UN Report: Nature Best Controls Climate Gases

"The "Sustainable Forestry Industry" project of the WBCSD started in 1994, when a group of companies led by Brazilian Aracruz Celulose and Finnish UPM-Kymmene initiated a study focusing on paper production.”“The credibility of the self-proclaimed quest for sustainable forestry is seriously undermined by the shameful record of the two corporations that initiated the project.”

“UPM-Kymmene is heavily criticized … for its damaging activities in Indonesia, misconduct that continued ... In 1997, the Finnish wood products giant got a paper plant in Changsu, China, which processes pulp from PT Riau Anadalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), the second largest pulp producer of Indonesia.”

“RAPP's mill in Riau, Sumatra, was expanded with a $750 million investment package supported by the Finnish and Swedish export credit agencies. The Riau mill produces 750,000 tones of pulp each year by logging the natural rainforest, substituting over 50 species of tropical hardwood for acacia plantations. Local communities have suffered severe impacts, the river essential for their livelihood has been polluted, they have been evicted from their lands with no compensation and have faced physical violence when protesting.”

“… Aracruz Celulose, specializes in bleached eucalyptus pulp. The company is particularly infamous for its destructive social and environmental impacts in the Brazilian states of Espirito Santo and Bahia. Aracruz … uprooted indigenous peoples such as the Tupinikim and the Guarani from their lands. … Aracruz's Norwegian chairman -- Erling Sven Lorentzen-- failed to appear before the Parliamentary Investigation Commission of the State Parliament of Espirito Santo that is investigating irregularities of the company’s activities …”

“… International Monetary Fund loans and policies have caused extensive deforestation in countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.”

“… the record shows that funding for environmental programs has been hampered by the significant cuts in government spending imposed by the IMF as part of its loan conditionalities. Government spending on important environmental programs has thus been substantially reduced in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Cameroon. … Additionally, inadequate funding for regulatory agencies has created conditions for: Widespread illegal logging, including in national parks and protected reserves; Corruption in regulatory schemes; The inability to respond rapidly to natural disasters; Extensive poaching of imperiled species.”

“Additionally, IMF policies have impacted on forests and wildlife indirectly through the worsening of poverty conditions in many tropical countries. Through displacement of communities, devaluation of currencies, elimination of social services, and other IMF-driven downward pressures on the living standards of local peoples, rural residents in many countries have been forced to exploit forest resources to fulfill their basic needs.”

Michael L. Wagner of CA 7:34PM June 08, 2009