Sender: Entomology Discussion List <ENTOMO-L@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA>
From: Peter Kevan <pkevan@UOGUELPH.CA>
Subject: [INDIGENOUS/ENVIRO CRISIS-NICARAGUA]

International Neoliberalists Set To Chainsaw Nicaragua's North Atlantic Coast

by the Native Forest Network Eastern North America Resource Center and the Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi, Nicaragua Sister City Program

A bilateral delegation of US. and Nicaraguan environmental activists recently returned from the Atlantic Coast with alarming information. The group traveled up the Rio Coco to the isolated Bosawas Reserve, visited displaced Miskito and Sumu communities near the gold mines of Bonanza and Rosita, surveyed new logging roads on sacred indigenous land in Wakamby and met with numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Logging in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) is widespread already, but the indigenous community and environmental destruction that will follow the new logging concessions in the North Atlantic Coast will be severe. The concessions have been granted from Nicaragua's central government to SOLCARSA. SOLCARSA, also know as Sol de Caribe, is a Korean multinational.

Close to the boundaries of the BOSAWAS Reserve, which is the largest tract of virgin rainforest in Central America, lies Wakamby. Wakamby is a large tract of uncut tropical hardwood forest located between Rosita and the BOSAWAS Reserve. SOLCARSA is cutting a road into valuable hardwoods about 11.5 kilometers from the existing road. This area was given in a concession as if it were private land, but it is not--it is indigenous communal land. To date, this new project has cut only 4.5 kilometers, but given the speed of the operation, the 40 kilometers to Puerto Cabezas, the regional capital and largest port, should not take long.

Plans are underway to lengthen the city's dock to accommodate the increased trafficking of lumber and other products. Additionally, the newly protected BOSAWAS Reserve (of which the indigenous peoples of the region had little or no say in its formation) seems intended to legitimize the opening of logging concessions that will decimate the rainforest surrounding the BOSAWAS borders.

In Wakamby, the Miskito work force gets 30-45 Cordoba ($3-5) per day. These workers were happy to get the work, but complained about the wages. They keep 8 chainsaws running and are taking out an average of 80 large trees per day. Once the road is constructed this average will increase considerably. Workers reported seeing tigers just two days prior where they are cutting and other locals told us that numerous other bird and animal species live in the area, including several types of wild boars, wild cats, monkeys, deer, parrots, wild turkeys and ducks.

The community of Finicia is a mix of Sumu and Miskito indigenous people located just outside of the mining town of Rosita. When SOLCARSA entered this area last year, the household heads were each offered 1,500-2,000 Cordoba (US$120-$160) to relocate. They were also promised money to move, a school and scholarships, electricity, drinking water, jobs and more.

And since the deal had already been signed with the leading member of the Regional Council, Efrain Josejos, the leaders felt that they had little ground to stand up to the company. But when community members continued to show concern and displeasure with the deal, they were visited by 30 authorities including members of local and regional government and the local military. It became dangerous for them to continue speaking out, and the military threatened to blockade the road to their community if they did not agree. So, they accepted and moved. The small amount of money that was given was used up in moving expenses, and none of the other promises were upheld.

This community has been asked again to move to make space to store the wood that is being cut around them. They fear that the company will come and clear all their fruit trees to make more room for their milling operations. They are afraid of being forcibly evicted and left with even less than they have now--basically a small, single-roomed bamboo shack with a few pots and pans, one change of clothing per person and no bedding. When the village leader, an elder, went numerous times to complain to officials about broken promises by the corporation, the local courts decided in favor of the concessions. The elder was told that the promises that were given to the community were from the past company administration and that the new administration had no obligation to uphold them.

When members of the community tried to pick up scrap lumber to improve their houses, they were turned away. SOLCARSA would rather burn what they considered waste then to help in any way the very people that they have dislocated.

The elder told us that to some people the children of their community may have no value, but to the people of Finicia, they are the world. He asked us to please make a clear, honest story for the international bodies of justice and human rights to say what is happening to the daughters and sons of the Indigenous Land.

Another SOLCARSA installation is further northwest in an area known as Kukalaya. It involves most valuable mahogany in the region, also on sacred Sumu land. We were brought to the area by Ernesto Almendrez, the President of TRENAMAKS--the Territory for the Sustainable Development of the Mayanna (Sumu) of Kuhkanawas. These seventeen TRENAMAKS communities, made up of 356 families from the banks of the Rio Bambana, have outlined a 90,000 hectare piece of their traditional land upon from which they are being forced to relocate. Due to the irreversible contamination of the Rio Bambana, the most contaminated river in the region (with mercury and other toxins from the silver and gold mines of Siuna-Rosita-Bonanza), these communities must find a healthier place to live. The contamination of the rivers destroys the livelihood of the community. The fish that they eat has long since died or is unsafe to consume, the beans that they grow on the banks of the river don't survive in the now infertile land. The wild bamboo that they use to build houses is disappearing from the contamination. Up and down the river, women put themselves in danger as they spend many days waist-high in the river washing clothes; the children swim there, unaware of the toxicity.

The Nicaraguan North and South Atlantic Autonomous Zones make up 50% of the land mass of the nation but contains a diverse population (Miskito, Sumu, Creole, Garifuna, Mestizo and Rama)of barely 500,000. This region is becoming known internationally for the abundance of natural resources, with almost no barriers to rampant exploitation, and a desperate labor force that can be hired for low wages.

Although legally granted political autonomy by the Sandinista government in 1987, the limitations of the region's law are becoming more and more evident. The central government's hesitancy to allow change comes from their ability to control almost all of the region's natural resources and these sales. For example, the majority of land is property of the indigenous communities and it is written in the constitution that IT CANNOT BE SOLD; still large sales are common. It is also in the constitution that the natural resources (i.e. minerals below the ground, or trees above) belong to the state. And while it is also states that the natural state of the country should be maintained, the wording is so broad sweeping and general that there are no avenues to confirm compliance or to provide oversight.

WHAT YOU CAN DO--Fax or send letters of protest to MARENA (Nicaragua's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), demanding that the logging concessions granted to SOLCARSA be rescinded and the rights and sovereignty of the indigenous peoples be respected: Ministro de MARENA, Sr.

Roberto Statadhgen, Carretera Norte Km. 12.5, Managua, Nicaragua FAX (505-2)631373 or (505-2)631274.

For further information please contact the Native Forest Network and/or the Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi Sister City Program. We will be mounting an international campaign to stop this travesty:

Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi Sister City Program, Attn.: Mary Brook, 21 Church St., Burlington, VT 05401 USA, Tel: (802) 865-4074, FAX:(802)863-2532

Native Forest Network, Attn.: Orin Langelle, POB 57, Burlington,VT 05402 USA, Tel: (802) 863-0571, FAX: (802) 863-2532, e-mail: nfnena@igc.apc.org

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