Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

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113 The Food and Agriculture Organisation: Promoting the lie of “Planted Forests” Created in 1945, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has worked hard on behalf of the plantation industry to reinforce the myth that a plantation is a forest. In its 2005 Global Forest Assessment, for example, FAO concludes that the “rate of net loss” of forests is decreasing. It sounds good, until you realise that in its definition of forests, the FAO includes monoculture plantations, highly degraded forests and even clearcuts which are expected to regenerate.580 FAO has played an important role in promoting the commercialisation of tropical forestry generally581, and the industry with which FAO’s forestry department has had the “longest and deepest involvement” is the pulp and paper industry.582 FAO has produced studies aiming to facilitate investment and production in the pulp and paper industry in a wide range of tropical countries. The Fifth World Forestry Congress, which took place in Seattle in 1960, discussed “the need for action to use forest tree improvement to strengthen afforestation and reforestation programs and to increase the yield of the world’s forests”. The Congress recommended that the FAO organise a technical conference, “to co-ordinate and promote the development of tree improvement techniques, the mass production of improved planting stock, and the incorporation of these techniques and plants into afforestation and reforestation programs in a scientific and economic manner”. FAO subsequently organised a meeting, “The World Consultation on Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement,” which took place in Sweden, in August 1963.583 “The regional timber trend studies published by FAO demonstrate the greatly increased demand for forest products in tropical countries, as a result of rising standards of living and rapid increases in population,” noted the participants at the conference. They concluded that industrial tree plantations were needed to meet this demand: “These trends, coupled with the generally low productivity of natural tropical forest stands, are focusing increased attention on the need to establish plantations of high-yielding species – either to supplement or replace the natural stands.”584 The conference recommended that governments in the South develop “planned programs of forest genetics and tree improvement”.585 The conference commended the governments of Australia and Mexico “for their help in collections of eucalypts and Mexican pines, and urges FAO to encourage and support the extension of such action to satisfy critical needs.”586 The conference recommended that the FAO’s Forestry and Forest Products Division should set up an advisory and information unit “on the introduction of forest trees with actual or potential use as exotics”.587 580 “FAO’s net loss in credibility over global forest resources assessment”, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 100, November 2005. http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/100/FAO.html 581 George Marshall (1991) FAO and Tropical Forestry, The Ecologist, Vol. 21 No. 2, March/April 1991, page 66. 582 “FAO: The First Forty Years”, Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1985, page 59. 583 J.D. Matthews (1964) “General Introduction – FAO/IUFRO meeting on forest genetics", Unasylva, Vol. 18 (2-3), No. 73-74. 584 “Proceedings of the World Consultation on Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement, FAO, 1964”, Unasylva, Vol. 18 (2-3), No. 73-74. 585 “Proceedings of the World Consultation on Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement, FAO, 1964”, Unasylva, Vol. 18 (2-3), No. 73-74. 586 “Proceedings of the World Consultation on Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement, FAO, 1964”, Unasylva, Vol. 18 (2-3), No. 73-74. 587 “Proceedings of the World Consultation on Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement, FAO, 1964”, Unasylva, Vol. 18
114 In the mid-1970s, FAO intensified its support of the expansion of the industrial tree plantations and the pulp and paper industry in the global South. The theme of a 1975 issue of FAO’s forestry magazine Unasylva was “It’s time to make paper in the tropics.” In the magazine, FAO’s Ken King argues that “plantations and mixed tropical hardwoods are the pulp sources of the future, and the future is at hand”.588 FAO’s role in the exploitation of these “pulp sources” is equally explicit: “It is evident that the governments of most of these [tropical] countries would require financial and technical/managerial assistance if their plans are to be implemented. FAO is prepared to assist in the bringing together of governments and potential investors, in the hope that these plants would be established.”589 Two years later Ken King, then-head of forestry at the FAO, reported that, a large number of Southern governments had approached the FAO to study the feasibility of establishing “some type of pulp and paper factory, of one kind or another”.590 By the mid-1980s, about four million hectares of eucalyptus plantations had been planted, in more than 80 countries.591 During the 1980s, rural communities started to protest against industrial tree plantations in the South, particularly in India and Thailand. In 1986, in response to the protests, FAO produced a study, funded by Sweden’s aid agency, SIDA, titled “The ecological effects of eucalyptus”. The arguments in favour of industrial tree plantations were the same as in the 1960s (and the same as that from plantation proponents today): “There are high and increasing demands for wood for industrial use and fuel needs, especially in developing countries of the tropics with their growing populations.”592 The authors of the report, D. Poore and C. Fries, noted that “A growing body of opinion claims that eucalypts cause a variety of short-to long-term ills, impoverishing the environment in terms of the soils, water availability and wildlife – even where plantations have been planted on waste lands devoid of tree cover. Some countries have even banned the planting of eucalypts.”593 However, rather than visiting and talking to some of the local communities who had seen eucalyptus plantations established on their land, the authors attempted to answer questions such as “Do eucalypts use more water or have a greater effect on the water regime than other species of trees” and “Are eucalypts more efficient in their use of water (producing more wood per unit of water used) than other species” They concluded that “Perhaps there is no general answer to either of these questions.”594 (2-3), No. 73-74. 588 Ken King (1975) “It’s time to make paper in the tropics”, Unasylva, 1975, number 109, page 5. 589 Ken King (1975) “It’s time to make paper in the tropics”, Unasylva, 1975, number 109, page 5. 590 Ken King (1977) “The political economy of pulp and paper”, Unasylva, 1977, number 117, page 2. 591 “Are eucalypts ecologically harmful”, Unasylva, Vol. 38 No. 152, 1986. http://www.fao.org/docrep/r7750E/r7750e03.htm#are%20eucalypts%20ecologically%20harmful 592 “Are eucalypts ecologically harmful”, Unasylva, Vol. 38 No. 152, 1986. http://www.fao.org/docrep/r7750E/r7750e03.htm#are%20eucalypts%20ecologically%20harmful 593 “Are eucalypts ecologically harmful”, Unasylva, Vol. 38 No. 152, 1986. http://www.fao.org/docrep/r7750E/r7750e03.htm#are%20eucalypts%20ecologically%20harmful 594 “Are eucalypts ecologically harmful”, Unasylva, Vol. 38 No. 152, 1986.
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1 Plantations, poverty and power: E
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3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Plantati
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5 New investors have emerged recent
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7 1. Plantations do not plant thems
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9 plantations established on grassl
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11 Nations Food and Agriculture Org
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13 Another reason for the move to t
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15 In his book, “Khor Jor Kor, Fo
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17 Between 1991 and 2006, the numbe
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19 are asking for”, notes WWF. 60
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21 consume fewer goods. Less advert
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23 credit crunch, unstable oil pric
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25 Investment in plantations in the
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27 possible price. Subsidies, linke
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29 2. The anatomy of five pulp proj
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31 However, while the Bank confirme
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33 make way for its tree plantation
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35 In April 2004, about 2,000 famil
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37 Sappi, Swaziland: 50 years of in
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39 after an assessment by the Soil
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41 impact of the plantations on wat
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43 Advance Agro, Thailand: Deforest
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45 confiscation and liquidation of
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47 management was facing a bankrupt
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49 Indah Kiat, Asia Pulp and Paper,
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51 company owners want profits to b
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53 • US$4.5 billion owed by APP i
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55 explained that “association wi
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57 Indah Kiat faces a series of lan
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59 logging. While the investigation
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61 experimental areas and not from
Page 64 and 65: 63 Staples and Office Depot in the
Page 66 and 67: 65 “the exhaustive studies have c
Page 68 and 69: 67 CEDHA has also filed complaints
Page 70 and 71: 69 of converting grasslands to indu
Page 72 and 73: 71 3. Pulp Inc. Profiles of seven p
Page 74 and 75: 73 Thailand, a power plant for a Ne
Page 76 and 77: 75 Management’s experts the possi
Page 78 and 79: 77 A year after Aracruz’s third p
Page 80 and 81: 79 In January 2003, Pöyry announce
Page 82 and 83: 81 Bank in the early 1990s. Groome
Page 84 and 85: 83 Pöyry’s role in the Baikal Pu
Page 86 and 87: 85 Under carbon financing, Pöyry o
Page 88 and 89: 87 Pöyry is working on second gene
Page 90 and 91: 89 The Confederation of European Pa
Page 92 and 93: 91 CEPI Eurokraft states that “it
Page 94 and 95: 93 sectors need to reduce by 21% co
Page 96 and 97: 95 The ADB’s report notes that th
Page 98 and 99: 97 Nepal In Nepal, the target area
Page 100 and 101: 99 loan for the second plantations
Page 102 and 103: 101 International Finance Corporati
Page 104 and 105: 103 •In December 2000, IFC approv
Page 106 and 107: 105 firm’s activities. After his
Page 108 and 109: 107 safeguards are in practice.
Page 110 and 111: 109 Bank projects are approved by a
Page 112 and 113: 111 •€80 million to Portucel to
Page 116 and 117: 115 Nevertheless, Poore and Fries n
Page 118 and 119: 117 failure to define industrial tr
Page 120 and 121: 119 FAO’s guidelines recommend th
Page 122 and 123: 121 Rosengren did not reply to my e
Page 124 and 125: 123 Forest Stewardship Council: Mis
Page 126 and 127: 125 body that rubber stamps operati
Page 128 and 129: 127 Criterion 1.6, for example, sta
Page 130 and 131: 129 fast wood plantations have take
Page 132 and 133: 131 Principle 10.8 should prevent t
Page 134 and 135: 133 By April 2004, FSC had, at last
Page 136 and 137: 135 plantations, because it creates
Page 138 and 139: 137 integrated set of common Princi
Page 140 and 141: 139 for clearing areas of Atlantic
Page 142 and 143: 141 Colombia were certified by SGS.
Page 144 and 145: 143 The dissociation became necessa
Page 146 and 147: 145 4. Future planned pulp mills As
Page 148 and 149: 147 Planned pulp projects: 698 Comp
Page 150 and 151: 149 UPM and Sveza Group Vologda Rus
Page 152: 151 paper industry along ecological
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