19
January 2009 - The Congo — The government
of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
has recently completed a World Bank sponsored
review of the logging industry with some
positive results. Yet it has allowed an
expansion of the industry to more than twice
the recommended size.
Following the review,
the DRC government refused 68 out of 87
appeals against cancelled logging contracts.
Such a high number of rejections is a positive
sign that it is starting to take a stand
against the logging industry in order to
protect the forest and the communities that
rely on it. But there is still a lack of
governance and enforcement within the industry.
The rainforest is in urgent need of stronger
protection.
The government appointed
a technical working group to review all
existing logging contracts. This group advised
that new long-term logging areas be reduced
to 4.4 million hectares but the government
has approved 65 new logging contracts totalling
9 million hectares.
Legal Logging?
The recent DRC logging review has been widely
criticised and an independent observer appointed
by the government at the request of the
World Bank has acknowledged that none of
the review criteria was properly verified.
A 2002 moratorium on new logging concessions
has been violated and the Forest Law that
was passed 6 years ago is still to be implemented.
Multinational timber
companies such as the Swiss Danzer Group
and the Portuguese company Nord Timber have
obtained hundreds of thousands of hectares
of rainforest for logging and under the
pretext of "remapping". To date
15 million hectares of forest has been allocated
through this dubious practice.
Clearly many challenges
remain for the fight to save this forest
but the DRC government must continue to
resist pressure from greedy international
timber companies. Affected communities have
been systematically excluded from the logging
review process and crucial information such
as maps, contracts and logging plans have
not been made available at the local level
- or elsewhere.
Local people also lack
the right to appeal logging decisions. The
DRC desperately needs to develop a land
use plan that takes into account the needs
of the Congolese people.
DRC government must
continue to stand strong
The Congo basin is of
incalculable importance not only in terms
of biodiversity and resources for local
people but also as a giant carbon store
that is essential for climate protection.
It is the fourth largest forest carbon reservoir
in the world. Yet over 25 percent of this
precious ecosystem is controlled by the
logging industry. If logging is allowed
to continue at the projected rate, the DRC
alone risks losing 40 percent of its forest
within the next 40 years.
We hope that the latest
logging contract cancellations will create
momentum for developing alternatives to
industrial logging. Benefits from avoiding
deforestation can actually yield higher
incomes.
Companies are cutting
trees faster than ever in the Congo with
no regard for social and environmental consequences.
In order to stop this - we are calling for
the adoption of an international financing
mechanism, Forests for Climate, that makes
the Congo Basin rainforest, and others like
it, more economically valuable when left
intact than when hacked down for timber.
This international funding mechanism would
address biodiversity, equity and social
issues while helping to protect the global
climate.
Deforestation accounts
for about one fifth of global greenhouse
gas emissions and replacing industrial logging
in the DRC by an internationally-backed
forest protection system would not only
be financially beneficial to the people
of the DRC - it would make the country a
key climate protector.
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Save the Planet: now…
or NOW
16 January 2009 - Manaus,
Brazil — The Arctic Sunrise has embarked
on a tour of Brazil to warn against the
impacts of climate change and highlight
the important role Brazil can play in fighting
it.
The Arctic Sunrise sailed
through heavy rains into the port of Manaus
to an energetic welcome from local partners,
state government representatives and media
who are lending their support to our campaign.
The "Save the Planet: now…or NOW"
tour will focus on solutions to deforestation
and climate change, together with an end
to nuclear energy in Brazil. It will also
highlight the positive impacts that healthy
forests, oceans and renewable energy in
Brazil can have on the global community.
With this year’s crucial
UN meeting on climate change in Copenhagen
on the horizon – come December the international
community will have to start its blueprint
for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol,
it is now or never, as the Arctic Sunrise
helps spread the urgency of the problem
and the need for governments to act on climate
change.
The science is clear:
in 2015, global CO2 emissions must be stabilised
and deforestation completely halted in the
Amazon. By 2050, we need to have built a
zero carbon future. To meet this challenge,
we need a global effort to share responsibilities
among citizens, governments, private businesses
and civil society.
The Arctic Sunrise’s
first port of call - in what is arguably
the most important year for climate discussions
- is no coincidence. Brazil plays a pivotal
role in the global climate debate as it
is currently the 4th largest greenhouse
gases (GHGs) emitter in the planet. Furthermore,
Brazil is in an important position to combat
climate change, being among the 10 largest
economies in the world and is the fourth
largest emitter of CO2. Deforestation and
misuse of land, mainly in the Amazon, is
responsible for 75 percent of Brazilian
emissions of GHGs. The destruction of the
Amazon forest releases more than 800 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
Brazil needs to commit
itself to targets for reducing greenhouse
gases, eliminating the deforestation of
the Amazon by 2015, promoting renewable
energy and energy efficiency and implementing
a network of marine areas to protect the
oceans.
The Arctic Sunrise will
be open to the public at its ports of call.
Check out the agenda of the Arctic Sunrise
during its “Save the Planet: now or NOW”
tour (Portuguese)
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Putting soya impacts
on the map
20 January 2009 - Brazil
— Monitoring the effects of deforestation
on the Amazon is a difficult undertaking.
The Amazon is huge and it's extremely difficult
to keep tabs on what's happening in the
remote fringes of the rainforest. News of
illegal logging and the spread of soya plantations
can take a long time – if ever - to reach
the authorities.
Community mapping
Our team in Brazil has been working with
the local community to map the impacts of
the soya industry in the Santarém
region of the forest, the heart of soya
production in the Amazon. This is a collaborative
project with the Brazilian organisations
Projeto Saude e Alegria (Health and Happiness
Project) and the Rural Workers Unions of
Santarém and Belterra. The community
mapping project focuses on training people
to use GPS technology to pinpoint the damage
caused by intensive agriculture practices
and empowering the local community to defend
its land and the rainforest. Even though
there's a moratorium at present on forest
being cleared for new soya plantations,
current farming in these areas is still
damaging the environment and the communities
who live in the region.
Research collected for
the map between May 2007 and June 2008 shows
damage has spread along the highways carved
through the forest. Soya farming has affected
rivers as well: herbicides used on the crops
have leeched into the water. Some rivers
have even been dammed by farmers, affecting
water supplies for those downstream. Others
have silted up when wetland forest cover
has been removed.
Local groups take control
As their environment deteriorates, the future
of local communities is at stake. Traditional
routes through the forest are blocked by
expansive soya plantations and people have
been forced to sell their land as a result
of pollution from agrochemicals.
The information collected
for the maps even documents cases where
entire communities have disappeared due
to the destruction that has made their former
way of life impossible.
The communities that
continue to exist in spite of the destruction
are also on the community map. Many rural
communities that have managed to somehow
adapt to the destruction are included in
this project – for some, this is the first
time they have ever been formerly identified
on a map.
Documentation of the
land in this region is an important step
in the fight to save the Amazon. By helping
local communities document what's happening
to the forest and rivers around them, control
is finally back in their hands. Ever since
US company Cargill announced its plans to
build a controversial soya processing and
port facility in Santarém, these
communities have fought to show the detrimental
effect a growing soya industry has on the
region. The Cargill facility was built without
the environmental impact assessment required
by the government. Cargill finally submitted
the assessment to the authorities at the
end of last year and we are currently awaiting
the announcement of the public hearing where
further discussions will take place on this
issue.
And finally, this mapping
project could also provide a model for how
the money from global funding mechanisms
needed to stop dangerous climate change
could be spent to ensure that local people
are the guardians of their forests. This
will be essential if we are to save the
climate and protect forests in the Amazon
and around the world in the long term.
