By Chris Lang Yesterday was the 16th International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Tree Plantations. In 2004, rural communities in Brazil declared the day to commemorate the resistance against the expansion of monoculture tree plantations in Brazil. Through solidarity statements and actions around the world the day has evolved to become an International Day of…
Tag: Plantations
Blood REDD: How Chile’s brutal repression of Indigenous Peoples and the plantation industry’s land grab under the Pinochet dictatorship are to be rewarded by the World Bank
By Chris Lang Two companies, Forestal Mininco SpA and Forestal Arauco S.A., together have almost two million hectares of industrial tree plantations in Chile. The companies grabbed most of the land for the plantations during the dictatorship of Augustus Pinochet from 1973 to 1990.
Global Forestry Investments: Skeene and Bowers plead not guilty
By Chris Lang Andrew Skeene and Omari Bowers, former directors of Global Forestry Investments, last week pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. In 2019, following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, Skeene and Bowers were arrested and charged with three offences of conspiracy to defraud, four offences of forgery, one offence of misconduct in…
Pakistan’s tree planting programmes: Corruption, exclusion and marginalisation
By Chris Lang At the end of April 2020, Thomson Reuters Foundation reported that Pakistan was employing people who had lost their jobs because of the coronavirus to plant trees. The article quoted Malik Amin Aslam Khan, climate change advisor to the prime minister, as saying that, “This tragic crisis provided an opportunity and we…
Our Nature is Not Your Solution!
By Chris Lang 22 May is the International Day for Biological Diversity. The UN General Assembly launched World Biodiversity Day in 1993. This year’s theme, chosen by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is “Our solutions are in nature”. The CBD tells us that the theme, “emphasises hope, solidarity and the importance of working together…