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20 november 2000
how much wood would a wood wangle
chuck?
forest activists fear tree plantations
scam
Friends of the Earth International and
other Global Forest Coalition members have
revealed the a scam at the heart of
negotiations on Land Use, Land Use Change and
Forestry (LULUCF). Last weekend's
negotiations saw the removal of eligibility
criteria for sinks projects. Countries could
implement destructive projects like large
monoculture tree plantations as part of their
climate strategies.
Supported by Indigenous Peoples
Organizations, FoEI rejects treating forest
conservation and other biomass-related
activities as counting towards Kyoto targets.
Carbon storage in trees and other biomass is
temporary. These projects are far riskier
than energy efficiency measures and the
introduction of renewable energies.
"If current proposals to include LULUCF
activities are accepted, industrialized
countries could meet their Kyoto obligations
through the development of fast-growing
plantations and other harmful sinks
projects." says Simone Lovera, coordinator of
the FoEI Forest Program. "The Kyoto agreement
would be fatally undermined."
Meanwhile forest conservation is now
unlikely as an option under the Kyoto
Protocol. Last weekend, it emerged that any
LULUCF activities included under the Clean
Development Mechanism (set up to implement
projects in developing countries) would be
restricted to reforestation and afforestation
projects.
"Countries like Indonesia could continue
destroying their rich rainforests while
earning credits and money for tree plantation
development" says Ulfa Hidayati of the RMI
Institute for Forest and the Environment in
Indonesia.
It also emerged at the weekend that
countries like Canada won't wait for a
biome-based definition of forests. If their
proposals are accepted, clear cutting and
replacement of old-growth forests by
monoculture tree plantations will no longer
be seen as deforestation. Because tree
plantations absorb carbon faster than
standing forests, countries would replace
existing forests and other ecosystems with
fast-growing eucalyptus and pine plantations.
Monoculture tree plantations damage
biodiversity (and cause other environmental
problems) and provoke social conflict.
"Indigenous Peoples and local communities
in countries like Malaysia know that
plantations are worse than large scale
logging operations, because plantations
companies not only destroy the forest, they
also take their lands, thus destroying their
livelihoods" says Ricardo Carrere of the
World Rainforest Movement.
"Companies like Monsanto are implementing
hundreds of field trials of genetically
engineered fast-growing trees that will lead
to increased herbicide use and more
environmental and social havoc", according to
Miguel Lovera, the coordinator of the Global
Forest Coalition.
FoEI and other forest groups want climate
negotiators to adopt a biome-based definition
of forests, excluding large scale tree
monocrops and removing LULUCF activities from
the Clean Development Mechanism and article
3.4.
For further infomation please contact:
Ian Willmore: 0044 7887 641344 (FoEI)
Simone Lovera: 06 53614586 (FoE
Paraguay)
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