Infrastructure and Extraction: A Host of Deforestation
It is impossible to think about extraction without thinking about a vast network of accompanying infrastructure, and thus even greater deforestation and destruction.
Bulletin 244 – June /July 2019
This Bulletin articles are written by the following organizations and individuals: Nicholas Hildyard of The Corner House, UK; Leonardo Tello Imaina from Radio Ucamará, Loreto, Peru; Wendra Rona Putra from Pandang Legal Aid (LBH Padang), Indonesia; Rosalva Gomes from the Interstate Movement of Babassu breakers (Movimento Interestadual das Quebradeiras de Coco Babaçu), Brazil; Bryan Anderson, activist from Long Liam, Malaysia; the Xingu Alive Forever Movement (Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre), Brazil; and members of the WRM international secretariat.
OUR VIEWPOINT
CEMENTING DEFORESTATION: INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE SERVICE OF CORPORATIONS AND CAPITAL
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Ever More Extreme Infrastructure
We live in an age of ever more “extreme infrastructure.” The construction of roads, railway lines and other infrastructure linking production and resource extraction centres with major consumer areas is tied to profoundly undemocratic forms of elitist planning.
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The Amazon Waterway in Peru vs. Flowing Rivers
The Waterway aims to connect the Amazon to the world. But that argument is based on the idea that we are disconnected in the Amazon. That is not true. What it really wants to do is place the Amazon in service of capital, razing peoples.
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Indonesia. The Gloomy Truth Behind Geothermal Energy: A misleading Narrative of “Clean Energy”
“If our land, water sources, air and livelihoods are being destroyed by geothermal exploration and exploitation, how can this energy be called “clean”? “Clean” for whom?”
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Women Stand Up to Fight the Suzano Paper Mill in Maranhão, Brazil
The construction of the Suzano Pulp and Paper mill—along with nearby highways, the constant transport of wood, and the massive influx of workers—has brought a lot of devastation to communities. This is the testimony of an activist who is fighting for the territory.
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Infrastructure in Africa for Extractive Industries and Corporate Profits: What about Community Needs?
The mega-infrastructure corridors prioritized in ambitious investment programmes spanning the african continent are squarely focused on facilitating the export of minerals and agricultural commodity crops and the import of processed foods and manufactured goods.
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Uruguay Goes into Debt with Million-Dollar Infrastructure at the Service of a Multinational Pulp Company
As a condition to install its second pulp mill, the company UPM demanded that the Uruguayan state build a new railroad from the site where UPM plans to locate its mill to the port. The government would cover the costs of these infrastructure projects at the service of UPM.
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Infrastructure From and For Forest Communities: The MicroHydro Power in Long Liam, Sarawak
After the cancellation of the Baram mega-dam in 2016, the villagers of Long Liam, who were among the thousands opposing the construction of a mega dam, joined forces to install the very much needed power source in their community.
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Brazil: The Struggle of the Xinguara Peoples in the Amazon
The fight against the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam is still alive; but peoples of the territory have to deal with the denial of their basic rights, the increase in violence in the city and countryside.
RECOMMENDED
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China: Villagers sue a timber company and a local government for drying up their water sources
In a context of a thriving eucalyptus plantations industry in China, around 150 Yong’an residents are suing both Guangxi Lee & Man Forestry Technology Ltd. — the timber company that (Read More)
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The Amazon: Roads and Highways are Hubs of Deforestation
The study, “Amazonía en la encrucijada” (“The Amazon at the Crossroads”), by the Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network (RAISG, by its Portuguese acronym) presents an overview of the pressure caused (Read More)
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Clean Energy? Dams that Destroy in Guatemala
In the Yich K’isis region of Guatemala, the construction of three hydroelectric dams has been planned: Pojom I, Pojom II and San Andrés. These dams will receive water by diverting (Read More)
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How the rich and powerful hijack resistance victories
Under the ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement) parallel justice system for corporations and the rich, companies can sue countries when they think that government decisions or court rulings – even ones (Read More)
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Dam displacements in Malaysia: gender insights
A paper from researcher Carol Yong critically reviews issues of dam-induced displacement and resettlement of indigenous communities in Malaysia from a gender lens.To understand why compulsory land acquisition is traumatic (Read More)
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WRM Bulletin “Voices from the ground: communities in movement and resistance strategies” in Swahili
Despite the many profound damages that industries cause in the world’s forests, they also cause something else to emerge: the strong and diverse resistance movements of affected communities defending their (Read More)