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.

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.

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.

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.

Aracruz and VCP to merge

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

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.

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.

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.

Veracel: FSC’s Death Certificate

Statement from WRM, 19 March 2008:

Yesterday we were notified by the Forest Stewardship Council certifying body SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance) that they have awarded an FSC certificate to Veracel’s eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. What they did not announce in the e-mail was that together with that certificate they were also giving the FSC its death certificate.

Charmin on ICE

Until recently, the German ICE (Inter City Express) trains used recycled toilet paper (you know what I mean – toilet paper made from recycled paper, not toilet paper that’s already been used) . That’s now changed. Inside the toilet door on ICE trains is a poster advertising Charmin, Procter & Gamble’s toilet tissue.

Quilombolas reclaim land from Aracruz

Heidi Bachram and Tamra Gilbertson have produced a great video about a Quilombola land action in Espirito Santo province, in July. There’s also a podcast featuring Marcelo Calazan. As Marcelo says “OK, let’s go to the march!”

Veracel to expand?

According to RISI, Aracruz may be about to announce plans to install another pulp line at its Veracel pulp mill in Bahia. Veracel is a 900,000 t/yr pulp mill, built and run as a joint venture between Aracruz and Stora Enso.

Stora Enso’s operations in Brazil are socially and environmentally unsustainable

World Rainforest Movement recently received a letter documenting the impacts of Stora Enso’s operations in Brazil.

Eucalyptus pulp: Land theft for paper tissues

Ozon on Berlin and Brandenburg TV last night featured a six minute programme by Patrick Hafner about the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians and their struggle against Aracruz. A translation of the text is below and you can watch the programme here.

Aracruz launches racist campaign against Indians

Aracruz has launched a racist campaign against Tupinikim and Guarani Indians living in Espirito Santo province. The Indians are demanding that the Ministry of Justices demarcates the Indian’s land which Aracruz has planted with eucalyptus plantations.

Solidarity with the Tupinikim and Guarani Indigenous People! Send an email to the Brazilian Minister of Justice

Tupinikim and Guarani Indians in Espirito Santo in Brazil are asking for emails to be sent to the Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos. Bastos has until 12 October 2006 to decide on whether to demarcate Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous lands which are currently covered in Aracruz’s eucalyptus plantations.

Here it is!

On 12 September 2006, FUNAI sent the document below to Tupinikim and Guarani Indians as proof that they have sent the land demarcation file to the Ministry of Justice.

Aracruz: “The Indians are no Indians”

On 6 September 2006, Tupinikim and Guarani Indians started clearing eucalyptus trees planted on their land by Brazil’s pulp giant Aracruz. This is what it looked like a few days later:

Pulp imports to China

In the first six months of 2006, China imported 3.28 million tonnes of pulp. In 2004, China overtook the USA as the biggest importer of pulp. China has long been the biggest importer of waste paper, importing 16 million tonnes in 2005.

Tupinikim and Guarani demand demarcation now!

On 6 September 2006, 200 Tupinikim and Guarani Indians started to cut down eucalyptus trees in an area that traditionally belongs to them, according to a statement from the Alert Against the Green Desert. Aracruz Celulose has occupied and exploited the land for almost 40 years.

Voices in the green desert

The latest issue of Seedling includes an excellent article about Aracruz by Silvia Ribeiro. On 8 March 2006, about 2,000 women from Via Campesina took part in a demonstration at an Aracruz nursery in Rio Grande do Sul. According to Aracruz, they destroyed the company’s laboratory and five million eucalyptus seedlings.

Indigenous People block road in protest at Aracruz arrests

This morning about 150 Tupinikim and Guarani Indians blocked the ES-010 road in protest against the arrest of 15 people on 9 August 2006. The protesters demanded the immediate release of the people arrested, who are accused of stealing wood from Aracruz, Brazil’s pulp giant.

Pataxó demand an end to eucalyptus plantations

Pataxó indigenous people in the Extreme South of Bahia are demanding that Veracel stops planting eucalyptus on Pataxó land.

Pöyry wins US$20 million contracts with Klabin and Aracruz

Klabin has awarded Pöyry a contract to provide engineering services for the Monte Alegre mill in Telemace Borba in Paraná state. The project is to increase the production of paper products from 700,000 t/yr to 1.1 million t/yr.

Aracruz has hired Pöyry to provide engineering services on its Barra do Riacho pulp mill in Espírito Santo. The project will increase the capacity of the mill from 2.13 million t/yr to 2.33 million t/yr.

Pöyry also worked on conceptual and feasibility studies for these projects, as well as basic engineering.

Aracruz security guards help arrest 15 Indigenous People

The dispute between Indigenous Peoples and Aracruz in Espirito Santo continues.

CIMI reports that on 9 August 2006, Aracruz security guards, working for the firm Visel (Vigilância e Segurança Ltda.) took part in the arrest of eight Tupinikim and Guarani and seven others. Human rights lawyer Isaias Santana says that the people arrested were tricked into going into an area that both sides had agreed not to use until the administrative procedure for demarcating the land has been completed.