Yearly Archives: 2010

by | 2010-04-16 · 19:15

From New Voices Speaker Ben Powless: The road from Copenhagen to Cochabamba passes through the Amazon – Part I

Published on rabble.ca (http://rabble.ca)

The road from Copenhagen to Cochabamba passes through the Amazon – Part I
By Ben Powless Created Apr 14 2010 – 1:21pm

Soon thousands will meet in Cochabamba to talk climate justice. It is the voices of the Amazon we should listen to. A report from the Amazon.

The Amazon, it is often said, functions like the lungs of Mother Earth. The dense forest and undergrowth absorb much of the carbon dioxide that we manage to pump into the skies –- an ever more important and taxing effort in light of the threats to our climate.

Rio Wawas, Amazonas, Peru

In December, countries around the world gathered in Copenhagen to reach an agreement to protect the climate, even if purely face-saving, and failed. With that sour taste gone, Bolivia has invited governments, social movements, Indigenous Peoples, politicians, really anyone who cares, to attend the so-called World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth [3]. The conference will be held the 19th-22nd in Cochabamba.

Ahead of that trip, I’ve flown into Lima, Peru to head back into the Amazon. It has been almost a year since the tragic day of June 5th, 2009 left over 30 people dead in the worst violence Peru has seen in modern history. The dispute was over a series of laws the government wanted to push through to open the Amazon to foreign companies, an effort linked to the Free Trade Agreement Peru’s President Alan Garcia signed with Canada and the United States. Amazon Indigenous Peoples resisted the laws with a blockade outside the town of Bagua, on the outskirts of the Amazon, and the government’s decision to send in armed forces still reverberates here. You can see my coverage from Peru last year here [4].

Bagua at Night

Indigenous groups here and elsewhere have maintained that their role in protecting their lands, their resources, their ecologies is paramount, and also serves the rest of humanity. In this case, the Awajun and Wampis peoples were concerned about the entry of oil companies into their lands, ultimately polluting the waters, the flora, the fauna, everything, as has been the case so many times in other parts of the Amazon.

A walk through the jungle outside Wawas, Amazonas, Peru

Bagua today is a much different place than in those tense days after June 5th, when military patrols roamed the streets, and a curfew kept people in hiding. Now, the only sense of tension was between teenage boys and girls in the plaza, whistling and blasting around on motorbikes. As they say, calm waters run deep, and the Amazon has a long memory.

I managed to catch up with Salomon Awananch, who since I ran into him last year, had been elevated to the position of Amazon Leader from his position leading the protests. He understood the protests had forced the government for the first time to seriously consider Indigenous cosmovisions. In order to further make the point, Amazon leaders had recently gathered to pass a resolution rejecting all transnational corporations from their lands, which has yet to be released. They are also heavily investing in an education plan which aims to keep Indigenous knowledge like traditional medicinal plant in use.

Salomon Awananch

At one point, I asked him about the film Avatar. He laughed a bit, admitting he really enjoyed the film, despite having lived a similar experience in the “Baguatar” episode last year. His demeanour hardened. “But if that happened again, it would be a complete war, the end of all dialogue. We have been open to dialogue this whole time, but the government hasn’t had the will (voluntad) to talk. Next time we won’t be protesting on the roads, we would be in the forests and mountains, where we couldn’t be defeated.”

The main threat now? It’s a Canadian mining company, Dorato Resources [5]. Dorato is looking for gold, one of the world’s oldest plunder-able resources, and Peru has much to offer as the 8h largest producer in the world. This mine would be unique, however, situated at the headwaters of the Cenepa River, in the Condor Mountain Range, a very sacred area to the Awajun and Wampis peoples who live downstream. For them, “you can’t touch this hill, you can’t interfere with it,” according to Edwin Montenegro, Secretary of the organization representing Indigenous Peoples of the north Amazon, ORPIAN.

Edwin Montenegro, explaining the Amazon river systems

“This mountain is very important to us. If it is destroyed, if the water is polluted, it is the end of all the Indigenous Peoples along the Cenepa,” continues Montenegro, from his office in Bagua. They also point out that this river flows into the Mariñon River, which flows into the Amazon – and any contaminants, such as mercury, would end up poisoning the Indigenous Peoples of all five water basins that make up the area. They even have a website [6], with a well-produced video overview, all in English.

“We need to do our own Environmental Impact Assessment to study the impacts. There are many understandings of man, territory and the forests. There exist great trees that have energy in them, and that force, that unity is lost when they are cut,” recounted Awananch. Even the mayor of Bagua has taken a stand against the mine. For the Awajun and Wampis, though, the stakes are much higher. “We’re ready to defend the land until the last consequences, and we have an agreement across the five basins of the Amazon to support our demands.”

Violeta, Widow of last year’s violence

I took a side trip to visit the Awajun communities of Wawas and La Curva, hours down the road from Bagua, where the families of victims of the 2009 violence lived. I had gone to drop off some photos to family members and other people in the community, but wasn’t expecting the results. Passing from community to community, by boat and jungle trail, we learned the loss of a community member had divided the community and many families, which was seen as the government’s fault, if not intention. After some unexpected conflict resolution, I was able to share the photos, which brought up many heartbreaking emotions from loved ones, and will hopefully help the children to remember. I also received testimony from Roman Jintach Chu, 45, who was also shot in the violence. In the end, Jintach’s family decided to honour me by naming a newborn baby after one of my family members.

Roman Jintach Chu

As I arrived in Lima on Monday, April 5th, a mining related protest [7] left six civilians dead and dozens wounded. Peru under Alan Garcia in particular has shown itself to be allergic to dialogue, and more than comfortable resolving disputes with a gun. This government is not alone in using force, when needed, to force compliance with corporate and governmental interests.

But it is the community members of places like Wawas and La Curva that must live with the consequences in the long term, and they are on the frontlines of protecting their rights, their environment, and in the end, all of us from the very activities that lead to climate calamities – loss of rainforest, oil refining, water poisoning. It is these very communities whose voices should be elevated and respected when pretending to be able to deal with a problem such as climate change while ignoring its predatory causes.

Community of Jaez

I left Bagua en route to Lamas, San Martin province, where Amazonian Kichwa communities were toiling to be recognized by the government and stop a biofuel company from taking their land. To be continued…

More photos will appear on Flickr [2].

Source URL (retrieved on Apr 16 2010 – 2:59pm): http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2010/04/road-copenhagen-cochabamba-passes-through-amazon-part-i

Links:
[1] http://rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/2686
[2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/powless/sets/72157623729448987/
[3] http://pwccc.wordpress.com/
[4] http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2009/06/massacre-peru-trip-amazon-brings-answers-and-more-questions
[5] http://www.doratoresources.com/s/Home.asp
[6] http://odecofroc.blogspot.com/
[7] http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50952
[8] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2010/04/road-copenhagen-cochabamba-passes-through-amazon-part-i#comment-1133599
[9] http://www.ninosdelaamazonia.org
[10] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2010/04/road-copenhagen-cochabamba-passes-through-amazon-part-i#comment-1133874
[11] http://rabble.ca/user
[12] http://rabble.ca/user/register

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by | 2010-03-25 · 15:59

Join Us: Photo Exhibit and Event April 6th in San Francisco

Global Justice Ecology Project’s Photo of the Month is from Orin Langelle’s new exhibit, The Roadmap to Extinction: Are Humans Disappearing? This exhibit will be shown for one night only on April 6th at an event in San Francisco in the Good Vibrations store/gallery on Polk Street.  Details of this event are below.

Please join us for an evening of art and politics at Good Vibrations
Global Justice Ecology Project
Photo Reception and Fundraiser Mixer

Where: Good Vibrations Polk Street Gallery, 1620 Polk St, San Francisco
When: Tuesday, April 6th, 5:30-7:30 pm

Join us for a special social mixer and info night featuring an update on Global Justice Ecology Project‘s climate justice and forest protection work, including their first hand analysis of the Copenhagen Climate talks, and where do we go from here.
Also featured is a one-night-only photo exhibit by GJEP Co-Director/ Strategist Orin Langelle titled, The Roadmap to Extinction: Are Humans Disappearing?

Enjoy wine and nibbles while you meet the photographer Orin Langelle and GJEP Executive Director Anne Petermann, from our main office in Vermont, and Hallie Boas, from our west coast desk, at this informal and informational reception.
Good Vibrations has partnered with Global Justice Ecology Project through their GiVe program.

About the Photo Exhibit:
This new photo exhibit by Orin Langelle premiered in Copenhagen, Denmark during the UN Climate Convention in December 2009.  The exhibit’s theme is climate change and the possibility of human extinction.  Langelle’s photographs reveal that time and existence are fleeting.  This visual warning and wake-up call confronts the viewer with a thought provoking portrayal of the ephemeral nature of life.  Orin Langelle trained as a photojournalist at the International Center of Photography.  This show is a departure from usual his documentary work.

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Copenhagen/COP-15

by | 2010-03-15 · 18:00

Danish Repression of social movements and the right to protest

From our allies at Via Campesina:

Send this open letter to the Danish Authorities!

Friday, 12 March 2010 11:24

Dear sir/madam,

We are writing to express our concern at the decisions of the Danish government to bring charges against individuals arrested during the peaceful protests in Copenhagen during the COP 15 last December.

The international movement for Climate Justice which organized the mobilizations in Copenhagen is composed of many hundreds and thousands of groups and individuals worldwide. We strongly condemn the repression of the Danish state which aims to stifle dissent – dissent which is the basis of any functioning democracy.

We demand that the charges against Natasha Verco and Noah Weiss and the other climate prisoners are immediately dropped. Freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are basic human rights, and we are astonished by the fact that charges are brought against people for the organization of legal protests in Denmark.

The actions of the Danish state not only threaten Danish democracy, but threatens to set a worrying precedent globally that dissenting voices must not be heard – repressing and criminalizing those who struggle for social justice, real democracy and human rights worldwide.

We urge the Danish government to take these voices into consideration and to make sure that the climate prisonners are immediately released– the world is watching.

Yours sincerely,

Josie Riffaud
International Coordinating Committee
La Via Campesina

Send this letter

* to the Danish Embassy of your country (you can send a fax, a e-mail or a letter)
See the list of embassies: http://www.embassy-worldwide.com/

* to the Danish Ministry of foreign affairs Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asiatisk Plads 2
DK 1448 Copenhagen K
Phone: +45 33 92 00 00     Fax: +45 32 54 05 33  e-mail: um@um.dk

* to the Danish Parliament
Folketinget, Christiansborg 1240 København K
Telefon: +45 3337 5500
E-mail: folketinget@ft.dk

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Copenhagen/COP-15

by | 2010-03-11 · 17:32

Support solidarity demonstration in Copenhagen for innocent climate activists today!

Support demonstration for innocent climate activists today!

This afternoon the ClimateCollective are calling for a solidarity demonstration for the climate activists facing trials, of whom seven are now charged with organizing legal demonstrations during the COP15 in December. During the summit Copenhagen was scene for police’s mass arrests of about 2000 people, 20 of whom were held in custody and charged.

The climate activist Natasha Verco is one of the defendants and now facing trial on the 16th of March. She is accused on the basis of organizing legal demonstrations.

– “Police have obviously been acting politically with massive use of preemptive arrests, surveillance and aggressive behaviour against the thousands of people who wanted to voice their dissent to the summit spectacle. It’s about time they come out and apologize publicly for their actions,” says Natasha from the ClimateCollective.

Throughout 2009 the Danish Government and police led an intense campaign against the people who were critical of the grand political spectacle that was the summit. Demonizing campaigns in the media, hundreds of millions of kroner for armament and surveillance and the repressive Lømmelpakke law were obvious attempts by the authorities to systematically marginalize dissenting voices, both at the summit itself and in the streets.

– “The growing political criminalization of political movements reach a new top point during the COP15. That we now see these attempts to punish people who were acting out democracy is in sharp contrast to the glossy picture of democracy and justice, which the Danish Government and the UN have tried to portrait. This must be stopped and all charges dropped!” says Mads Kissow from the ClimateCollective.

This is why the ClimateCollective are now calling upon climate activists, sympathizers and defenders of essential freedom rights to show solidarity with the defendants.

The demonstration will start from Palæstinas/Israels square at 16.30 local time.

The ClimateCollective can be contacted on 0045 41294994.

STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION OF POPULAR MOVEMENTS // FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Copenhagen/COP-15

by | · 15:52

Latin America Protest Singer Performs 3/21 in Burlington

MEDIA ADVISORY            March 11, 2010

Contact: Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project 802.482.2689

Latin America Protest Singer Challenges Us to “Take Our World Back”

“Copenhagen leaves us no choice: We, the People, must take our world back.”

–Paul Baker Hernández, Coordinator of Water Not War referring to the failed UN climate talks last December in Denmark.

Paul Baker Hernandez, the Carthusian hermit-turned-protest singer, performs his powerful songs at the Vermont Workers’ Center on Sunday, March 21 at 6:30 pm.  The Workers’ Center is located at 294 No. Winooski Avenue in Burlington, VT.

This performance is part of the Workers’ Center series of Road to Detroit events mobilizing for the U.S. Social Forum this June in Detroit.

Paul Baker Hernandez was thrown out of the monastery 40 years ago for secretly building the guitar he still plays.  He has sung protest songs for 300,000 people (plus the Pope), led bishops on anti-nuclear forays into queens’ castles, defied death squads attacking Central American exiles, and sung with legendary musicians throughout the Americas.

When not on tour, Paul digs trenches for drainage systems to help eradicate standing water, mosquitoes and early childhood death in his marginalized barrio in Managua, Nicaragua, and shares the great musics of revolution.  Paul specializes in the beautiful, passionate music of Víctor Jara, Chilean activist and musician tortured and murdered in the 1973 Kissinger/Pinochet coup.

Co-sponsored by Global Justice Ecology Project http://globaljusticeecology.org and the Vermont Workers’ Center http://www.workerscenter.org/.

“Paul, I wish history had allowed you and Víctor to meet. You would have been friends.” (Joan Jara, Chile)

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Filed under Climate Change

by | 2010-03-10 · 16:12

Orin Langelle speaks on REDD

During the UN Climate Conference Meeting in Poznan, Poland in December 2009, one of the most important issues being discussed was REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).  Film maker Rebecca Sommers http://www.sommerfilms.org/ was documenting REDD and the impact of REDD on Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Peoples’ rights.  Although not wanting to be interviewed, Global Justice Ecology Project’s Co-Director and Strategist, Orin Langelle, finally consented to be interviewed.
Langelle comments on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, the failure of the UN Climate Conferences, biodiversity and more.
Notice he is in full UN NGO camouflage:
REDD UNFCCC T13 Orin Langelle 1 A
REDD UNFCCC T13 Orin Langelle 1 B

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by | 2010-02-25 · 17:36

Chiapas Action Alert & Photo of the Month

Elder Indigenous woman takes part in march for world peace in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico.  The Indigenous Peoples’ march was led by Bishop Felipe Arizmendi on March 14, 2003, days before the U.S. began its “official” bombing of Iraq.
Chiapas, Mexico 2003
Photo:  Langelle/GJEP
This photo is relevant today for many reasons.  Next month is the 7th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and even though that war has slowed down, the attack on Afghanistan intensifies.  This photograph was also taken just after an emergency delegation went to Chiapas regarding forced evictions of Indigenous communities from the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in the Lacandon jungle.  Today in Chiapas, there are violent evictions taking place in the Lacandon jungle–this time to make room for oil palm plantations.
In 2003:

In March 2003 Orin Langelle travelled to Chiapas on an emergency investigative delegation to look into threatened evictions of Indigenous communities from the Lacandon jungle, and to examine the level of ecological destruction there.  Some communities were already relocated. The delegation, including journalists, photographers and organizers, visited threatened communities in the Lacandon, met with organizations working in the region and conducted overflights of the jungle, documenting the ecological damage.
Why the evictions?  Conservation International (CI) teamed up with the Mexican government to declare that Indigenous communities, including Zapatista support base communities living in the Monte Azules Integral Biosphere Reserve were destroying it.  This provided a supposedly ecological pretext–protection of the Monte Azules–as the reason for evicting these communities.
Our delegation proved that most of the communities had been conducting sustainable organic agriculture in the jungle for years.  They outlawed slash and burn farming and practiced regular crop rotation to protect the soil.  In fact, we found that it was the military that was causing massive destruction of the rainforest–which we witnessed on our overflight of the jungle.
This developed during the Mexican government’s thrust to push the Plan Puebla Panama mega-development scheme.  One of the PPP plans calls for the establishment of new timber plantations in the region.
Now in 2010:

México: Violent evictions in Chiapas for establishing oil palm monocultures

from World Rainforest Movement Bulletin, February 2010, http://www.wrm.org.uy
What follows is a communiqué from the Latin American Network against Monoculture Tree Plantations (RECOMA) reporting on the violent situation that local communities and Indigenous Peoples of the Lacandona forest in Chiapas are presently going through.
Appeal to international solidarity to protect the Lacandona Forest in Chiapas (Mexico), February 2010.

The Latin American Network against Monoculture Tree Plantations (RECOMA) is hereby denouncing the arbitrary treatment suffered by various communities in the Lacandona forest, in the area declared as the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, in the State of Chiapas, Mexico.Last January, the Chiapas State Congress approved funding for the construction of a palm oil processing plant. Shortly afterwards, dozens of families from the Municipality of Ocosingo were evicted from their territory, in order to give way for the expansion of monoculture oil palm plantations.

Dozens of heavily armed police arrived in helicopters and with aggressive violence evicted men, women and children from their homes, which they then burnt down and with no explanation, removed the community to the city of Palenque.

While the government talks about conservation and protection of the zone, it evicts those who have been truly responsible for making this conservation possible. At the same time, it replaces local ecosystems by oil palm monocultures.

Oil palm plantations are being promoted under an “ecological” mask, as if the production of agrofuels based on palm oil could be a solution to climate change. Apart from the falsehood of these affirmations, no mention is made of the serious negative impacts they generate such as violation of the local population and indigenous peoples’ human rights, as is presently the case in Chiapas.

Furthermore, monoculture oil palm plantations are one of the main causes of deforestation and therefore contribute to climate change through the release of carbon stored in the forests, while destroying the means of subsistence and food sovereignty of millions of small farmers, Indigenous and other communities, and generating serious negative environmental impacts. The plantations require agrochemicals that poison the workers and local communities and contaminate soil and water. Monoculture oil palm plantations eliminate biodiversity and deplete fresh water sources.
In sum, monoculture plantations for the production of paper and agrofuels (such as in the case of oil palm) worsen the living conditions and opportunities for survival of the local population and are only beneficial to a small handful of companies that become rich at the expense of social and environmental destruction.
For this reason, we are appealing to the international community to condemn the plans for the expansion of monoculture oil palm plantations in Mexico, denouncing this situation by all means at your disposal.
To Protest these evictions, contact:
The Embassy of Mexico:
1911 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC 20006
USA
Telephone: (202) 728-1600
Support the work of Global Justice Ecology Project for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Forest Protection

For ongoing updates on the progress of Global Justice Ecology Project, please visit our Website: http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
Climate Connections blog: www.climatevoices.wordpress.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Climatejustice1.

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Indigenous Peoples, Photo Essays by Orin Langelle

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by | 2010-02-11 · 20:14

Invasive GE Eucalyptus Threatens Southern Forests & Water

For Immediate Release            February 11, 2010

Contact: Dr. Neil Carman, Plant Scientist, Sierra Club +1.512.663.9594
Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project +1.802.578.0477
Scot Quaranda, Campaign Director, Dogwood Alliance +1.828.242.3596
George Kimbrell, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Food Safety +1.571.527.8618

Groups Force USDA to Re-release Draft Environmental Assessment on Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees for Southern U.S. Forests: Original Assessment Lacked Key U.S. Forest Service Hydrological Studies

The U.S. Department of Agriculture re-released their draft environmental assessment [1] regarding a request by ArborGen, a subsidiary of timber giants International Paper and MeadWestvaco, to plant over a quarter of a million genetically engineered eucalyptus trees in so-called “test plots” across seven southern U.S. states. [2]

“If these invasive GE eucalyptus are planted across the South on this large of a scale, it is highly likely that fertile seeds will escape into surrounding forests,” said Dr. Neil Carman, a plant scientist with the Sierra Club.  “This is a major problem since eucalyptus is already known for its invasiveness.  Once they escape into the forests, there is no way to call them back.  It would be an ecological nightmare for southern forests.”

The environmental assessment was re-released by the USDA after groups concerned about the environmental impacts of transgenic eucalyptus trees pointed out that the assessment was missing key hydrological studies conducted by the U.S. Forest Service that directly refute the conclusions of the USDA’s draft environmental assessment which recommend approving ArborGen’s request.  The USFS studies point out that eucalyptus trees have heavy water requirements and can seriously impact ground and surface water reserves. [3]

The USDA is seeking public comments on their draft environmental assessment through February 18th, 2010. [4]

“In countries that are already suffering the impacts of large-scale eucalyptus plantations–like Brazil, Chile and South Africa–people have organized massive campaigns against them,” stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and North American representative of the Global Forest Coalition.  “This is because eucalyptus plantations have devastated forests and communities.  In Brazil, the Mata Atlantica forest has been all but wiped out by eucalyptus plantations.  In Chile, communities living near eucalyptus plantations have lost their access to fresh water.”

Other new information in the assessment reveals that some of the supposedly infertile engineered eucalyptus trees in existing field trials produced fertile seeds.  Eucalyptus is a non-native tree and numerous species of eucalyptus are already considered invasive.  This new transgenic (or GMO) eucalyptus has been engineered to tolerate colder temperatures giving it the potential for invading forest ecosystems throughout the South.

“I had hoped that the disaster of kudzu would have taught us the consequences of releasing invasive species into the environment,” agreed Scot Quaranda, Campaign Director for the Dogwood Alliance.  “Instead, ArborGen wants to release invasive GE eucalyptus trees.  Unlike kudzu, however, these trees are not only invasive, they are also highly flammable and use huge quantities of fresh water.  California is already spending millions to eradicate invasive and flammable eucalyptus trees.  We do not want these invasive trees to be mass-planted in the South.”

The STOP GE Trees Campaign [5] is working with the Center for Food Safety on plans to stop ArborGen’s proposal to release hundreds of thousands of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees across the U.S. South.  “This is a very slippery slope,” warns George Kimbrell, an attorney for the Center for Food Safety. “Allowing the release of these GE eucalyptus trees will set a legal precedent that could allow the release of genetically engineered poplars or pines–which have wild relatives across the continent.  The commercial release of engineered versions of native trees would lead to the contamination of forests with engineered pollen.  Once this occurs there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop the further contamination of more forests.  We have to stop the release of GE trees before this contamination occurs.”

The public is encouraged to submit comments to the USDA regarding the ArborGen proposal to release 260,000 genetically engineered cold tolerant eucalyptus trees across seven southern states.  For details on this, please visit: http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/stopgetrees.php?tabs=0

[1] To download the USDA’s December 17, 2009 revised draft environmental assessment, go to: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/08_014101rm_ea2.pdf

[2] The seven states targeted for ArborGen’s GE eucalyptus deployment are South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

[3] The summary findings of the USFS with regard to the impacts of eucalyptus plantations on water resources can be found on page 57 of the new USDA draft environmental assessment.  These findings include the fact that the water usage by eucalyptus plantations is at least double the water usage by other forest types, and that afforestation to eucalyptus plantations will reduce stream flow, lower the water table and affect groundwater recharge.

[4] Comments to the USDA can be submitted at: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=09000064809c344a

[5] Global Justice Ecology Project coordinates the STOP Genetically Engineered Trees Campaign.  The Sierra Club and Dogwood Alliance are part of the Steering Committee for the Campaign.  For more information on the campaign, go to: http://www.nogetrees.org.

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