From gtgallon@videotron.ca Sat Oct 5 10:09:40 2002
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 13:12:37 -0400
From: Gary Gallon
To:
Subject: Illegal Logging in Asia - Indonesia: The Gallon Environment Letter
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THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
506 Victoria Ave., Montreal,
Quebec H3Y 2R5
Ph. (514) 369-0230, Fax
(514) 369-3282
Email
cibe@web.net
Vol. 6, No. 22, October
3, 2002
************************************************
ILLEGAL LOGGING IN INDONESIA THREATENS ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC STABILITY
Illegal and quasi-legal logging in Indonesia is not only destroying the
forests and forest products depended upon by the local peoples, but it is
causing serious fast water-run-offs and resultant land-slides and
mud-slides which are killing people and ruining their lands. According to
the Earth Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C., extensive floods in
Indonesia during early 2002 have killed hundreds of people, destroyed
thousands of homes, damaged thousands of hectares of rice paddy fields,
and inundated Indonesian insurance companies with flood-related claims.
Rampant deforestation, much of it from illegal logging, has destroyed
forests that stabilize soils and regulate river flow, causing record
floods and landslides. In just 50 years, Indonesia's total forest cover
fell from 162 million hectares to 98 million. Roads and development
fragment over half of the remaining forests. More than 16 million people
depend on fresh water from Indonesia's 15 largest watersheds, which
between 1985 and 1997 lost at least 20 percent of their forest cover.
Loggers have cleared almost all the biologically diverse lowland tropical
forests off Sulawesi, and if current trends continue, such forests will
be gone from Sumatra in 2005 and Kalimantan by 2010.
Domestic wood supply in Indonesia was documented at 20 million cubic
meters in 2000, while demand stood at some 60 million cubic meters. Thus
legal supplies of wood fibre fall short of demand by up to 40 million
cubic meters per year. Illegal logging fills the gap--accounting for
almost 70 percent of wood supply. All told, illegal logging alone has
destroyed 10 million hectares of Indonesia's rich forests, an area the
size of Virginia in the United States. Indonesia's situation is not
unique. For more information contact: Janet Larsen, Earth Policy
Institute, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036,
ph. (202) 496-9290 x 14, Fax: (202) 496-9325, email
jlarsen@earth-policy.org . Visit their website at
http://www.earth-policy.org
**********************************************************************
INDONESIAN SKIES BLACKED BY INTENTIONALLY SET FOREST FIRES
Choking smog worsened in Indonesian parts of Borneo island. The fires are
started by huge land owners wishing to expand palm tree oil plantations,
small itinerant farmers clearing land to grow food for a couple of years
before the weak tropical soil becomes unfarmable. Also smoldering fires
within the subsurface of peat moss that lines the forest floors continue
to burn for months and contribute to the smog and haze. Visibility was
again reduced to tens of metres in at least two of Borneo's provinces and
many schools and offices remained closed as transport continued to be
disrupted. "Smoke has got thicker and thicker. I cannot even see the
runway from my office window now. Visibility has reached 50 metres,"
Jamaluddin Hasibuan, an airport official, told Reuters from the capital,
Palangkaraya City. of Central Kalimantan. The airport there has been
closed since the beginning of September 2002, because of the forest fires
smoke. The governor of Central Kalimantan province ordered schools and
offices to close for several days. Bouts of haze from forest fires,
mainly from Indonesia's Kalimantan provinces on Borneo, have been a
problem for six weeks. Smoke from the fires has also affected
neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia although it is not as bad as in 1997
and 1998, when dense haze cost regional economies $9 billion in damage to
farming, transport and tourism. Conservationists have long criticised
Jakarta for failing to protect its natural resources. Indonesia admits
its laws are too weak to deal with the problem and is promising reform.
Source Reuters News Service. See the full story at
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/17883/story.htm .
***************************************************************
ILLEGAL LOGGING LEVELLING FORESTS IN PHILIPPINES AND CHINA
The Philippines once held 16 million hectares of forests but is now down
to less than 700,000 hectares. In this country where illegal logging runs
rampant, forest loss from tree felling and conversion to agriculture is
cited as the cause of flooding, acute water shortages, rapid soil
erosion, river siltation, and mudslides that have taken lives, destroyed
properties, and wreaked environmental damage. In 1989, Thailand banned
the logging of natural forests in direct response to devastating floods
and landslides that had taken 400 lives the year before. Though illegal
logging is now at lower levels than before the ban, it is still
widespread. More recently, massive flooding of China's Yangtze River in
1998, which was linked to the removal of 85 percent of the upper river
basin's original tree cover, propelled China to issue a ban on logging in
the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers and to begin a
reforestation campaign. China consumes nearly 280 million cubic meters of
timber a year, but domestic supply currently provides only 142 million
cubic meters. As production shrinks, China is turning to imports and
illegal logging to make up for the shortfall. The International Tropical
Timber Organization forecasts that within the next few years China will
become the world's largest log importer, edging out the United States and
eclipsing Japan, whose massive imports have already destroyed many of the
rainforests of the Philippines and much of Borneo. Fifty-seven percent of
the logs brought into China originate in Russia, where poor law
enforcement, corruption, and the abandonment of local timber-processing
plants have led people to illegally cut trees for companies that send raw
materials to China for processing.
At least one-fifth of Russia's timber harvest is taken illegally or
drastically violates existing legislation. To China's south, Burma
(Myanmar) holds about half of mainland Southeast Asia's forests. These
contain a variety of tropical hardwood species that are increasingly
drawing interest from China. On paper, Burma supplies less than 10
percent of China's log imports, but industry workers say the numbers must
be at least twice as high. Burmese log exports to China are growing much
faster than the trees, many of which are hundreds of years old, can be
replaced. In 1949, tropical forests covered 21 percent of the country's
land area, but now less than 7 percent of Burma is forested. In Laos,
where the volume of illegal logging is the equivalent of at least one
sixth of the legal harvest, the army openly cuts forests. Now less than
40 percent of the country is forested, down from 70 percent in 1940. In
Cambodia, over 70 percent of the timber export volume consists of
unreported logs. And Viet Nam could lose all substantial forest cover by
2020 if the current rate of deforestation continues. As the growing Asian
timber market has exhausted supplies over much of the continent, wood
imports to Asia from Africa have steadily increased. For more information
contact: Janet Larsen, Earth Policy Institute, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW,
Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036, ph. (202) 496-9290 x 14, Fax: (202)
496-9325, email jlarsen@earth-policy.org . Visit their website at
http://www.earth-policy.org .
*************************************************************************
ASIA OUTSTRIPS EUROPE AS MAJOR IMPORTER OF ILLEGAL WOOD
From 1993 to 1999, Europe imported 40 percent of central African logs,
but since 1996, rising demand from Asia has made that region the number
one importer of African timber. Forest products are the second largest
export for both Cameroon and Gabon, generating about 20 percent and 13
percent of respective export revenues. Between 1990 and 1995, the share
of Cameroonian logs going to Asia soared from 7 percent to 50 percent.
Unfortunately, only half the logging companies in Cameroon are licensed,
and among these companies, violations such as felling trees smaller than
the legal size and cutting outside concession boundaries are common.
These examples cover only a portion of the global timber market.
Uncontrolled deforestation abounds in other countries--in Brazil, with
the world's highest deforestation rate, where an estimated 80 percent of
logging is illegal; in Mexico, which is losing over 1 million hectares
each year; and in Ethiopia, where in just 40 years forest cover has
plummeted from around 40 million hectares to 2.7 million, only half of
which is natural forest. Rarely, though, is deforestation purely a local
issue.
The world's eight largest industrial countries plus the rest of the
European Union buy 280 million cubic meters of timber and timber products
from abroad each year, accounting for 74 percent of the world's timber
imports. Most of this wood comes from countries where illegal tree
felling is the norm. In 2000, the United States alone imported over $450
million worth of timber from Indonesia, which given Indonesia's illegal
logging rate could represent $330 million worth of timber from illegal
sources. If importing countries insist that timber and timber products
are certified under internationally recognized environmental and social
standards like those of the Forest Stewardship Council, illegal logging
becomes more difficult. Exporting countries would profit by protecting
the integrity of forest ecosystems, and could secure higher prices for
certified wood on international markets. Russia, for instance, which
loses $1 billion in export revenues each year because its wood is not
certified, is now developing a mandatory certification system for
standing forests. Certification along with existing international
agreements, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, can help to prevent illegal logs from
crossing international borders--if laws and standards are upheld.
Recycling and reduced use of throwaway timber products can lower the
demand for timber that has made illegal logging profitable. As the
Chinese government has recognized, the services that forests provide,
such as flood control, can be worth far more than the lumber they
contain. For more information contact: Janet Larsen, Earth Policy
Institute, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036,
ph. (202) 496-9290 x 14, Fax: (202) 496-9325, email
jlarsen@earth-policy.org . Visit their website at
http://www.earth-policy.org
*************************************************************************
MALAYSIAN CITIZENS TRYING TO STOP OVER-LOGGING
At least five blockades have been put up and one protest has been staged
by several native communities in the middle Baram of Sarawak's Miri,
Division since March 27,, 2002, in Malaysia. This is the first time in
more than ten years that numerous Sarawak native communities have
organized to put up blockades simultaneously in various locations to draw
the attention of the Malaysian authorities to their plight. Blockades are
human barricades and wooden structures that are put up at strategic
points across access roads to prevent the movement of logging and
plantation companies' vehicles. The first blockade was erected on March
27 across a road used by Interhill Logging Sdn. Bhd. in the interior of
Long Lama, a huge Baram subdistrict, by the Penan communities of Long
Sayan and Long Belok in the Sungai Apoh area. Three days later, an
agreement was signed at the site between the blockaders and company
representatives, and witnessed by a forest officer and police personnel.
But later the natives withdrew their signatures, as the agreement was too
vague to be meaningful and subsequent negotiations had also not been
fruitful. As a result, the blockade was re-erected on April 18, 2002. The
second blockade was erected on March 28 by the Penan of Long Itam And
Long Pakan in the Sungai Kabeng tributary of the Sungai Patah area,
blocking the access road used by Interhill that leads to Penan
communities in the upper Sungai Akah area. This blockade was torn down
later on the same day because an Interhill managing director agreed to
all of the people's demands. He asked the blockaders to come down to
Marudi and sign an agreement in front of the District Officer. The people
went on April 2, but the Interhill director was not there. Finally, they
also resumed their blockade on April 18. Two other communities in Sungai
Patah from Long Lilim and Long Lutin and one from Long Pangaran Iman in
Sungai Akah have also joined the second blockade.
The third blockade was erected on April 8 by a group of nomadic Penan led
by Chief Guman Magut near Long Patah in the Sungai Magoh area of the
Tutoh region. Their area is about to be logged by Woodman Sdn. Bhd. This
blockade ended on April 13, when the company agreed to withdraw their
vehicles from the people's community forest area. However, the community
is still apprehensive as the company may enter the area one or two years
from now as this has always happened in other areas. They demand that
their communal forest reserve to be recognised, protected and endorsed by
the State Government. Source, "A New Wave of Penan Blockades," by Thomas
Jalong, Sahabat Alam Malaysia Press Release, April 23, 2002. See the full
story at
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/news/articles/020412article.html .
*********************************************************************
CALCULATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR HOW MANY TREES CUT TO PRODUCE YOUR
FAVOURITE MAGAZINE
The Magazine Paper Project has launched a new web-based calculator that
offers magazine publishers and readers the opportunity to calculate the
number of trees that are logged as a result of printing any particular
U.S. magazine on non-recycled paper. Currently, less than 5% of U.S.
magazine paper has any recycled content, a practice that consumes an
astounding 35 million trees each year. "The Paper Wizard presents in very
stark, exact terms the impact that each magazine has on forests," says
Frank Locantore, WoodWise project director at Co-op America, a member of
the Magazine PAPER Project coalition. Sample calculations have been done
by Magazine Paper staff for leading publications. For example, the
Cosmopolitan magazine uses 328,577 trees every year. But it could save at
least 32,858 trees a year by switching to competitively priced recycled
paper offering the same performance as virgin paper. People Magazine uses
546,134 trees a year, It could save 54,613 trees each year by switching
to recycled-fibre content paper. The Condé Nast Traveler magazine uses
52,734 trees a year. It could save at least 5,273 trees annually by using
recycled paper. The National Geographic uses 505,819 trees every year. It
already saves 2,255 trees annually by using 10% post-consumer recycled
paper for its cover. But it could save an additional 48,552 trees each
year if it used recycled paper for its text pages as well. For more
information, contact Erica Hesch, Public Education and Media Coordinator,
Co-op America, ph. 202-872-5307, email ericahesch@coopamerica.org
Web site: http://www.coopamerica.org . Visit the Paper Wizard website
at http://www.EcoPaperAction.org/wizard .
*********************************************************************
NGO CALLS FOR NEW ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF ROMANIAN FOREST PROJECT
The CEE Bankwatch Network has announced the publication of a report
pointing out deficiencies in the environmental assessment of Romania's
Forestry Development Program (FDP). Based on the report's findings,
Bankwatch is calling for a new environmental assessment of the FDP, which
receives funding from the World Bank, according to a press release. The
press release said: "Although the Project Information Document states
that the main aims of the project are institutional strengthening and
capacity building, both of which are badly needed in the Romanian
forestry sector, 69 percent of the proposed lending is for forestry road
construction, which would lead to increased logging activities. However,
the impacts of increased forest harvesting as a consequence of the
implementation of the FDP is not discussed at all, either at the
strategic or project level. Without forest harvesting estimates for
different alternatives, it is impossible to make any sound environmental
impact level and significant prediction, or to compare program
alternatives." The press release also said the environmental assessment
was flawed because the public was not adequately involved in the process.
For more information contact: Jozsef Feiler, CEE Bankwatch, tel: (36 1)
217-0803. The Bankwatch document, called "Quality Analysis of the
Environmental Assessment Report for the Romanian Forestry Development
Program," can be found at the website
http://www.bankwatch.org/issues/forestry/romforest-ea-analysis.pdf. The
letter sent to World Bank Executive Directors requesting a new
Environmental Assessment can be found at<http://www.bankwatch.org/publications/policy_letters/2002/romaniaforest-letter
owb.html.
************************************************************
ATTEND WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS IN QUEBEC, SEPTEMBER 2003
The XII World Forestry Congress will be held from September 21 to 28,
2003, in Québec City, Canada. For seven days, participants as individuals
and from various governments, education and research, private and
non-government organizations will get together to analyze, discuss and
participate in the largest and most important forestry meeting
world-wide. The XII World Forestry Congress will be an open forum where
discussion will focus on individuals, communities and forests under the
theme "Forests, source of life". Individuals are invited to submit
voluntary papers and posters as a means to express new ideas and provide
information on practical experiences, conceptual models and interesting
initiatives. All papers will be reviewed and considered for publication
in the Congress Proceedings and posting on the Congress website. On
behalf of the XII World Forestry Congress, they are calling for papers
(each with an abstract) or abstracts for posters to be submitted to the
Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) by November 15, 2002. For more information contact
the XII World Forestry Congress, Forestry Department, FAO, Via delle
Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy, Ph. 39.06.57055879, Fax
39.06.57052151, email WFC-XII@fao.org . Visit their website at
http://www.wfc2003.org . You can also see the Canadian Forests website at
http://www.canadian-forests.com, or email info@canadian-forests.com
***********************************************************
TEMAGAMI FOREST TO BE LOGGED IN ONTARIO, AFTER BEING SAVED
In 1989 the Liberal Government of Ontario decided to stop the logging of
old-growth red and white pine forests in the picturesque Temagami region
of Ontario. This was after a provincial park was created in an already
logged-out area in Temagami. The old-growth was to be protected. Much of
it thanks to the efforts of the then new citizens' environmental group
called the Temagami Wilderness Society, under founder, Brian Back and Hap
Wilson. The group would later be renamed Earthroots and would expand its
interests to stopping old growth logging in other parts of Ontario.
Before he decided to save the forests, then Ontario Premier, David
Peterson, asked, why so many people in Toronto were so interested in
saving a forest 600 miles north when most of the people would never see
it. He was told by one of his aides that, "Temagami was one of the
greenspaces in the minds of Torontonians. They are comforted to know that
it exists and is healthy." With the help of Environment Minister, Jim
Bradley and Attorney General, Ian Scott, he saved the forest.
However, under the business-first government of Conservative Premier,
Ernie Eve's Government, Ontario has again decided to log Temagami. Will
they ever learn. The Conservative Government is again allowing forest
companies in to log what little remains of the high-end, timber-valuable
old-growth trees in a region now littered with low-value second
generation scrub trees. New logging roads are now under construction with
clearcuts to follow. Earthroots and other environmental groups are
ramping up. A logging access road for the clearcuts is planned through
the Bob Lake Conservation Reserve in direct violation of government
legislation. "We've sent a loud message to the logging company, Liskeard
Lumber, and the Ontario government that this area should be off limits to
cutting," said Richard Brooks, Earthroots Co-Director. "The Ontario
public have spoken loud and clear on this issue time and time again. 97%
of Ontarians polled want this area protected now." "We can not allow
logging to spoil the pristine nature of these wilderness forests," said
Louise Molloy, Earthroots forest campaigner who was at the gathering.
"The commitment of these activists to the protection of Temagami's
forests is astounding. The Ontario government must respond to this level
of dedication. " Earthroots' recent efforts have persuaded the Ministry
of the Environment to begin an investigation of the Ministry of Natural
Resources for its role in allowing illegal massive clearcuts throughout
Ontario. In some forests of the province more than 98% of the logged area
are clearcuts larger the legal maximum of 260 hectares. For more
information contact Richard Brooks, M.F.C., Co-Director, Director of
Campaigns, Earthroots, 401 Richmond St. West, Suite 410, Toronto,
Ontario, M5V 3A8, phone: 416-599-0152 ext. 14, fax: 416-340-2429. Visit
their website at http://www.earthroots.org . (Note: Gary Gallon, when
Senior Policy Advisor to Ontario Environment Minister, Jim Bradley
1985-90 worked closely with Brian Back and Earthroots to save Temagami
and later became Chairman of Earthroots.)
************************************************************************
PAPUA NEW GUINEA WANTS TO SLOW DOWN FOREST CLEARCUTS
Papua New Guinea environmental and community development groups fear the
World Bank will buckle to lobbying by the logging industry and agree to
retreat from commitments it made to protect landowners and environmental
values of the country's rainforests. At the center of the controversy is
a stand-off that flared between the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) and the
World Bank over implementation of the $US39 million, six year Forest and
Conservation Project. The project, agreed to in December 2001 by the
previous PNG government and the World Bank, included commitments to
review all new logging permit applications and review 15 current logging
projects by June 2003. Papua New Guinea contains the world's third most
extensive tract of forested land, which covers more than 60 percent of
the country's land area. Nearly all of it is held as customary land by
the country's five million people, and 80 percent of PNG residents use
forests for timber and non-timber products. The Forest and Conservation
Project (FCP) was to be launched at a public forum in Port Moresby this
month following intensive workshops with government agencies earlier in
the week. But the managing director of the PNG Forest Authority, David
Nelson, demanded the World Bank postpone the workshops indefinitely. A
leaked World Bank memo revealed the exasperation of World Bank staff over
the cancellation of the project's public launch. "The reason given was
that there has been insufficient consultation with the PNGFA and that
they want to renegotiate aspects of the FCP prior to any launch
workshop," the memo stated. "If the government (PNGFA) walks away from
this agreement, or fails to cooperate at this stage, then it is likely to
have very negative implications with respect to future World Bank and
other donor assistance in PNG," the memo said.
The Eco-Forestry Forum (EFF), an umbrella group of 20 community
development and environment groups promoting community forestry projects,
fears the World Bank will agree to further weaken the FCP project. EFF
chairman Kenn Mondiai wrote in a fax to the World Bank that, "if the
conditions of the loan agreement are not to be implemented and fully
observed, then much of the FCP will become pointless as large scale
logging operations will continue unabated and uncontrolled, destroying
forest areas and negatively impacting on the lives of rural people and
the national economy." "Commercial industry and the professional
foresters of PNG were sidelined [by the World Bank] to allow much greater
say by the greens, and there were some changes done to the Forest Act,
and that needs to be unchanged," he said. Greenpeace forest campaigner in
Papua New Guinea, Brian Brunton, is worried. "The World Bank has shown
themselves to be consistently weak at the knees," he said. "Whether or
not they will stand firm or give up will depend on the amount of pressure
that is applied to them," Brunton said. "But if no pressure is applied to
them I think they will repeat the mistakes they have made in the past
with the Papua New Guinea government." Source, "PNG Groups Urge World
Bank to Keep Logging Reviews," by Bob Burton, Environmental News Service
(ENS), Canberra, Australia, September 27, 2002. See the full story at
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2002/2002-09-27-02.asp . Also visit Papua New
Guinea's Eco-Forestry Forum website at http://www.ecoforestry.org.pg/ .
**********************************************************************
NGO CALLS FOR NEW ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF ROMANIAN FOREST PROJECT
The CEE Bankwatch Network has announced the publication of a report
pointing out deficiencies in the environmental assessment of Romania's
Forestry Development Program (FDP). Based on the report's findings,
Bankwatch is calling for a new environmental assessment of the FDP, which
receives funding from the World Bank, according to a press release. The
press release said: "Although the Project Information Document states
that the main aims of the project are institutional strengthening and
capacity building, both of which are badly needed in the Romanian
forestry sector, 69 percent of the proposed lending is for forestry road
construction, which would lead to increased logging activities. The
environmental assessment is flawed because the public was not adequately
involved in the process. For more information contact: Jozsef Feiler, CEE
Bankwatch, tel: (36 1) 217-0803. The Bankwatch document, called "Quality
Analysis of the Environmental Assessment Report for the Romanian Forestry
Development Program," can be found at
<http://www.bankwatch.org/issues/forestry/romforest-ea- analysis.pdf. The
letter sent to World Bank Executive Directors requesting a new
Environmental Assessment can be found at:
<http://www.bankwatch.org/publications/policy_letters/2002/romani
aforest-lettertowb.html.
**************************************************************************
TEXACO OIL EXTRACTION PROBLEMS IN ECUADORIAN AMAZON
Thirty years ago, the rainforest of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon was a
pristine zone of incomparable biological diversity^×boasting some of the
highest rates of plant and animal diversity per acre in the world and
known for its high rates of endemism. A thriving indigenous population
could be found collecting drinking water and catching fish from the
Aguarico River. For these communities, the forest and river systems have
been their subsistence base^×both environmentally and spiritually^×for
thousands of years. However, after Texaco's arrival in the early 1970s,
indigenous groups like the Cofan, Secoya, Siona, and Huaorani and the
environment they depend on have been pushed to the brink of extinction.
Between 1971 and 1991, Texaco extracted more than 1.5 billion barrels of
oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon. However, in order to save millions of
dollars in extraction costs (an estimated $3 per barrel) Texaco simply
dumped the toxic wastes from its operations into the environment.
According to the Amazon Defense Front, the result is one of the most
infamous environmental and social disasters in South America. Texaco's
practices resulted in the deforestation of 2 million acres, the spilling
of 16.8 million gallons of crude (almost twice that of the Exxon Valdez),
and the daily dumping of 4.3 million gallons of known carcinogens and
other toxic waste into the ground, in nearby rivers and streams, and in
surrounding ponds. Texaco also left behind more than 300 open waste pits
contaminated with heavy metals and other carcinogenic compounds which to
this day continue to contaminate the land, water, and air of the Amazon.
In response to these problems, 30,000 indigenous people and campesinos
filed an unprecedented class-action lawsuit in 1993 against Texaco in
U.S. courts. The case is the first environmental action ever filed in a
U.S. federal court by foreign plaintiffs that alleges a U.S. corporation
violated the law of nations by causing pollution abroad.
The company's reckless operations have led to an exploding heath crisis
among local indigenous communities and farmers. In their lawsuit, the
plaintiffs cite a wave of deadly cancers, skin lesions, birth defects and
other abnormalities among the areas indigenous peoples, and massive
die-offs of plants, crops, and animals from air and groundwater pollution
as well as poisonous "black rain." In some villages near polluted water
sources, the rate of cancer is 100 times higher than the historical norm.
The case is still pending before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in the
state of New York. "While Texaco continues to try to hide from its
liability, our people are getting sick and dying." For more information
contact Luis Yanza, President of the Amazon Defense Front, 255 Third
Street, Suite 206, Oakland, California 94607, Tel. 510.419.0617, email
kevin@amazonwatch.org . Visit their website at http://www.amazonwatch.org
.
***********************************************************************
NEW LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO PROTECT ALASKAN TEMPERATE RAIN FOREST
The great State of Alaska contains two of the richest surviving temperate
rainforests of the world, the Chugach and the Tongass. Stretching over
1000 miles of coastline from Ketchikan to Kodiak, Alaska boasts the
largest temperate rainforest in the world. Most of this rainforest lies
within the 22 million acres of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.
Sadly, clearcutting, logging roads, and other harmful development
activities are tarnishing this global treasure. The Alaska Rainforest
Conservation Act would permanently safeguard the remaining important
wildlands of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests to provide for
hunting, fishing, recreation, tourism, and traditional subsistence
activities. Sustainable resource development could still continue in
areas that already have logging roads and infrastructure. Representative
Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut) introduced the Alaska Rainforest Conservation
Act (H.R. 2908) on September 20, 2001 in the House of Representatives.
The bipartisan bill, which already has 78 co-sponsors, will permanently
safeguard important watersheds in the Tongass and Chugach National
Forests from the harmful effects of logging and road building. See the
website http://www.akrain.org/arcabill.asp . Also visit the website
http://www.seacc.org/ActionAlerts/ARCABill.htm .
********************************************************************
A DAIRY COW PRODUCES 160 POUNDS OF MANURE A DAY
Concentrated animal farming, such as massive large-scale dairy farms have
become an industry, akin to the chemical industry. It involves a
calculated amount of inputs for generating a calculated amount of outputs
(milk, butter, and cottage cheese, etc.). These operations traditionally
have been exempted from environmental law because they are farming - and
farmers deserve a break. However, the pollution is becoming untenable.
For example, a dairy cow produces about 160 pounds of manure every day.
For dairyman Bernie Fuber, that's 160 pounds multiplied by 400 Holsteins
-- or 32 tons of manure to handle, dispose of or find a use for, without
harming the environment. That's 32 tons a day, 11,680 tons a year. But
Fuber recently discovered another way to add up the numbers: Ten cows can
produce enough manure to power one Northwest home. The West's scramble
for electricity last spring brought power blackouts to California, the
threat of power outages to the Northwest and volatile wholesale energy
prices affecting utility rates throughout the entire region. The higher
price of energy also made alternative sources more cost-competitive. As a
result, a record number of new wind-power projects are either under
construction or being proposed in the Northwest. And utilities and
investors also are exploring other potential sources, including energy
from animal and plant wastes. (10-03-01) From the Oregonian Newspaper.
See the story athttp://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard
xsl?/base/science/100203926225265348.xml . Visit the AEDF home page at:
http://socwww.cwru.edu/~axh69/aedf
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SEE THE UNITED NATIONS' ATLAS OF THE OCEANS
The United Nations Ocean Atlas has been placed on line. It is the
culmination of more than two years of collaboration between the UN and a
host of scientific institutions, including the National Geographic
Society, the Census of Marine Life and the Food and Agriculture
Organization. The Atlas features 14 global maps, links to hundreds of
other related sites, and more than 2,000 documents on 900 subjects
ranging from climate change to poisonous algae. Project manager John
Everett says the atlas will encourage greater awareness of acute marine
issues, such as overfishing of species, destruction of coastal habitats,
and the effects of pollution and global warming on the oceans. "Now we
have the ability to see information on all the areas of the ocean, coming
from all the reliable sources, through the United Nations, so there will
always be a reliable control," says Serge Garcia, who heads up the
fisheries resources division of the FAO. (AP 5 Jun 2002). See the United
Nations Ocean Atlas at http://www.oceansatlas.org/index.jsp .
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U.S. AND RUSSIA MEET TO COORDINATE OIL EXPLORATION: THERE IS NEED FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
The U.S. and Russian oil industry and government leaders will go to
Houston, Texas, for a high-level Energy Summit next week to discuss
mutual cooperation in oil development and transportation, mostly in
oil-rich Russia and its nearby new national neighbours. The Energy Summit
will lead to increased cooperation among large Russian oil companies like
Yukos, Transneft, Rosneft, and Lukoil with their transnational
counterparts including ExxonMobil, Shell, and British Petroleum.
Environmentalists expect that the U.S. government, through its export
credit programs, will subsidize this environmentally destructive oil
development.
Environmentalists charge that these oil projects in Russia are a threat
to both Russia's ecology and economy. They claim that oil multinationals
are taking advantage of lax environmental enforcement by cutting corners
that they would never get away with in the U.S. For example, in 2001
ExxonMobil broke Russian law when they conducted seismic blasting a mere
2.5 miles away from habitat of the critically endangered Western Pacific
Gray Whales, of which there are less than 100 left. Shell is dumping
toxic drilling muds into the Sea of Okhotsk, which is rich in crab,
herring, and cod, all necessary staples in Sakhalin's diet and economy.
And Yukos and British Petroleum are moving forward with pipeline projects
that would cut through the heart of Tunkiinskii National Park, often
referred to as Siberia's Yellowstone. These pipelines would violate at
least three separate Russian laws. "These corporations would never be
allowed to use such ineffective and backwards technical standards in the
United States or Europe," commented Catriona Glazebrook, Executive
Director of the international environmental non-profit organization
Pacific Environment. "The highly profitable U.S. corporations are
reducing their costs by not using precautions that are common practice in
the U.S. Yet Russian eco-systems are just as precious as those in the
U.S., and the people of Russia have the right to the same environmental
and health standards as Americans." Environmentalists also point out that
Russia's oil industry, which is controlled by the oligarchs who have
become rich at the expense of people and the environment during the last
ten years of reform, has an abysmal environmental track record. Pipelines
that run throughout the country lose between 3 and 10 million tons of oil
per year from leakages. These oil leaks have rendered vast tracts of land
and water polluted.
U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing these projects, as U.S. Government
agencies like the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and
Export-Import Bank have provided $500 million in corporate welfare for
oil and gas schemes in Russia. Yet the profits will hardly benefit
Americans, as both Shell and ExxonMobil have their subsidiaries
registered in Caribbean tax havens. According to Doug Norlen, Policy
Director at Pacific Environment, "Using public money for this plunder is
a shameful waste, and a breach of the public trust." The Wall Street
Journal has put oil companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil into a
defensive mode, as the article details how both companies are cutting
corners by using weak environmental standards on their projects off the
shore of Sakhalin Island, Russia. This charge was underscored by a
follow-up opinion piece in the New York Times, which suggested the
relationship between oil multinationals and Russia was a "cheap date."
For more information contact Rory Cox, Communications Coordinator,
Pacific Environment, 1440 Broadway, Suite 306, Oakland, California 94612,
Ph: 510/251-8800, Ext. 302. Visit their website at
http://www.pacificenvironment.org .
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ENVIRONMENTAL LECTURES AT YORK UNIVERSITY
The Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University will present this
year's Seminar Series "From Four Corners: Interdisciplinary Directions in
21st Century Environmental Studies." Two speakers have been scheduled
for the fall and another three in the new year. This year's series will
take the form of a public lecture at 4:30 pm on Thursday afternoons
followed by a wine and cheese reception. The following is the schedule of
speakers, topics, dates and locations. Mark these dates on your calendar
for what promises to be a very exciting series. Thursday, Oct.3, 2002,
Timothy W. Luke, "Eco-Managerialism: Environmental Studies as a
Power/Knowledge Formation"; Thursday, Nov. 14, 2002, Moot Court, Osgoode
Hall Law School, Jennifer Wolch, "Rethinking Environmental Studies in an
Era of Global Cities: Lessons from the Sustainable Cities Program at
USC"; Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003, Giovanna Di Chiro, "Environmental Justice
at the Turning of the 'Biotech Century'"
All speakers will give a seminar workshop on the Friday following the
lectures in Room 354 Lumbers Bldg. from 12:30 -2:20 pm. Participation in
these workshops is limited. Please contact Roger Keil at rkeil@yorku.ca,
Cate Sandilands at eesandi@yorku.ca or Leesa Fawcett at lfawcett@yorku.ca
if you are interested in participating in any of these workshops.
Participation in the lectures is public, open and free. For information
contact Dianne Zecchino, Coordinator, Special Events & Non-Degree
Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York Centre for Applied
Sustainability, 355 Lumbers Building, York University, 4700 Keele Street,
Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Tel: 416-736-5285 Fax: 416-736-5679 Email:
diannez@yorku.ca . Visit their websites at Faculty of Environmental
Studies http://www.yorku.ca/fes , York Centre for Applied Sustainability
http://www.yorku.ca/ycas
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Copyright (c) 2002
Canadian Institute
for Business and the
Environment,
Montreal & Toronto
All
rights reserved.
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