Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

More documents

Recommendations

Info

121 Rosengren did not reply to my email.611 Other questions that Rosengren and her colleagues at the FAO, Peter Holmgren (Chief of FAO’s Forest Resources Development Service) and Jim Carle (FAO Senior Forestry Officer), declined to answer include the following: •Why does FAO insist on referring to “plantation forests” or “planted forests” rather than clearly differentiating between forests and industrial tree plantations •In a presentation to The Forest Dialogue in April 2008, Rosengren stated that the guidelines are intended to “enhance sustainable livelihoods and land use”. How does FAO anticipate that the voluntary guidelines might achieve this, particularly as in several important aspects the guidelines are even weaker than the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council •Which institutions took part in the “multi-stakeholder process” to prepare FAO’s guidelines How was agreement reached during this process and are comments on the draft guidelines available to the public •Since the guidelines have been produced, FAO has started a process to implement the guidelines in China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. What does FAO intend to do when it finds that a company’s plantations do not comply with the guidelines in these countries (or anywhere else) What process does FAO anticipate will take place to determine whether plantations comply with the guidelines Will FAO (or a third party) carry out assessments of the plantation operations What mechanisms does FAO envisage setting up to encourage companies to comply with the guidelines, and what does FAO intend to do when a company decides to completely ignore the guidelines •Has FAO produced any information on how plantation companies are allowed to use the guidelines when selling products from their plantations Could they, for example, advertise paper as coming from “plantations in compliance with the FAO’s voluntary guidelines on planted forests” Is there anything to prevent companies who are negotiating a plantation contract from claiming that they will comply with the guidelines (even though at that stage no trees have been planted, and it is impossible to verify whether or not the company will comply) •Given that the guidelines were formulated during the time that the FSC was undertaking a review of the certification of plantations, and that the FAO’s guidelines are even weaker than those of FSC, how does FAO respond to the accusation that the guidelines in effect undermine FSC’s standards By declining to answer these questions, FAO shows itself to be more interested in helping to greenwash the plantations industry than in encouraging a meaningful discussion about the impacts of industrial tree plantations and how the corporations responsible for these impacts might be regulated. The guidelines make no attempt to help governments regulate the impacts of industrial tree plantations on rural communities and their environments. The guidelines state that “No attempt is made to describe detailed technical guidelines or implementation standards for planning, management and utilization.” This, apparently, was a decision taken by the FAO’s “stakeholders”. “[I]t was decided by the stakeholders that the core should be the principles and guidelines, with less emphasis on the technical guidelines for implementation practices.” FAO’s work on promoting industrial tree plantations continues. FAO has produced a Working Paper 611 I wrote to Linda Rosengren (with copies to FAO’s Peter Holmgren and Jim Carle) on 9 June 2008 and again on 3 September 2008. I asked for a response by the end of September 2008.
122 which describes “a methodology for capacity building to translate the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Management of Planted Forests into action proposals.”612 The Working Paper provides no guidance on how FAO will determine whether a company is in breach of its voluntary guidelines. Instead it describes a series of “multi-stakeholder processes”, five-day regional workshops and action plans. A meeting took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand in January 2008, with representatives from China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. While there were several representatives from plantation companies, governments and the FAO, there was only one NGO representative: Boris Saraber, from WWF’s Greater Mekong programme. The code is “voluntary and non-binding”. In other words, should a company choose to ignore the code, there is nothing that can be done. What is perhaps worse, is that there is apparently no mechanism in place to prevent a company claiming to be operating in accordance with the code, no matter how severe the impacts of its operations on local people and their environment. FAO urgently needs to review its support to industrial tree plantations and to the pulp and paper industry. It could start by defining industrial tree plantations as something completely different to forests and recognising that voluntary guidelines are simply a way that plantation company’s can claim to be environmentally and socially benign regardless of the realities on the ground. The guidelines are nothing more than a mechanism for companies to avoid meaningful regulation. 612 L.M. Rosengren and A.P. Vuorinen (2007) “Responsible management of planted forests: Voluntary Guidelines Preparation for action - the methodology” FAO, Working Paper FP/39/E, July 2007.
Page 2 and 3:
1 Plantations, poverty and power: E
Page 4 and 5:
3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Plantati
Page 6 and 7:
5 New investors have emerged recent
Page 8 and 9:
7 1. Plantations do not plant thems
Page 10 and 11:
9 plantations established on grassl
Page 12 and 13:
11 Nations Food and Agriculture Org
Page 14 and 15:
13 Another reason for the move to t
Page 16 and 17:
15 In his book, “Khor Jor Kor, Fo
Page 18 and 19:
17 Between 1991 and 2006, the numbe
Page 20 and 21:
19 are asking for”, notes WWF. 60
Page 22 and 23:
21 consume fewer goods. Less advert
Page 24 and 25:
23 credit crunch, unstable oil pric
Page 26 and 27:
25 Investment in plantations in the
Page 28 and 29:
27 possible price. Subsidies, linke
Page 30 and 31:
29 2. The anatomy of five pulp proj
Page 32 and 33:
31 However, while the Bank confirme
Page 34 and 35:
33 make way for its tree plantation
Page 36 and 37:
35 In April 2004, about 2,000 famil
Page 38 and 39:
37 Sappi, Swaziland: 50 years of in
Page 40 and 41:
39 after an assessment by the Soil
Page 42 and 43:
41 impact of the plantations on wat
Page 44 and 45:
43 Advance Agro, Thailand: Deforest
Page 46 and 47:
45 confiscation and liquidation of
Page 48 and 49:
47 management was facing a bankrupt
Page 50 and 51:
49 Indah Kiat, Asia Pulp and Paper,
Page 52 and 53:
51 company owners want profits to b
Page 54 and 55:
53 • US$4.5 billion owed by APP i
Page 56 and 57:
55 explained that “association wi
Page 58 and 59:
57 Indah Kiat faces a series of lan
Page 60 and 61:
59 logging. While the investigation
Page 62 and 63:
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 114 and 115: 113 The Food and Agriculture Organi
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 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
show all

Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?