The case for Rights of Nature in face of the Mirador Open Pit Copper Mining Project

Ecuador is facing one of its most challenging cases for Rights of Nature as the government moves ahead with a contract for open pit mining in Ecuador. Please add your support by signing a petition of concerned citizens.

Support Rights of Nature in Ecuador - The Petition Site http://www.thepetitionsite.com/888/727/673/support-rights-of-nature-in-ecuador/



In March 2012, the government of Ecuador signed a contract with Ecuacorrientes (ECSA), a company of Chinese capital to extract copper, gold and silver from the Condor Highland in southeastern Ecuador. Today the humid tropical forest of the Condor Highland is one of the richest and most biodiverse areas of South America. The proposed Mirador Project includes 6 open pit industrial mining concessions in an area encompassing almost 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres). Mirador’s open pit mines will eliminate all the vegetation and the superficial soil layer of the mined area including 4,000 species of vascular plants that contain the richest biodiversity in South America. Over 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of protected forest in the Condor Highland will be affected. The strong case highlights the fact that Walsh Consultant, hired by ECSA to make the Environmental Impact Assessment, determined that species of amphibians and reptiles, endemic to the zone could go extinct since the fragile habitats which their life depends on will be completely removed with the project and water sources and aquifers will be polluted. In spite of this report the Environmental License was given and the contract signed.

Environmental, human rights, and indigenous organizations along with local community members from the Condor region in Ecuador have joined together to file a lawsuit to stop the Mirador Mining Project and protect fragile ecosystems in the area. The suit claims that the mine would violate the protected rights of ecosystems guaranteed in Articles 71-73 on Rights of Nature in the Ecuador Constitution. The case is now being analyzed by the 25th Civil Court of Pichincha against the Ministry of Non Renewable Resources, the Ministry of Environment and Ecuacorriente with the plaintiffs asking to stop the Mirador Mining Project using the precautionary principle to guarantee Rights of Nature, Right to Water and Right to a Decent Life.

US agribusiness could carve ten Manhattans out of African forest: Greenpeace

New York, 19 February 2013 – Massive carbon emissions and the destruction of habitats critical to threatened animal species – those will be just some of the results if a palm oil plantation by New York-based agribusiness Herakles Farms in Cameroon is not stopped, according to investigations from Greenpeace USA.

“The Herakles Farms project can be seen as part of a wider land grab in Africa. The company sees only the opportunity to make money, ignoring the fact it will destroy a rainforest area of great biodiversity and the livelihoods of local people who farm it,” said Rolf Skar, Forest Campaign Director with Greenpeace USA.

Released today, Herakles Farms in Cameroon: A showcase in bad palm oil production details how at least 86% of the 73,000-hectare concession area in the Southwest Region of Cameroon is dense natural forest. Up to 9.5 million tonnes of carbon would be released into the atmosphere were the area flattened – the equivalent of all the carbon emitted by nearly 7 million cars in one year [1].

The report details how Herakles is trying to push the project through despite being in contravention of national law, large discrepancies in its environmental impact study and opposition from residents.

“We have been working in this area for 17 years, the proposed plantation is located between five protected areas and any attempt to open it up will have catastrophic effects on the environment,” said Nasako Besingi, Director of the Cameroonian NGO, SEFE, which has campaigned against the project for several years.

Opponents to the project in Cameroon, including Besingi, have been subjected to intimidation and arbitrary arrest.

The concession area, roughly ten times the size of Manhattan, is home to endangered species such as the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee subspecies, the Forest Elephant and the Drill as well as numerous other rare amphibians, birds and animals.

"Herakles Farms has named Nestle, Unilever, McDonalds and Walmart as potential customers for its palm oil, which is impossible. These companies have committed to sourcing policies which bar them from buying palm oil from companies like Herakles," said Skar.

Herakles Farms’ subsidiary in Cameroon SGSOC withdrew its membership from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, after last year displaying an inability to meet even the most basic standards of palm oil certification.

Palm oil production in Africa has expanded greatly in recent years and when done well can produce a needed boost for both national and local economies. But when done badly it can destroy areas of natural beauty and the livelihoods of local farmers.

Please check out the following link; at the end is a link which allows you to email Herakles Farms directly to let them know how you feel. Public pressure at this stage is critical!

http://m.greenpeace.org/international/en/high/news/Blogs/makingwaves/answer-from-herakles-farms-cameroon/blog/44009/

Greenpeace / Global Witness respond to World Bank IEG Forests Review

Washington, 11th February 2013 - The World Bank Board of Directors has blocked a call by independent evaluators to review the outcomes of the Bank’s support for industrial-scale logging in tropical rainforests. The evaluators concluded in a report published last Friday that such operations have not been effective in reducing poverty, the World Bank’s core mandate, or achieving sustainability. Despite these findings, the Board voted unanimously against a recommendation that the Bank review the effectiveness of its support for tropical forest logging.

“The very survival of tropical forests and the way of life of people who live in them is under threat, and the World Bank is in denial about its contribution to the problem,” said Rick Jacobsen of Global Witness. “As a public institution tasked with reducing poverty, the World Bank should take very seriously its own evaluators’ finding that its approach is not helping vulnerable forest communities. It’s time for the Bank to stop defending destructive logging practices in the name of development benefits that never materialize.”

The Bank has been instrumental in putting into place policies in many tropical countries that result in widespread logging of tropical rainforests. Yet according to a growing body of evidence, industrial-scale logging contributes to tropical deforestation while doing little to improve the lives of forest-dependent communities and indigenous peoples. Corruption and lack of government oversight further aggravate the problem. In the countries of Africa’s Congo Basin, home to the world’s second largest rainforest next to the Amazon, law enforcement in the logging sector is ineffective and corruption and cronyism are widespread. Recent reports from a government-appointed independent observer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, found that many international logging companies are carrying out illegal activities.

“After 10 years of World Bank-led reforms in the DRC, roughly 150,000 km2 of rainforest remain in the hands of poorly regulated international logging companies, while communities are once again being left behind,” said Susanne Breitkopf of Greenpeace International. The reform process in the DRC has been marred with irregularities and widely criticized; meanwhile, a law that would support community management of forests has been stalled for years, and the Bank is financing a forest zoning process that is likely to earmark huge areas of rainforest for industrial logging.

While the Bank fiercely rejected the evaluators’ criticism of its support for industrial-scale logging in the tropics, it accepted seven other recommendations made in the report. Two of these focused on the need to provide more support for forest-dependent communities to allow them to directly manage their own forest resources. The Bank has not yet indicated how it plans to implement these recommendations. Breitkopf remains skeptical: “In order to reduce poverty and deforestation, the Bank needs to put land rights and community forest management at front and center of its projects, rather than making them cosmetic add-ons.”

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN PROTECTION FOR INDONESIA’S REMAINING RAINFORESTS

Jakarta, Indonesia, 5 February 2013 - Greenpeace hailed today’s commitment from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to end deforestation as a major breakthrough in efforts to save Indonesia’s rainforests, after a decade of public pressure and recent negotiations with Greenpeace.

APP, one of the world’s largest producers of paper and packaging, has published a new ‘Forest Conservation Policy’ which, if implemented, could spell the end of its long and controversial history of rainforest destruction.

“We commend APP for making this commitment to end deforestation, but it’s what happens in the forest that counts and we will be monitoring progress closely. If APP fully implements its new policies it will mark a dramatic change in direction, after years of deforestation in Indonesia,” said Bustar Maitar, Head of Greenpeace’s Forest Campaign in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s rainforests are a vital habitat for endangered species including the Sumatran tiger and home to thousands of forest communities. The Indonesian government has identified the pulp and paper sector as a lead driver of deforestation in Indonesia, along with the palm oil sector.

This move by APP is the result of years of pressure from Indonesian and international NGOs challenging its role in large-scale rainforest clearance, including vital wildlife habitat and areas claimed by local communities.

Greenpeace’s campaign to transform Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector has seen ground-breaking investigations of APP’s operations and high profile campaigns around the world exposing the global brands whose paper and packaging is supplied from APP.

Many global brands suspended contracts with APP and introduced policies removing deforestation from their supply chains after a wave of public pressure inspired by Greenpeace. Over 100 companies have taken action, including Adidas, Kraft, Mattel, Hasbro, Nestlé, Carrefour, Staples and Unilever.

APP’s new commitment comes at a crucial time for Indonesia’s forests. The two-year moratorium on deforestation decreed by President Yudhoyono in 2011 expires in May this year.

“We urge Indonesia’s government to use the momentum of APP’s move to strengthen and extend the moratorium, starting with a review of all existing forest concessions. As a matter of urgency, the government should improve enforcement of forestry laws to help companies like APP implement their conservation policies. Only concerted action from government, industry and Indonesian civil society can finally turn the tide of extinction facing Sumatra’s tigers,” said Maitar.

APP, part of the Sinar Mas group, is one of just two global pulp and paper producers in Indonesia that has relied on rainforest fibre for its products used by household brands across the world.

Greenpeace has today written to the CEO of APRIL (Asia Pacific Resources International), Indonesia’s second-largest pulp and paper producer, to ask when his company plans to make a similar commitment to end deforestation.

UK sustainable palm oil targets are too weak, say retailers

Retail bodies say they have already signed up to much stricter standards on sustainable palm oil than the government's pledge

Jessica Aldred
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 31 October 2012 16.50 GMT

A palm oil plantation in the Ivory Coast. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

Retail bodies and charities have criticised the government for setting "weak" targets on the use of sustainable palm oil.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) yesterday asked retailers, manufacturers and charities to sign up to "work towards" ensuring that, by 2015, all palm oil used in food and other products is responsibly produced and does not contribute to deforestation.

But the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that while the government deserved praise for putting the palm oil issue on the agenda, many of its members had already made more ambitious commitments. The BRC wants other sectors to commit to nothing less than the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards for sustainable palm oil.

Richard Dodd, head of BRC media and campaigns, said: "Manufacturers have not been prepared to sign up to only using RSPO-certified palm oil by end of 2015. The commitment they have signed up to has been watered down, as it doesn't have a specific timetable and only a commitment to 'work towards' using 100% sustainable palm oil. In order to get the wide range of signatories, the pledge that Defra has settled for is not as good as it should have been, and not as good as the one retailers have already made.

"[The RSPO] is the only worthwhile standard and the one retailers have committed to."

BRC director of food and sustainability, Andrew Opie, said: "If the government is serious about achieving comprehensive change in the way palm oil is produced and saving rainforest habitats, it should be pushing other sectors to follow retailers' lead.

"Retailers have already pledged to meet the world's most rigorous standards on 100% certified sustainable palm oil, and said they will do it by the end of 2015, because that's the way to generate a market for sustainable product and eliminate the rest."

The environment minister, Richard Benyon, said the government would lead the way by ensuring that only environmentally friendly-sourced palm oil would be used in central government food and catering services.

"People want to know that the products they are using are not contributing to deforestation and climate change and many UK businesses are already starting to make changes. Producers, manufacturers and charities will continue working together to speed up the move to 100% sustainable palm oil in everyday products," he said.

Palm oil is one of the world's most rapidly expanding food crops and used extensively in the food industry as frying fats, and as an ingredient in biscuits, margarine, snacks and bakery products. It is also used in the production of biodiesel, in animal feed, soaps and other cleaning products and cosmetics. Its production has been linked to the destruction of rainforest habitats in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and it is a rising source of greenhouse gas emissions, which come from clearing forests for crop cultivation.

According to Eurostat data, the UK imported 397,000 metric tonnes of palm oil and 53,000 metric tonnes of palm kernel oil in 2011. Defra has estimated that only 24% was sourced from sustainably certified plantations.

Defra's statement coincides with the annual conference on the ingredient, held by the RSPO in Singapore. Data released by the RSPO this week showed that UK supermarkets including the Co-operative, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's, and manufacturers like United Biscuits, Warburtons and Burton's food are already at – or very close to – using 100% RSPO-certified palm oil.

Waitrose said on Tuesday that it would reach its target of 100% fully sustainable palm oil by the end of this year. The supermarket lists palm oil in its ingredients and claims to be the first retailer to use the RSPO logo on its soap. Riyaz Dhalla, Waitrose senior technologist, said: "This is an important issue for our customers and we're delighted to be able to help them make an ethical purchasing decision."

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said many food and drink manufacturers had made substantial progress. The FDF director of sustainability, Andrew Kuyk, said: "Many food and drink manufacturers have in place long-standing commitments to using 100% certified sustainable palm oil and the national statement is an important step towards a wider reassurance for consumers that the products they enjoy contain oil from environmentally friendly sources."

Adam Harrison of WWF International – another RSPO member – said that Defra's move was significant, but given the urgency of the situation relating to the impacts on natural habitats relating to palm oil production, the statement needed to go further.

"The impacts of irresponsible and unsustainable palm oil expansion to meet growing demand are completely unacceptable in terms of deforestation, damage to wildlife and climate change. The urgency of the problem needs an equally urgent response. Whilst we welcome the national statement we are concerned that it does not convey clearly enough the need to take action now.

Palm oil is a "hidden oil" for consumers. Currently in the EU, palm oil can be labelled as vegetable oil, meaning that consumers cannot easily make an educated purchasing choice.

Last year it was announced that changes to food labelling would make it easier for consumers to identify products containing palm oil. Changes to the European Food Information Regulations will mean labels have to identify the specific types of vegetable oils that have been used. Businesses are already starting to implement the change, which will be mandatory on all food products from 13 December 2014.

Read article at Guardian

Resolution for Everyday!

2010 Resolution from Green Docs on Vimeo.

Save Orangutans and boycott corporations producing products containing palm oil!
Download orangutan palm oil sheet

HLNtv - Orangutans at Risk

Orangutans in Indonesia could be on the brink of extinction all for a product many Americans do not even know they are consuming. The Orangutans natural habitat in Indonesia are allegedly being burned down and decimated to make room for trees that produce palm oil. Palm oil is a cheap ingredient that is used in almost half the items in American grocery stores. But because palm oil goes by so many different names it can be hard for consumers to identify it in the products they are purchasing. Jane Velez-Mitchell spoke to Rolf Skar the Forest Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA.