tupinikim and Guarani. The argumentation of the Ministry denies all the studies done uptil now by FUNAI which arguments the necessity of extending and demarcating 13,579 hectares, as requested by the indigenous peoples. This decision is exactly the same proposal that Aracruz Celulose put forward to the indigenous peoples in a meeting on February 18th, which clearly shows that the authorities acted defending the interests of the company.
The forest near the village of Long Lamai was in flames last week after Penan people refused to let timber company workers into their lands, to which the latter reacted by setting th forest on fire. Local people were worried that the fire might extend to larger areas. This region is being targetted by a Malaysian-German technical co-operation project which put in place a comprehensive Forest Management Information System. Samling was the first logging company involved in the project by providing two concession area in Upper Baram as a pioneer testing ground.
The difficult process related to the definitive recognition ot the indigenous territorial rights in Aracruz seems to come to an end.
We have received the following statement from Sarawak with a request to circulate it as widely as possible:
"The Bakun Region People's Committee (BRPC) urges the State government and the Bakun Resettlement Committee (BRC) to shelve the resettlement of the Bakun residents which is tentatively set for July this year, as announced recently by the Chairman of the BRC, YB Dr. James Masing.
The BRPC makes this urgent appeal for the deferment of the resettlement exercise based on the following:-
Sarawak will open up some 50,000 hectares of land every year for the next few years to be developed into oil-palm plantations due to rising demand for edible oil. Business will be developed and managed jointly by state development agencies and publicly-listed companies that have the experience and expertise in plantations. According to the government, the state is prepared to invest heavily in the palm-oil sector (see WRM Bulletin nr. 8) because the products would remain attractive despite the economic downturn, as can be seen from the increasing demand for edible oil worldwide.