NEWS
RELEASE
Thursday 27 March 2003
Brazilian
groups urge EU companies not to buy carbon credits from eucalyptus plantation
In a letter released today[1],
over 50 Brazilian organisations, movements, politicians, churches and citizens
from five Brazilian states urge companies and governments investing in the
World Bank Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) not to buy carbon credits originating
from a project involving industrial eucalyptus tree plantations in the
Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Plantar is one of the first projects to
prepare for carbon credit registration with the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean
Development Mechanism. The project, developed under the auspices of the World
Bank's PCF in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, involves 23.000 ha of monoculture
eucalyptus plantations for the production of charcoal, to be used in the pig
iron production. Plantar has drawn criticism from NGOs from its inception as a
potential CDM project because of its apparent failure to contribute to either
clean development or the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the twin
objectives of the CDM. Today’s letter adds compelling facts to an already long
list of arguments against the project’s registration with the CDM.
”This project is not ‘clean development’
and we urge you not to invest in it,” the letter to prospective buyers of
Plantar carbon credits states, “what we really need are investments in clean
energies that at the same time contribute to the cultural, social and economic
well-being of local populations.”
The letter gives testimony on/about/of the
grave negative social and environmental impacts of the Plantar plantations;
these include:
Ø The environmental impacts of the
eucalyptus plantations in the region have been severe. Rivers have dried up,
eucalyptus was planted in water sources like springs, and permanent
preservation areas were not respected
Ø Pig iron companies still use around 15-20%
native vegetation (‘cerrado’) for the production of charcoal. This is possible
because of the lack of control on the roads where the transport of charcoal
takes place
Ø Tupinikim and Guarani Indigenous peoples,
as well as traditional afrobrazilian communities and tens of thousands of
peasants were expelled from their lands when companies like Plantar established
themselves in the region during the military dictatorship in the 1960s and
1970s
Ø Plantar does not have an environmental
impact evaluation and report (EIA/RIMA) of its activities, a legal requirement
in Brazil for any undertaking that potentially causes environmental impacts.
This shows the “special” treatment that the company receives from the state
authorities;
Ø Working conditions in Plantar’s areas are
very dangerous. In March 2002 the company was sued by the Regional Working
Office (DRT), together with 41 other eucalyptus planting and charcoal producing
firms in the state of Minas Gerais for not obeying Brazilian labour law. The
company was also cited in a Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPI) in the
Parliament of Minas Gerais state as a company that is involved in illegal
subcontracting of work.
“Those three EU member states that are
involved in the PCF carry a special obligation to ensure Plantar that will not
become the first registered CDM (sinks) project,” says Jutta Kill of FERN[2],
“If Plantar were accepted as CDM project, these three countries would receive
pro-rata credits from the Plantar plantation. Hypocrisy is the only word to
describe such tacit approval of a potential CDM sinks plantation project from
countries party to the same EU that only a good year ago argued very
convincingly against the inclusion of sinks in the CDM.”
“There is still time to show that the EU
will put its money where its mouth is when it comes to buying carbon credits,”
says Jutta Kill of FERN, “this letter from Brazilian groups gives all the
evidence needed to withdraw from the Plantar project and ensure similar
projects will not be eligible for CDM credits.”
ENDS
Contact in Brazil:
Marcelo Calazans (coordinator), FASE-ES[3]
(Espirito Santo) e-mail: fasees@terra.com.br
Contact in Europe:
Jessica Wenban-Smith, FERN, +32 (0)2 733 0814
email: jess@fern.org
Contact in North America:
Jutta Kill, FERN, +1 250 799 5386 email:
jutta@fern.org