21 September: International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations
In 2004, September 21st was declared as International Day Against
Monoculture
Tree Plantations by a number of organizations throughout the world. On
this
day, people in every continent carry out actions to generate awareness on
the
impacts of large scale tree monocultures on local communities and their
environments.
Be they eucalyptus, pines, acacias, gmelinas, oil palm or other types of
monoculture tree plantations, they are all mostly aimed at feeding
northern
consumers with growing volumes of raw materials extracted in southern
countries
at a huge social and environmental cost.
Wasteful consumption patterns in the north are displacing food production
in
countries where malnutrition and hunger are already a major problem for
millions of people. Market-based export policies are leading to decreased
food
sovereignty in food producing countries.
Local communities are displaced to give way to endless rows of identical
trees
that displace most life forms in the area. Water resources are depleted
and
polluted by the plantations while soils become degraded. Human rights
violations are rife, ranging from the loss of livelihoods and displacement
to
repression and even cases of torture and death. While communities suffer
as a
whole, plantations result in differentiated gender impacts, where women
are the
most impacted.
New threats are emerging that could increase even further the area
occupied by
these "green deserts", as well as their social and environmental impacts.
The
looming disaster of climate change has resulted in the promotion of
"solutions"
that not only do not solve the problem but that create yet more suffering
for
local communities. So- called "carbon sink plantations" (carbon dumps),
so-called "green fuels" (agrofuels) and so-called "improved trees"
(genetically
engineered) are examples of such "solutions".
The millions of hectares of land already occupied by pulpwood, timber and
oil
palm plantations could be dwarfed by yet more millions of hectares that
are now
being targeted for fast wood plantations to absorb the carbon emitted by
the
use of fossil fuels, for oil palm plantations to produce biodiesel for
feeding
cars, for frankentrees to absorb more carbon than natural trees or for
producing ethanol for energy consumption.
None of this is science fiction: it is already happening. We must stop it.
But
the only way for achieving this aim is to increase our support to
communities
that are in the frontline in the struggle against plantations and to force
governments to change course. On this day we call on the peoples of the
world,
and particularly on northern citizens to join in and help to make things
change
Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461 U.S.
+1.802.482.2689 ph/fax
mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
The STOP Genetically Engineered Trees Campaign is a Program of Global
Justice
Ecology Project http://www.stopgetrees.org
Global Justice Ecology Project is the North American Focal Point for
Global
Forest Coalition http://www.globalforestcoalition.org
Global Justice Ecology Project Mission Statement: Building local,
national and
international alliances with action to address the root causes of social
injustice, economic domination and environmental destruction.
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