Argentine forestry sector in the spotlight at the World Forestry Congress

Great article in the latest issue of the WRM Bulletin, written by Raquel Núñez:

Argentine forestry sector in the spotlight at the World Forestry Congress

From World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 147, October 2009

The World Forestry Congress taking place in Buenos Aires is viewed as an excellent business opportunity by the Argentine forestry sector.

The industry’s high expectations have been reflected for several months through growing coverage in the local and national media. One example is a recent article in a publication from the province of Corrientes (www.momarandu.com), which reports: “After the forestry exposition in Misiones, companies in Corrientes are placing their sights on the 13th World Forestry Congress, looking to reach agreements in negotiating rounds in which some 200 business representatives from 26 different countries will participate.” Local forestry companies “see the Congress as a ‘gateway to the world’ where they can demonstrate the province’s potential in raw materials and attract investment that will help the industry lift off.”

Video: International Declaration: Stop the expansion of monoculture tree plantations!

Ecodoc in South Africa produced this great video of the International Declaration: Stop the expansion of monoculture tree plantations!:

Thousands call for a halt to the expansion of monoculture tree plantations

Defend life – International Day Against Tree Monocultures

World Rainforest Movement’s new animation “Defend life” graphically illustrates the problems of industrial tree plantations. Click on the image below to watch the animation:

Pulping the future

A new video from Geasphere in South Africa.

International Declaration against monoculture tree plantations

21 September is the International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations. For some background about the significance of the date, see this post from last year: “International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations“.

This year, a group of people from different continents has produced an International Declaration and they are collecting signatures. To sign on, please click here.

Stop the Russian Government from Illegally Reopening the Baikal Paper Mill

Sign this petition demanding that the Baikalsk pulp and paper mill remains closed:

Malaysian indigenous peoples call for plantations moratorium

At a press conference in Sarawak on 9 August 2009, Indigenous Peoples called for a stop to new plantations and other extractive projects on their customary lands. The timber industry has destroyed vast areas of forests in Sarawak. As the forests disappear, the logging industry is waning. But communities now face an even bigger threat: that of industrial monoculture plantations of oil palm and fast growing trees.

This comes from Bruno Manser Foundation’s website:

FSC greenwashing Brazil’s monoculture tree plantations: Part 1

World Rainforest Movement’s website currently has a great image of FSC’s greenwashing of industrial tree plantations on the front page (click on the image below to go to WRM’s website):

Police expel MST from area of Veracel Cellulose

For the past three months, landless farmers from Brazil’s Movement of Landless Peasants (MST) have occupied an area of land used by the company Veracel. The land is classified as devolutas land, which is land that has no official land title and therefore belongs to the state. The state is supposed to allocate these lands to small-scale farmers, never to private companies. Despite the protests, despite the devolutas land issue and despite the ongoing problems that Veracel has created for local communities, Veracel remains certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

This press release and photos come from the Alert against the Green Desert Network in Bahia.

Gunns pulp mill: high risk investment?

Tomorrow, 29 April 2009, the Wilderness Society will run this full-page advertisement in the Financial Times. The Wilderness Society has released a list of the banks which have committed not to finance Gunns’ proposed pulp mill in Tasmania. The following four banks have not yet ruled out financing the pulp mill and are named in the advertisement:

Nordea
Barclays Bank
Macquarie
JP Morgan Chase

Stop the Paper Industry Tax Payer Ripoff!

Dogwood Alliance has launched a sign on letter for US citizens to demand that Members of Congress act to stop the tax rebate payments to the paper industry.

Letter about black liquor boondoggle

A group of US NGOs has written to the Senate Committee on Finance to demand action on stopping the massive tax rebate to pulp and paper companies, which are supposed to be for using “alternative fuels” but in the case of the paper industry are for business as usual.

Update on MST occupation of Veracel land

More information and photos from the Movement of landless peasants (MST) in Brazil.

MST occupies Veracel area in Bahia

The Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) occupied 4,700 hectares of land in Eunápolis, state of Bahia, including land planted with Veracel’s eucalyptus monocultures. Statement from the Alert Against the Green Desert Network (8 April 2009):

Greenpeace campaign: What’s inside your box of Kleenex?

Greenpeace is targeting Kimberly-Clark, parent company of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva, in the lead up to its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas at the end of April 2009. “In the run up to the meeting, we’ll be focusing a lot of attention on Kimberly-Clark’s destructive business practices,” states Greenpeace’s website, “starting with a video entitled ‘What’s inside your box of Kleenex?’”:

Paper industry gets massive US tax rebate for increasing greenhouse gas emissions

The paper industry often claims to be green. This story from the US reveals that the paper industry has one goal above everything else: making a profit. The environment is irrelevant to the industry, provided that goal is met.

Brazil: Women impacted by eucalyptus plantations speak out

This month’s World Rainforest Movement Bulletin is focussed on women’s voices on plantations. The following article looks at the impacts of plantations on women in Brazil, and how women are leading the struggle against plantations.

Negative impacts of monoculture tree plantations on women – three new WRM studies

7 March 2009
World Rainforest Movement
Friends of the Earth International

PRESS RELEASE

Negative impacts of monoculture tree plantations on women
Three new case studies on three continents

7 March 2009 – Three new case studies on the impacts of monoculture tree plantations on women in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Brazil will be released on 8 March, International Women’s Day.

Indonesia: Pulp and paper companies allowed to continue trashing forests

The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry has allowed pulp and paper companies to use wood from native forests. “It is not impossible for the policy for pulp and paper industries to use wood from natural forests to be extended,” Anatara News reports Indonesia’s Forestry Minister MS Kaban as saying.

Sappi cuts production by 20% and plans further cuts of 25%

In December 2008, Sappi cut its European fine paper output by 20 per cent. The company is now considering a further 25 per cent cut in production. A decision will be reached this week.

Aracruz gambled away more than US$2 billion on derivatives

In December 2008, Bloomberg reported that Aracruz’s losses on currency-derivatives amounted to US$2.13 billion.

Stora Enso chooses site for pulp mill in Uruguay

In November 2008, Stora Enso announced that it plans to build a pulp mill at Paso de los Toros in Tacuarembo, Uruguay. Technical studies are still to be carried out.

Stora Enso has been buying up land in Uruguay for several years, but does not yet have a large enough area of plantations to supply the proposed pulp mill. The company’s plantations in Uruguay currently cover 12,000 hectares.

New Japanese paper scandal

Press release from the Wilderness Society:

MEDIA RELEASE 12 December 2008

NEW JAPANESE PAPER SCANDAL: First it was misleading about recycled content, now old growth forest destruction claims are under scrutiny

APRIL sacks workers

APRIL is to lay off one thousand workers from its Kerinci pulp and paper mill in Riau province and will “temporarily” lay off another one thousand, according to RISI.

Baikal pulp mill closed

The Baikal Pulp and Paper mill in Baikalsk has had a troubled history. Since it started operations in 1966 it has polluted Lake Baikal. It was one of the few targets of environmental protests during the Soviet Union period. Before the mill was built, scientists from the Irkutsk State University’s Scientific Institute of Biology spoke out against Nikita Khrushchev’s plans to build a pulp and paper mill on the shore of Lake Baikal. Marina Rikhvanova, a founder of the NGO Baikal Ecological Wave and the 2008 winner of the Goldman Prize, is among those fighting to close down the mill.

Napalm dropped on villagers in Riau province

Reports are coming out of Sumatra that police acting under the orders of Arara Abadi set fire to villagers’ houses in Bangkalis, Riau province. The reports are posted, below, from the website of the Indonesian left-wing party, Papernas.

Gas leak at Sappi Saiccor

A sulphur dioxide pipeline burst last week at Sappi’s newly up-graded pulp mill at Umkomaas. Three hundred people were treated by doctors after the leak.

Fisher-folk affected by Aracruz Celulose close the company’s private port

An article in World Rainforest Movement’s Bulletin 135 (October 2008) reports a protest at Aracruz Celulose’s port on 10 October 2008.

Certification of monoculture tree plantations – open letter to FSC members

“Plantations are monocultures, created from seemingly endless rows of identical trees. They suck the water out of nearby streams and ponds and lower the water table, leaving little or no water for people living near the plantations. They deplete soils, pollute the environment with agrotoxics and eradicate biodiverse local ecosystems. Activists in Brazil call them the green desert because of the way they destroy local people’s livelihoods and environments. But what’s almost as bad as the plantations themselves is that this sort of plantation is given a green seal of approval by the Forest Stewardship Council.”

Aracruz suspends construction of new pulp mill in Guaiba

Aracruz has announced that it is to “temporarily suspend” the construction of its new pulp mill in Guaiba, Rio Grande do Sul province. Construction at the proposed new pulp mill started in August 2008 and the planned start of operations was 2010.

University of Vermont to use recycled toilet paper

Last week, the University of Vermont announced that it would be using only 100% recycled toilet paper and paper towels. The decision is the result of a student campaign aimed at persuading the University to switch from toilet paper manufactured by Kimberly-Clark. Basil Tsimoyianis, a student at the University of Vermont, worked with Greenpeace for six months and on returning to college launched the “Forest Crimes Unit” to publicise the impacts of Kimberly-Clark’s logging.

WRM tells FAO that plantations are not forests

Press release from World Rainforest Movement:

WRM meets with FAO in Rome to present a foresters’ statement questioning the definition of monoculture tree plantations as forests

Rome, 22 September 2008. Representing the World Rainforest Movement, Raquel Núñez met today in Rome with FAO forestry officials to raise the issue of the problems resulting from the definition of forests by that UN agency that includes all types of plantations as “forests.”

Groups call for Action on 21 September: International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations

This month’s World Rainforest Movement Bulletin focusses on the International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations. The Bulletin looks at why a campaign against industrial tree plantations is so important, provides materials to support the campaign as well as news and analysis from plantation struggles around the world.

Here are the contents of the Bulletin, followed by a press release about the International Day Against Monocultures.

Aracruz and VCP to merge

Shareholders in Votorantim Celulose & Papel and Aracruz Celulose have agreed plans to merge the two companies.

New pulp line at Bai Bang, Vietnam

Pöyry has won a contract from the Vietnam Paper Corporation for a new 250,000 tons a year pulp line at the Bai Bang pulp and paper mill in Vietnam. The contract is for engineering and implementation services and the new pulp line is part of the second phase expansion project at Bai Bang. The new pulp line is due to start operations in 2010.

Suzano’s expansion plans

In July 2008, Brazil’s Suzano announced that it plans to invest US$6.6 billion to expand its operations over the next seven years:

New pulp mill planned for Venezuela

According to an article on RISI’s website by Justin Tolland, Contributing Editor, Pulp and Paper International magazine:

“Venezuela is planning to invest more than $800 million in a new state-owned pulp and newsprint mill with the aim of replacing imports from USA and Canada.”

Aracruz starts building new pulp mill

Aracruz Celulose has started construction of a new 1.3 million tonnes per year pulp mill in Guaíba, in Rio Grande do Sul. Aracruz’s operations at Guaíba currently produce 500,000 tonnes per year. The project will include an increase in the area of industrial tree plantations to provide raw material for the pulp, which will be shipped to Asia.

Portucel plans new pulp mills in Uruguay and Mozambique

Last week, Portucel announced that it had signed memorandums of agreement to build pulp mills with the governments of Uruguay and Mozambique. In Uruguay, Portucel plans a 1.3 million tons a year pulp mill, followed by a paper plant. In Mozambique, Portucel plans a 1 million tons a year pulp mill.

International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations

The International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations has its roots in Brazil, where 21 September is the “Day of the Tree”. Activists campaigning against industrial tree plantations chose this symbolic date for a National Day of Struggle in Brazil against Monoculture Tree Plantations.

The Secret Life of Paper

Inform recently produced “The Secret Life of Paper”. The video promises to answer the questions, “How is paper production related to forest destruction and global warming?” and “Why is recycling and buying recycled paper important?”

International Campaign against Stora Enso

On 11 August 2008, Via Campesina Brazil and the Movement of Landless Peasants (MST) launched an international campaign against the activities of the Swedish-Finnish pulp and paper company Stora Enso. Via Campesina Brazil is asking people to write to the governments of Sweden and Finland and to the head office of Stora Enso, to protest against the company’s operations in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The letter is below. Representatives of Via Campesina and MST will visit the Finnish and Swedish embassies in Brazil this week, to deliver the letter.

International Paper “clarifies” its proposals in Indonesia

In an interview with Pulp and Paper International, Thomas E. Gestrich, president, International Paper Asia and senior vice president, International Paper expands on the company’s plans in Indonesia:

Federal court rules that Veracel must uproot its trees

A Brazilian Federal Court ruled in June 2008 that Veracel must uproot 96,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations and replant the land with native trees. Veracel was also fined US$12.5 million for deforesting areas of the Atlantic Forest with bulldozers and tractors during its first years of operation.

The impacts of over-consumption of paper

WRM produced this 10 minute video on the impacts of the paper industry: “We hope that the video will be a useful tool for campaigning against excessive paper consumption and for linking those campaigns with the struggles of local communities confronting the expansion of pulpwood plantations and pulp mills in the South.”

Firm paid billions for illegal logs: Witness

Jakarta Post 14 June 2006:

PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) paid at least Rp 6.4 billion (US$684,800) to exploit forests using illegal permits issued by Pelalawan Regent Tengku Azmun Jaafar, a court heard Friday.

Stop the Madness of Paper Consumption: Make a Shrink Pledge Today!

Shrink, a new campaign and website was launched on Monday, aimed at reducing paper consumption. Here’s the Shrink campaign’s press release (9 June 2008):

AbitibiBowater stops logging at Grassy Narrows

AbitibiBowater has announced its decision to stop logging on the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation. Rainforest Action Network welcomed the decision.

Sweco wins contract at Mondi’s Syktyvkar pulp and paper mill

Sweco has won a contract for the architecture, structural engineering and construction management for the rebuild and modernisation of Mondi’s Syktyvkar pulp and paper mill. The contract is worth about €5.4 million. The project, which is supposed to reduce emissions from the mill and expand capacity is due to be completed in 2008.