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 Side-event:
"Planting Problems: Trees, Carbon, Money, People and Power"
Miguel Lovera Rivas (left) of FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH-Paraguay chaired an NGO side event on planting problems,
organized by the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) and Friends of
the Earth International.
Ricardo Carrere (above center) from
the WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT-Uruguay (http://www.wrm.org.uy)
discussed the environmental and social
impacts of large-scale tree plantations. He said plantations cannot
replace the biodiversity and multiple functions of forests, therefore
they are not attractive to fauna and local communities and do not
improve the environment. He demonstrated negative impacts of plantations,
including soil exhaustion due to monoculture. He said plantations
exacerbate deforestation because local communities in search of
food and plants migrate and clear new forests.
 
In
this RealAudio segment,
Larry Lohmann (top photo, on the left) from WRF-UK raises new issues
in mitigating climate change and describes two categories on conflicts
which arise from the use of
plantations as carbon sinks.
In other presentations, Hernan Verscheure
(second photo, on the right), Friends of the Earth-Chile spoke of
the impacts of plantations on poor communities in Chile, as outlined
in a recently published case study. Simone Lovera (left) from Friends
of the Earth-Paraguay discussed consumption patterns, incentives
and subsidies as they relate to plantations. Marcus Colchester (not
shown) from the Forest Peoples Program-UK talked about indigenous
peoples' rights and deforestation.
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 Side event: National presentations
- Turkey and Australia
Yavuz
Yüksel (right), representing Turkey, overviewed projects for the
profitable rehabilitation of degraded forest areas in Turkey using
grafting techniques. He highlighted tangible ecological and economic
benefits from such projects, including manifold returns on investment.
Below,
from left ot right: Gary Dolman (Australia), Don Wijewardana
(New Zealand), and John Lowe (South Pacific Forum) presented results
from a South Pacific Sub-Regional Workshop on issues related to
the IFF. The countries from the region recommend the establishment
of a permanent forum for policy implementation and coordination,
and strengthening existing binding and non-binding instruments.
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 In the corridors:
Some delegates speculate that some developed countries are hoping
to stretch out discussions on financial resources until they have
a clear picture whether or not there will be a legally binding instrument
on forests. There is further speculation that the developed countries
in question do not wish to reveal to their developing country colleagues
that they have little additional funds to offer, fearing that this
may change attitudes toward a LBI.
<< The ENB's Ian Fry having a word with Adam
Delaney, delegate of Papua New Guinea, after the close of the afternoon
Plenary.
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