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MAKING CONTACT Transcript: #32-00 Ancient Forests, Modern Activism: Communities Fighting Extinction Stephanie Welch: This week on Making Contact.. Oliver Enour: In Nigeria the more a place is deforested, the more it is developed. So which is why forest communities begin to feel that development means deforestation. Maria Teresa Guerrero: Illegal tree cutting is like drug trafficking. The ones who get rich from the illegal logging are the saw mills, the companies and people who are connected to the export business. Stephanie Welch: Recent scientific studies from the United Nation's and other leading institutions have confirmed that the world's remaining ancient forests are home to as much as 90% of the earth's land-based species. But ancient forests world-wide continue to disappear at an alarming rate. On this program, we take a look at community efforts to protect ancient forests. I'm Stephanie Welch, your host this week on Making Contact, an international radio program seeking to create connections between people, vital ideas and important information... In the United States, only five percent of ancient forest remains and seventy-six countries worldwide have destroyed all of their ancient forest. Much of that was lost in the last thirty years, coinciding with increased efficiency in logging methods, stepped up lumber and paper use in the United States, Japan, and Europe, in the sale of timber by developing countries to repay debts to international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In a ground breaking study from 1997, the Washington, D.C. based environmental think tank, World Resources Institute, found that only one-fifth of the world's original forests remain. Nigel Sizer is the organization's Director of Forest Policy. Nigel Sizer: According to an analysis that World Resources did and published about two years ago, with about 100 scientists from all over the world participating, about 80% of the world's original ancient forest has either been lost, or seriously degraded by human activity and much of that damage has taken place in the last few hundred years and in the tropical regions, much of it in the last few decades. Stephanie Welch: This is the current situation in Mexico: the country's remaining ancient forest had some protection through efforts by indigenous peoples and also through the communal land ownership system of Mexico, known as eijidos. But recently, Mexico's remaining old growth has come under threat due to U.S. logging companies and international free trade agreements. Nigel Sizer. Nigel Sizer: In Mexico you have a very interesting development, which is that substantial numbers of communities are very involved in the management of forests and in production of timber in logging operations but in a community managed way. And there is clearly a huge potential in Mexico to harness the goodwill and the inherent desire of those communities to engage in this activity for the long term, to pass this down to their children and grand-children and to turn that into a system that's truly sustainable. And there's been some very good work done in Mexico on that. A significant threat to that in some places has been local governments beginning to allow sometimes U.S. and other foreign or Mexican industrial logging operations to come in and take over those lands, pushing out those communities--some cases with violence--and taking over those resources and beginning to liquidate them. Stephanie Welch: With passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and the ever-increasing U.S. demand for cheap timber, Mexican eijido's are now under pressure to log their last ancient forestland, with serious environmental repercussions. Making Contact's Kent Paterson has more. Kent Paterson: A train glides past forested slopes in the western Sierra Madre mountains in Chiuhuahua, Mexico. The mountain range consists of pine and oak forests. It is home to more than 4,000 plant and animal species. Scientists from Yale University say the vast Sierra Madre is the largest remaining producer of oxygen in the southwestern portion of North America. Maria Teresa Guerrero is an organizer with the Chihuahua Commission in Solidarity in Defense of Human Rights. The group issued a report in March of 2000, co-authored with the Texas Center for Policy Studies, on logging in the Sierra Madres. Guerrero says that uncontrolled logging is so widespread that less than one percent of the old growth forest remains, a long standing concern of indigenous communities. Maria Teresa Guerrero: Illegal tree cutting is like drug trafficking, to give an example. It's a circle, a chain. The indigenous people who already impoverished, they're the weakest link of this chain. Many times they get involved in illegal logging because of the necessity of earning the 200 pesos they'll make for one or two day's of work. But the ones who get rich from the illegal logging are the saw mills, the companies and people who are connected to the export business. Kent Paterson: Illegal logging takes several forms: loggers cut more than is allowed by government issued permits, cut prohibited species and sometimes set up unauthorized saw mills. Often they cut without any permits at all. About 80% of forest land in Mexico is communally owned, a legacy of the 1910 Revolution. Guerrero says that logging is depleting the watershed of the western Sierra Madres. She adds that this problem, in turn, affects a broader region. Maria Teresa Guerrero: The production of water has gone down incredibly. For example, in 1985 the Rio Conches Basin, which begins in the Sierra, supplied almost 60% of the water of the Rio Grande. In 1989, that amount was down to 20%. In recent years it's gone down so drastically that Mexico and the U.S. now have a problem. We owe the U.S. water from previous years, that they're charging us. This is an indicator that the Sierra is not generating either the same quantity or the same quality of water. Remember that the five largest rivers of northern Mexico are born in the Sierra. They irrigate Sonora and Sinaloa, which are the most important food production zones. And the water in the Rio Grande is important for the Mexican states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Neuvo Leon, Chihuahua and the state of Texas. It's important water for the farming and ranching of the whole region. Kent Paterson: The disappearing trees of the western Sierra Madres are among the more than one million acres of forest being lost each year in Mexico. Talli Nauman is a Mexico-based journalist and former MacArthur fellow who writes widely about environmental issues in Latin America. Talli Nauman: There are plenty of statistics to show that Mexican forests as a whole are in a state of crisis. And there's an incredible amount of desertification and erosion in drying up the water tables in a large portion of the country. And there's not enough water to meet cities' needs like that of the capital. You've got the whole capital sinking because of it. This water issue is related to the trees. As long as your having deforestation you're going to have erosion and desertification, and you're not going to be able to sustain the kind of population growth that Mexico has. Kent Paterson: In recent years, logging has picked up in the Sierra Madres. With about one-third of the U.S. softwood lumber supply now coming from foreign sources, logging companies are stocking up on Sierra timber from the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua. Authorities in neither Mexico nor the United States have a system in place to verify the legality of pine shipments at the border. Meanwhile Maria Teresa Guerrero's group COSSDYDHAC, the Texas Center for Policy Studies, the Rural Coalition and other organizations in Mexico and the United States, are campaigning to protect forests in the Sierra Madres. Their efforts are one front in a growing movement on both sides of the border. Another example is a campaign to free jailed activists, Rudolpho Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who opposed logging in the state of Guerrero being done for the U.S. company, Boise Cascade. Maria Teresa Guerrero: In 1994, Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since that time and up until now, the economy and capital has flowed across the border. Non-governmental organizations, human rights and environmental organizations also have an international pact of solidarity and mutual support. So now their struggle is known in Canada and the United States. Kent Paterson: Activists in the U.S. and Mexico claim that as a result of pressure two U.S. logging companies have shut down operations. In 1997, International Paper ended contracting in the state of Chihuahua. And in 1998, Boise Cascade pulled out of Guerrero. In both cases the companies site unreliable timber supply as their reason for closing down operations. Although the two multinationals have pulled back, other Mexican and foreign companies continue buying wood being cut in ancient forests by sub-contractors. Maria Teresa Guerrero says citizens on both sides of the border have a stake in the future of forests in the Sierra Madres. Maria Teresa Guerrero: I believe that the international solidarity is important for a number of reasons. First, because the geographic location of the western Sierra Madres has bi-national repercussions. The water that's generated from the Rio Conches Basin belongs to Mexico and the United States. Besides the Sierra is a corridor of wildlife that comes from the Rocky Mountains in the United States and extends all the way into southern Mexico. As a geographic region, the Sierra doesn't stop at the border. It's an important geographic and ecological region for the southern part of the United States and the northern part of Mexico. Second, I can lay out a problem. What do we citizens do when we use the law to denounce the irregularities which we suffer, and the proper authorities don't respond? What do we do? What do we do? The only option left is to get support from international solidarity for our demands so that the proper authorities will respond. Kent Paterson: While trees continue to be logged and processed in the western Sierra Madres, there are signs that the movement launched by COSSYDHAC and its allies in the United States is having some effect. The Chihuahua delegate on Mexico's Attorney General for Environmental Protection, recently was quoted in the Mexican press as saying that a moratorium on new logging permits in the state of Chihuaha would be enacted, and a review of existing permits undertaken. But COSSYDHAC's Guerrero says these measures won't curb illegal logging and lax enforcement of environmental laws. For Making Contact, I'm Kent Patterson reporting. Shereen Meraji: You're listening to Making Contact, a production of the National Radio Project. If you'd like to get in touch with us, we'll be giving out our toll-free number at the end of this broadcast. Stephanie Welch: Scientists from the United Nations, universities, governments and non-profit organizations have recently intensified their efforts to catalogue the planet's wealth and range of living species, known as biological diversity. Nigel Sizer, from the World Resources Institute, says that despite these efforts, it's difficult to know exactly how many species exist. Nigel Sizer: We actually have no idea because most of those species are in tropical rainforests, and we're only just beginning to understand the diversity of life living in and dependent upon those forests. Some estimates suggest maybe a million species; there are other estimates that go up to 30 or 50 million species. We really have no idea. Another key reason is, as we look around the world, we see that most of the remaining diversity of human culture also lives in forests -- in the Amazon, in the Congo Basin, in places like Papua New Guinea -- maybe about 300 million indigenous people and forest-dependent peoples still live in these forests and depend upon them for their daily survival. Stephanie Welch: Papua New Guinea is an island north of Australia and contains the third largest intact tropical rainforest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo Basins. But intensified logging has resulted in the destruction of the lands of the indigenous people in Papaua New Guinea and threatens their cultural traditions. Lafcadio Cortesi, is a forest issues specialist with Greenpeace International. He says that the unique land ownership structure of this country has helped protect its tropical rainforest. Lafcadio Cortesi: What's amazing about it is that it's a country where the indigenous people's land rights have not been taken away. In fact, the land in the country, over 97% of it, is owned in what we call "customary tenure," which means that communities don't need a title or a deed that's upheld or issued by lawyers or by the state. How they own their land is by a story of how their ancestors came there. And those stories are upheld by the constitution, and there's special land courts where disputes about land are. . . decisions about it are taken by groups of elders who review the genealogy in those stories. So it's quite a different system. That's been very exciting for us in our work, because it also means that, let's say, communities in other parts of the world, whether it's in Indonesia or in Africa or in Canada or in North America, have been fighting for i.e. to get recognition of indigenous tenure and indigenous rights; we already have that there. And the communities have that there. So they're already a couple steps ahead of the game in some ways. Stephanie Welch: This traditional, community-based protection of Paupa New Guinea's forest is being threatened by illegal logging, largely to satisfy international debt obligations and Asia's industrial logging giants. Rather than being the exception, this illegal logging is widespread throughout Africa, the Carribean and the Pacific Islands. Nigel Sizer recently co-authored a report on logging in these regions for the European Commission. Nigel Sizer: What we found in the report was that companies in places like Cameroon, Gabon, Papua New Guinea, in parts of the Caribbean--such as Surinam and Belize--are involved in what one could call very predatory logging. Often they are going in under the cover of senior government officials some of whom--it's been well documented--have been paid off, have taken bribes from these companies. This has been particularly well documented in the South Pacific, in Papua New Guinea, in the Solomon Islands. And these companies, to some extent, are coming in and just doing whatever they like, with no effective regulation even though there are laws on the books. So these are illegal operations which are being sanctioned by government officials. You also have, of course, pressure on these countries from the United States, from Europe, from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to--what they call--liberalize their economies, to modernize their economies and part of that involves letting foreign investors come in and invest there. Stephanie Welch: Over the past decade, activists and organizations worlwide have called for the elimination or reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They cite statistics showing that these institutions' policies increase poverty, concentrate wealth in the hands of the few and threaten critical ecosystems. Antonia Juhasz, Director of International Forest Programs for the American Lands Alliance, says the policies of the World Bank and the IMF also threaten ancient forests internationally. Antonia Juhasz: These institutions have been promoting policies around the world, at the primary funding of the U.S. government and primary urging of the U.S. Treasury, that have said quite explicitly forests are crops to be exported. If a country is to pay back its loans to these institutions, if it is to become economically independent -- which none of them end up doing, but this is what the IMF and the World Bank tell them -- if you're to become economically independent, a great and easy resource is your forests. Chop 'em down. Ship 'em out. Stephanie Welch: Corporations and international lending institutions claim that increased capital and investment promote higher environmental and social standards in developing nations. But critics point out that this concept rarely translates into on-the-ground reality. Antonia Juhasz. Antonia Juhasz: We have a system that's explicitly designed to allow corporations to abuse local economies, abuse local environmental laws as opposed to this wonderful idea of them going abroad and increasing the bar. Rather, we see the race to the bottom (which is a term used an awful lot) which is countries competing to attract the attention of the multi-national investors, reducing their environmental standards, providing bribes, doing whatever they can to get the multinationals into their country so that they can get the money--but also so that they can get the loans of institutions like the IMF and the World Bank who say to them unless you have multinationals operating in your economy, we won't give you a loan. Well, it may not be to the betterment at all of the local government, but if they want that IMF loan, they got to attract the multinationals. They'll do whatever they can. And you see the race to the bottom taking place. Stephanie Welch: Nigeria's tropical rainforest was once as extensive as Papau New Guinea's. Now only 5% of that country's lush ancient forest remains, most of it lost in the past twenty years. All of the remaining forest of any size in Nigeria is in Cross River State. This forest eco-system continues across Nigeria's border into Cameroon and makes up the largest ancient forest in West Africa. Half of the Cross River rainforest is legislatively protected; the other half is state-owned and considered "community forest." Mr. Odigha Odigha, director of the indigenous coalition of non-governmental organizations in Cross River State, known as NGOCE (Non-Governmental Organization Coalition for the Environment), says that multinationals are now moving into this region. Odigha Odigha: The rainforest in Cross River State is being threatened predominantly by the loggers, the logging concerns that are here. Because almost all of the rainforest, the last tropical rainforest, has been targeted for logging by multinational companies, and other logging companies. For instance, we have the greatest threat that the rainforest is facing right now is from Western Metal Products Company, Limited and the other, up to about ten other logging concerns, that are struggling to log not only the forest reserve, but they are also threatening to log the community forest. And even the national park too cannot be spared from such threats. Stephanie Welch: Western Metal Products Company, or WEMPCO, is a Hong Kong-based metal processing firm that expanded its operations to include logging. After leveling the ancient forest of Nigeria's Ogun State, WEMPCO obtained a 540 square mile logging concession, virtually all of it in ancient forest, adjacent to the Cross River National Park. Besides buying lumber outside of its timber concession, a clear violation of WEMPCO's stated Environmental Impact Assesment, it's now alleged that WEMPCO's Cross River mill, shrouded in secrecy and protected by bribery, is simply turning the last ancient forest in Nigeria into hardwood chips--the lowest priced commodity possible for any wood product. Odigha says that WEMPCO has refused to answer his coalition's questions about the final destination of these ancient forest wood products. Odigha Odigha: They wouldn't. They wouldn't tell you. They would tell you that they don't export the wood. But we know that they export the wood. Because they put it into chips and give the impression that they're using it for plywood, but we know outrightly that they export the wood. Stephanie Welch: One of the member organizations of the indigenous coalition NGOCE (en-goose-a )is the Ekuri Self-Initiative in Cross River. It's a model program that NGOCE would like to see replicated throughout Cross River State. People in the Ekuri community came together to educate themselves about how their self-sufficient lifestyle is dependent upon a healthy forest. The Ekuri Self Initiative seeks to conserve the biological wealth of Nigeria's rainforest through environmental education, poverty alleviation and food security. Oliver Enour is the Director of the Initiative. Oliver Enour: In terms of biological diversity, Ekuri Forest which is a forest that is near the border of Nigeria with Cameroon. That stretch of forest is the richest, in short, in terms of biological diversity, which is primary and a lot of endangered species, tree and animal species, that are heavily endangered. And it has a very strong conservation potential. And we are struggling. Even in terms of medicinal plants. Even the much dreaded acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Of recent, people have discovered plants which are known to possess chemicals that can assist in the event of AIDS. What has really kept the spirit together is the fact that people are aware that Nigeria used to be a country whose forest resources ran second only to Brazil. From 1960, when the country became independent, to 1999, about thirty-nine years, is that almost everything has been cleaned up and cleared away because of unsustainable harvesting. And so now people have really seen that there is a need to manage what we now have sustainably. Stephanie Welch: In Nigeria, opposition to the destruction of their lands by foreign corporations has put community members and activists in danger in the past. In 1995, poet, playwrite and organizer, Ken Saro Wiwa, and eight others, were hanged by the Nigerian military government. Many observers say that they were condemned for their organizing activities against Shell Oil. Odigha Odigha says that community empowerment often results in repression: Odigha Odigha: What we do is essentially to sensitize the communities as to the evils of deforestation and not only that, the economic implication to them, as well as ecological and the social implications associated with logging and how the relationship that exists between the ecological degredation and poverty. So we sensitize the people to rise up to their rights and then they take the bull by the horns themselves. As would be expected, not everybody would want to embrace change, like the loggers, or distractors, I will call them. I have often been predisposed to a lot of threat, very serious threats of interest to my life. Some even...I get feedback from people who were. . .from this old logger who says: "Look Odigha, you better be careful. I hear this about how they are going to deal with you, one way or the other." It hurt. But I have not been daunted; but however, I don't have to be reckless in the way I operate. So I am cautious, all the while asking God to protect me. But I need to be careful. I don't just have to walk into a minefield anyhow. Stephanie Welch: Logging corporations, among others, often cite the economic benefits of timber harvesting for impoverished communities. But once the trees are gone, so are the profits, the animals, the medicines and the eco-system. Acccording to Oliver Enour, the Ekuri Self-Initiative helps alleviate poverty in Cross River State communities while helping protect the forest. Oliver Enour: When you look at poverty in Nigeria, perhaps poverty in Africa, I don t know how it happened that way, but it's like the forest communities are the poorest. In Nigeria, the more a place is deforested, the more it is developed. So which is why forest communities begin to feel that development means deforestation. So it has been a difficult task trying to transform those beliefs, you know, transform those tendencies, getting people to see the forest not as a symbol of underdevelopment or backwardness. I mean until you are able to address poverty issues, in short, you cannot have the cooperation of the people. Stephanie Welch: The recent shift in Nigeria from militray rule to supposed democratic governance, resulted in the election of a state governor who's demonstrated a willingness to listen to environmentalists' concerns, according to Odigha Odigha: Odigha Odigha: We're quite happy that from all indications, he seems to be predisposed to imbibing the conservation concept. So we will keep putting pressure and bringing the issues as much as possible before the governor, and we pray that the rest of the world should also continue to put pressure on him, on the need to conserve the Cross River State. I don t think it should be left to the exclusive hands of NGO's in Cross River in Nigeria to do it. We feel the whole world has a stake in this Cross River rainforest, and so they should bring pressure to bear on the governor, on the need to preserve the rainforest. Stephanie Welch: That's it for this edition of Making Contact, a look at world-wide efforts to protect ancient forests. Thanks for listening. And a special thanks this week to Marc Evans for writing and production assistance, and Ana Maria Murillo for voice over and translation. And I'm your host, Stephanie Welch. Phillip Babich: Laura Livoti is our managing director. Phillip Babich is managing producer. Peggy Law, executive director. Associate producer, Stephanie Welch. Senior advisor, Norman Solomon. National producer, David Barsamian. Women's Desk coordinator, Lisa Rudman. Prison Desk coordinator, Eli Rosenblatt. Production assistant, Shereen Meraji. Archivist, Din Abdullah. If you want more information about the subject of this week's program, call the National Radio Project at 800-529-5736. Call that same phone number for tapes and transcripts. That's 800-529-5736. You can also go to our web site at www.radioproject.org. That's www.radioproject.org. Making Contact is an independent production. We're committed to providing a forum for voices and opinions not often heard in the mass media. If you have suggestions for future programs we'd like to hear from you. Our theme music is by the Charlie Hunter Trio. Bye for now. |