Tree Plantations: Impacts and Struggles

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Tree Plantations: Impacts and Struggles Tree Plantations: Impacts and Struggles World Rainforest Movement Cover design: Andrea Abella Cover photo: The photograph in the cover shows Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous peoples in the act of demarcating their lands, appropriated by Aracruz Celulose´s eucalyptus plantations in the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Copyright: World Rainforest Movement International Secretariat Instituto del Tercer Mundo, Jackson 1136, Montevideo, Uruguay Ph: +598 2 409 61 92, Fax:+598 2 401 92 22 E-Mail: [email protected] Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy European Office 1c Fosseway Business Centre, Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 9NQ, Reino Unido Ph: +44.1608.652.893, Fax: +44.1608.652.878 E-Mail: [email protected] A Spanish version of this publication is also available under the title: “Plantaciones Forestales : Impactos y Luchas” The contents of this publication can be reproduced totally or parcially without prior authorization. However, the World Rainforest Movement should be duly accredited and notified of any reproduction. Published in February 1999 ISBN 9974-574-23-4 This publication was made possible with support from HIVOS (The Netherlands) and from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. World Rainforest Movement Tree Plantations: Impacts and Struggles Selection of articles published in the WRM bulletin (1997-1998) Contents Abouth this book Tree plantations The need to raise awareness on the true character of tree plantations Plantations are not forests The Montevideo Declaration. June 1998 International discourse and on-the-ground reality Tree plantations and climate change Message from Bratislava to Kyoto on tree plantations WRM statement to the Fourth Conference of the Parties of the Climate Change Convention Buenos Aires, November 1998 Are tree monocultures a solution to global warming? For and against forest conservation and climate Trees, forests and climate in Buenos Aires Climate Change Convention: much ado about nothing Contribution to the debate on carbon sinks Can expansion of plantations be a solution to combat global warming? Tree plantations and international processes/institutions Plantations and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests Comments on the IPF's proposals for action on tree plantations The World Bank: a major actor ITTO moving to tree plantations? Statement of the World Rainforest Movement for the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests meeting, New York, February 20th, 1997 Latin America Integration can aggravate deforestation Latin America's forests: the time is ripe for change Argentina Investors’ paradise for forestry projects Bolivia Eucalyptus and pines in the Bolivian Andes Brazil Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous peoples vs Aracruz Cellulose The Tupinikim/Guarani struggle continues The pulp and paper industry faces problems in the Amazon Tupinikim and Guarani: Does the Government respect the law? Aracruz: Tupinikim and Guarani demands close to a decision Tupinikim/Guarani: a reply from Aracruz Assembly of the Tupinikim and Guarani Indigenous Assembly of Tupinikim and Guarani Document of the 1st Indigenous Assembly of the Tupinikim and Guarani. Tupinikim and Guarani lands: Imminent decission Tension and uncertainty in Espirito Santo A dictatorship-type action gives Aracruz a spurious victory The paradigmatic case of Aracruz Aracruz: some polite suggestions from a forester “We want orchards, not eucalyptus plantations” Response to article published in 'Aracruz News' Colombia Monoculture tree plantations promoted in the Andes Chile Community opposes pulp mill project Native forests cleared for plantations An unsustainable forestry model Mexico The beginning of the plantations' invasion The "Mexican version" of pulpwood plantations Uruguay Forestry model in Uruguay under siege Anti-pulpwood plantation movement on the rise Venezuela Increasing conflict with Jefferson Smurfit Forests menaced...plantations promoted The struggle against Smurfit’s plantations Africa Gambia A different type of forest degradation Ghana FAO supports private plantations in Ghana South Africa Malaysians in South Africa, South Africans in Brazil More pulp industry development "Social benefits" of industrial tree plantations The ways of the powerful pulp industry Asia East Timor A shady bussiness in East Timor Indonesia Indonesian forests under threat Oil palm scheme in Siberut, Indonesia PT TEL’s plan mounts protests UPM-Kymmene and APRIL destroy rainforest Alliance of UPM-Kymmene-APRIL under siege SE Asia menaced by renewed fires in Indonesia Local people burn oil palm plantation company's base camp Jaakko Poyry: more than mere consultants A depredatory economic "miracle" The struggle against Indorayon in Indonesia Sawit Watch: an Indonesian network against oil palm plantations Conflict over oil palm plantations APRIL the troublemaker Students break up meeting to promote transmigration and oil palm plantations in the Mentawai islands Malaysia Sarawak: violence against natives continues Good news from Sarawak Call for action on Sarawak “A fortune for the people" of Sarawak? Japanese "green" tours Oil palm plantations in Sarawak: promotion and resistance Thailand Two opposite approaches to forest conservation The strong muscle of the pulp industry The pulp industry tries to strike back Vietnam A “paper tiger” in South East Asia? Good old incentives for plantations Forestry model in crisis Oceania Australia Eucalyptus natural forests under threat Growing concern over plantations in Australia Hawaii Eucalyptus plantations arriving Resisting pulpwood plantations Good news from Hawaii New Zealand Clonal tree monocultures and genetic engineering in New Zealand About this book This book includes a selection of articles published in the World Rainforest Movement's (WRM) Bulletin on the issue of industrial tree plantations. Given that the aim of most monoculture tree plantations is to produce wood pulp, we have also included articles related to the pulp and paper industry. In many tropical countries, tree and oil palm plantations have similar impacts --which result in similar struggles-- and we have therefore also included articles on oil palm plantations. Finally, given the strong support that carbon sink tree plantations are receiving from governments and intergovernmental agencies , we have also included articles dealing with that issue. The level of detail and analysis greatly varies from article to article due to the bulletin's character, which aims at being a useful tool both to people and organizations working at the local level and to those who work at the international level. In spite of that, we decided not to omit any article, in the belief that all of them can help to raise awareness on an issue such as this, which is still unclear to many people. The authorship of the book is shared by WRM's International Secretariat and by the numerous people and organizations which either sent us articles or relevant information to produce them. Responsibility over the mistakes that might have been made is exclusively ours. Regardless of the authorship of the book or the individual articles, the true protagonists are the many thousands of people who suffer from and organize opposition to this inequitable and unsustainable forestry model, which the articles try to reflect. To all of them, our most sincere homage. Tree plantations The need to raise awareness on the true character of tree plantations One of the main reasons which explains why large-scale industrial tree plantations can be promoted at the global level while they are being strongly opposed at the local level, is the manipulation of concepts and information to feed the uninformed public. Trees -any trees- are presented as sinonimous to forests and forests are rightly perceived by most people as good and necessary to humanity. The fact that plantations have nothing in common with forests is not that easy to be understood by the general -particularly the urban- public. On the contrary, local people can easily see the difference. Shortly after large-scale tree monocrops are planted, they begin to perceive -and suffer- that difference. Wildlife begins to become scarce in the area and almost inexistent within the boundaries of the plantations. Changes in the hydrologic cycle leads to water scarcity and in some cases also to over-flooding after heavy rains. Useful plants disappear. Water courses are damaged through increased siltation due to soil erosion originating in the plantations. Plantation management results in chemical pollution due to the widespread use of agrochemicals. Such changes have strong implications for local peoples’ livelihoods. Wild animals, fish, mushrooms, fruit, honey, vegetables, form an important part of their diet. Water security is basic for their agricultural and animal husbandry activities. The forest provides fodder, firewood, medicines, wood for housing, grasses for thatching, fibres and many other products and services. Plantations do not provide any of those and, to make matters worse, deprive people from most of the available agricultural land, which is taken over by one large company. However, plantations are being promoted throughout the world as “planted forests”. As if a forest, in its complexity of interactions involving people, energy, climate, soil, water and biodiversity, could be planted. Sooner or later, people begin to perceive that plantations are not “forests” and plantation companies then resort to a different set of arguments, trying to convince people that plantations are good, even accepting they are not forests. One of the
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