ALERT - call for Ogiek support and forest help 

The Industrial Machine called Forestry

We count the costs 
in shattered bits 
lost opportunities
In peoples displaced, 
Choice denied
The Spring is Dry...

It lives by killing mountains and valleys.
Disappearing fountains and streams.
It kills the buck, the mole, the swallow and the lark.
Consolidating 'fake forests' - Fragmenting habitat
It does not consider the worm that burrows the soil.
It counts not the micro-organisms and knows not
the function of the soil food web.
Just mining blindly.

The massive mills spew filth into the crisp country air,
A constant drainage of polluted effluent
into the crystal clear water,
Compromise the river system - pass the problem downstream.
Trucks roar throughout the night
Gone are the days of peace and quiet.

In the south...
Cheap land, cheap labor, cheap life
Warm sun, fast growth, a quick buck,
draining the life force from this land.

This need for greed
These costs too high
And we must change
So it can change...

Mashikisha
GEASPHERE

While the new forest policy of the Kenya Government (rehabilitation of the forests, uplifting of forest cover from the present 1,7 % to 10% in five years, enhanced protection of the forests, eviction of illegal farmers and squatters etc.) must be applauded, it seems that certain circles try to misuse this new policy to follow the old dark avenues of evicting the rightful owners - especially at the Mau Forests.

Please write again letters to the Kenya Government stating:

• No eviction of Ogiek people from their ancestral forests!
• No "reafforestation" scams by Coca-Cola, Nestlé or other corporations in the Mau Forest!
• All forest rehabilitation programmes at the Mau must be done in close cooperation with the Ogiek people!
• If reafforestion exercises at the Mau shall be used for declaration as carbon dumps and trading in carbon sequestration shares, in emission trading and carbon offsets - the OGIEK people must be informed, involved right from the start and asked for their consent.
• No reafforestation using genetically modified trees!

see also:

"The Carbon Shop: Planting New Problems" by Larry Lohmann (World Rainforest Movement Plantations Campaign Briefing No. 3, published in 2000). The full briefing is available here: 
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=51998 

GE TREES: NO SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE By Chris Lang. Published in Gen-ethischer Informationsdienst, February/March 2005. 
http://chrislang.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_chrislang_archive.html

Donors, who are interested to support reafforestation in Kenya, should contact the forest scientists at ECOTERRA Intl. to liaise and harmonize the reforestation work with indigenous trees at the Mau forests and elsewhere by writing an e-mail to  MailHub(at)ecoterra.net  

Private sponors for indigenous forest nurseries and the forest tree planting operations in the Ogiek forests, please contact the Ogiek Support Programme at AfricaNode(at)ecoterra.net

THANK YOU

Ogiek Support Programme
ECOTERRA Intl.

- see:

Corporate Psychopaths                                                                                                               Subject: The Corporation - Diagnosis of its specific Personality Disorder: Psychopath - "The question that comes up periodically is to what extent could a corporation considered to be psychopathic. If we look at a corporation as a legal person it may not be that difficult to actually draw the transition between the psychosis in an individual to the psychosis in a corporation....

WATERWARS                                                                                                                              New water revolts in Bolivia, March 2005 - Following the water wars in Cochabamba that attained pitiable fame in 2000, new conflicts concerning water supplies have arisen in El Alto and La Paz.

The Vitoria Statement in Support of the Struggles of Local Peoples Against Large-Scale Tree Plantations

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FROM: W R M B U L L E T I N 101
December 2005 -
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
MOVIMIENTO MUNDIAL POR LOS BOSQUES

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MONOCULTURE TREE PLANTATIONS

Large-scale monoculture tree plantations are being promoted in the South by a broad array of governments, international institutions and corporate actors. Local communities are being impacted by those plantations and are fighting back to regain control over their territories. Given the negative social and environmental impacts these plantations entail, the WRM organized an International Meeting on Plantations (together with FASE-ES and Global Justice Ecology Project) which was held on 21- 25 November 2005 in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil. The meeting brought together experiences from people working in different countries and issues related to plantations.

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THE VITORIA DECLARATION

- The Vitoria Statement in Support of the Struggles of Local Peoples Against Large- Scale Tree Plantations

The following Statement was issued on 24/11/05 in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil at an international meeting on building support for local communities against large-scale tree plantations and GMO trees. This meeting was co-sponsored by World Rainforest Movement, FASE-ES and Global Justice Ecology Project.

The city of Vitoria in Brazil, owes its name to the "victory" of the colonialist Portuguese against the original indigenous inhabitants of the land. Today, the same name has a totally different meaning. The indigenous Tupinikim and Guarani peoples have retaken the lands that were stolen from them by the giant pulp mill corporation Aracruz Cellulose. They have been joined in the struggle against the
company and its plants by other local communities and organizations from civil society who, through uniting in the struggle, have weakened the company's power.

They have thus become a symbol of victory for peoples all over the world who are fighting against similar corporations.

Peoples throughout the world are also uniting at the local, national and international levels to put pressure on large scale tree plantations that have been depriving them of their livelihoods and destroying their lands.

These struggles have brought us together in Vitoria, in Espirito Santo, Brazil to strengthen the local peoples' movements against corporations that are advancing large scale monoculture tree plantations.

With that aim:

We support the struggles of local peoples for land rights and access to land

We support the struggles of local peoples who are defending their right to water, biodiversity, soils, foods, medicines, fuel, etc that come from the land.

We support the struggles of local peoples for autonomy and self-determination.

We support the struggles of local peoples against pulpwood plantations and pulp mills.

We support the struggles of local peoples against oil palm plantations.

We support the struggles of local peoples against carbon sink plantations.

We support the struggles of local peoples against biomass plantations.

We support the struggles of local peoples against the certification of large scale tree plantations.

We support the struggles of local peoples against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and opposition to the introduction of GMO trees which would greatly exacerbate the impacts on local communities from large-scale tree plantations. We therefore call for a global ban on the release of GMO trees into the environment.

Large scale tree plantations, whether GMO or not, are the end result of a set of global economic mechanisms put into play by a series of international actors that make it possible for corporations to take over peoples' lands, water and biodiversity in order to increase profits. In addition to the pulp and paper corporations, the international entities working to disenfranchise local peoples in support of corporate profits and the neoliberal model include International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Asian Development Bank; organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; commercial banks; and forestry consulting firms, all of whom act with the support of national governments.

We therefore demand that national governments end this destructive development model and act to support the rights and livelihoods of local peoples, rather than repressing them.

We call on the people of the world to join the struggles of local peoples who are defending their rights, lands, water, and biodiversity.

Signed,
World Rainforest Movement
Robin wood e.v., Germany
The Corner House, United Kingdom
Global Justice Ecology Project, Usa
Rivani Noor, Community Alliance for Pulp Paper Advocacy/CAPPA, Indonesia
Marijke Torfs, Usa
Kaisu Tuominen, Finland
Red de Acción Ciudadana por los Derechos Ambientales, Temuko, Chile
Alfredo Seguel, Konapewman, Chile
Alejandra Parra, Kolectivo por los Derechos Ambientales, Chile
Lorena Ojeda, Koyam Newen,, Chile
Angélica Hernandez, AGRA (Agenda Regional), Chile
José Aylwin, Observatorio de Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, Chile
Mauricio Peñailillo, Junta de Vecinos Botrolhue Sur, Chile
Sandra Leijer, Unión Comunal de Juntas de vecinos de Temuko, Chile
Rony Leiva, Txapelaiñ taiñ kimun, Chile
Richard Caamaño, ODECU (Organización de defensa del consumidor y usuario), Chile
Chris Lang, World Rainforest Movement, Germany
Antonis Diamantidis, World Rainforest Movement, Greece
Ivonne Ramos, Acción Ecológica, Ecuador
Isaac Rojas, COECOCeiba, Costa Rica
Lucio Cuenca, Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales, Chile
Witoon Permpongsacharoen, TERRA-PER (Project for Ecological Recovery), Thailand
Jutta Kill, Sinks Watch
Wally Menne, Timberwatch Coalition, South Africa
Maria Selva Ortiz, REDES - Friends of the Earth, Uruguay
María Isabel Cárcamo, RAPAL, Uruguay
Gupo Guayubira, Uruguay
Thari Kulissa, ECOTERRA Intl.
FASE/ES - Federação de Órgãos Para Assistência Social e Educacional, Brazil
MST/ES - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - ES, Brazil
FASE Bahia - Federação de Órgãos Para Assistência Social e Educacional, Brazil
CDDH-Teixeira de Freitas/BA - Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos - , Brazil
Comissão de Meio Ambiente da CUT RJ, Brazil
Associação do Geógrafos Brasileiros - Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
Associação do Geógrafos Brasileiros - Niteroi - RJ, Brazil
Bicuda Ecológica, Brazil
APEDEMA-RJ Assembléia Permanente das Entidades em Defesa do Meio Ambiente, Brazil
Verdejar Proteção Ambiental e Humanismo, Brazil
Thomas Rodriguez , United Kingdom
Alexandre Menezes, United Kingdom
Espaço Cultural da Paz - Teixeira de Freitas/BA, Brazil
Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana - Sínodo do Espírito Santo a Belém, Brazil
AGB/ES - Associação dos Geógrafos Brasileiros - Seção ES, Brazil
CDDH-Serra - Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos Serra, Brazil
Celeste Ciccarone- Antropóloga - DCSO/UFES, Brazil
CEPEDES - Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas para o Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul/Ba, Brazil
Fórum Estadual de Mulheres/ES, Brazil
Movimento Nacional dos Direitos Humanos/Regional Leste, Brazil
MPA - Espírito Santo - Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores, Brazil
Waldo Motta - Poeta - Vitória/ES, Brazil
Antonio Locateli - Professor e mestre em Ciências da Educação - Pinheiros/ES, Brazil
Comissão Quilombola do Sapê do Norte, Brazil
Marcos Borba, Brazil
CPT / MG - Comissão Pastoral da Terra de Minas Gerais, Brazil
ECOSC - Equipe de Conservacionistas Santa Cruz, Brazil
Núcleo Amigos da Terra, Brazil
Rede Brasil sobre Instituições Financeiras Multilaterais, Brazil
Fernando Schubert - Estudante de Psicologia - UFES/ES, Brazil
DCE - Diretório Central dos Estudantes - UFES/ES, Brazil
Lígia Moysés Nascimento - Radialista/ES, Brazil
Pastoral Indigenista - Aracruz/ES, Brazil
Marta Aguilar, Uruguay
Julio Sire, Uruguay

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

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World Rainforest Movement
Movimiento Mundial por los Bosques
Maldonado 1858
CP 11200 Montevideo
Uruguay
Tel: (598 2) 413 2989
Fax: (598 2) 410 0985
e-mail: teresap@wrm.org.uy 
http://www.wrm.org.uy 

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Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461 U.S.
+1.802.482.2689 ph/fax
e-mail: info@globalecology.org 
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org 

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