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This page lists some of our recent successes. Thanks for your continued participation in Earth Action Network and for encouraging other folks to join our efforts.
- Camisea Gas Pipeline project dropped
- Devastating "Alumysa" project in southern Chile suspended
- Construction of a dam that would destroy the famous Bujagali falls on the Nile River stopped
- Citigroup has agreed to take immediate steps to stem its damage to ecosystems and indigenous populations
- Positive feedback from the campaign to protect national organic food standards
- The World Bank has agreed not to fund the construction of a mega-highway network through Leuser Ecosystem
- Arctic Drilling Defeated in the Senate, 54-46, In Major Environmental Victory!
- Oil drilling prevented within U'wa traditional territory
- McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passed.
- Nationwide Trader Joe's drops genetically engineered ingredients.
- Kenyan courts stop the strip-mining project of Tiomin Kenya Limited.
- Costa Rican government rejects proposal for oil exploration and development along the country's Caribbean Coast.
- Mexico's president Vicente Fox recently revoked Sol Melia's permit for luxury hotel construction on X'cacel beach, Mexico's most important nesting beach for green and loggerhead sea turtles.
- A contract is signed to explicitly prohibit oil/gas explorations in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh
- Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's involvement in the Three Gorges Dam project in China.
- Boise Cascade cancels its Cascada Chile project.
- New policy to protect 60 million acres of roadless public lands on our nation's National Forests
- Alaska's Tongass National Forest is added to a protection plan for some of America's most pristine lands.
- Tiomin project in Kenya is put on hold until environmental concerns are addressed
- The government of Guatemala retracted its plan to open the Maya Biosphere Reserve to oil development
- America's fourth largest lumber retailer, 84 Lumber, pledged to phase out all wood from forests considered endangered.
- Maheshwar Dam in India cancelled: hundreds of thousands of people's lands, homes and forests will not be flooded.
- United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declares FAO's opposition to Terminator Technology.
- The Mitsubishi's controversial salt mine project was cancelled
- Boise Cascada logging project is delayed
- Monsanto are dropping their "Terminator" seed lines.
- Home Depot will phase out the sale of wood products from old growth forests by the end of 2002
- Venezuelan government declares a "freeze" on new mining concessions in the Imataca Forest Reserve
- Interfor and Doman (two major timber firms) have lost approximately $100 million in lost business and contract cancellations due to the international outcry.
- UN Food and Agriculture Organization's offices are "inundated" with letters on Terminator Technology.
- Turkey's Eurogold mine has been shut down.
Camisea Gas Pipeline project dropped
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Congratulations! Your faxes, letters and emails paid off! Yesterday, the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. Export-Import Bank both dropped the Camisea Gas Pipeline project:
Washington, D.C.-Under mounting pressure from environmental and indigenous rights groups and members of Congress, today the board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) voted to reject financing for the controversial $1.6 billion Camisea Gas Project in the Peruvian Amazon. "Ex-Im board members displayed courage and environmental leadership in the face of considerable pressure," said Jon Sohn, international campaigner for Friends of the Earth. "Friends of the Earth applauds Ex-Im's decision to deny U.S. taxpayer support of Camisea and the massive environmental destruction it would cause."
Camisea is already scarring the Peruvian Amazon and affecting the Nahua-Kugapakori (N-K) Reserve-home of uncontacted and isolated indigenous populations. Groups are also concerned about an export Terminal for Camisea that will also be built in the Buffer Zone of the Paracas National Marine Reserve, Peru's only marine sanctuary for endangered birds and mammals.
"Our work is not done. Given the extent of Camisea's impacts in the Amazon and on the coast of Peru, our organizations will continue to support efforts to work with the Peruvian Government and the companies to reduce the project's troubling impacts," said Peter Kostishak, co-director of the Amazon Alliance.
(EAN letters in January 2002 and November 2002 packets.)
Devastating "Alumysa" project in southern Chile suspended
From: Jason Tockman, American Lands August 15, 2003
The Noranda corporation has announced the suspension of plans for a massive "Alumysa" aluminum smelter in southern Chile, one week after Chilean President Lagos expressed opposition to aspects of the project. While the international campaign to prevent the smelter will continue, these developments represent a tremendous success in the protection of a vast wilderness area in Chile's Aisen Region.
The project would devastate 25,000 acres of pristine forest, rivers and lakes with a series of six dams, and introduce pollution to one of the world's least contaminated areas of the planet. It would endanger various threatened species, such as the Andean deer (huemul), Guaitecas cypress, and Colorado fox.
We extend an immense thanks to everyone for their support of this campaign, through your faxes, letters and e-mails.
(EAN letter in June 2002 packet.)
Construction of a dam that would destroy the famous Bujagali falls on the Nile River stopped
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Another victory to celebrate! Since March 2000, Global Response has supported Ugandan environmental organizations and local communities in their effort to stop construction of a dam that would destroy the famous Bujagali falls on the Nile River. Once again, your letters contributed to a victory for the environment.
Local Ugandan and U.S. environmental groups have opposed the project, saying that the dam would submerge the pristine, unique Bujagali Falls, impact Nile River fisheries, and destroy a fledgling whitewater rafting business that attracts tourists to the region. AES Nile Power expected to develop, construct, operate, and maintain the Bujagali hydropower plant and sell electricity to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited under a 30 year power purchase agreement. The construction of the dam was scheduled for completion in 2005.
Lori Pottinger of International Rivers Network, a U.S. nongovernmental organization, said, "AES maintained that Bujagali Dam would help pull Uganda out of poverty, but in reality it is a costly white elephant that would increase the nation's debt load, and produce electricity that few Ugandans could afford. The bloated project has stifled the development of viable renewable energy options such as geothermal."
(EAN letters in April 2000 packet.)
TopCitigroup has agreed to take immediate steps to stem its damage to ecosystems and indigenous populations
Citibank/Citigroup has been the world's leading private financier of rainforest destruction. EAN letters to Citigroup June 2001, January 2002, and July/August 2002 addressed different destructive projects they have been funding in Latin America and Indonesia and demanded that they stop. Here is a recent report from Rainforest Action Network, which has been mounting a campaign to hold Citigroup accountable for their destructive policies:
Due to the hard work and extraordinary commitment of the many thousands of activists worldwide who have participated in the Campaign for a Sane Economy over the past three years, Citigroup has approached Rainforest Action Network to ask for a CEASE-FIRE on campaign activities so that we can work towards a permanent and comprehensive policy on Citigroup's involvement in deforestation and climate change!
We received word of the cease-fire request from Citi less than a day before the company's annual shareholder meeting at Carnegie Hall in New York, scheduled for tomorrow, April 15. The event was to be met with a large and colorful protest, and followed a few weeks later with an International Day of Action against Citigroup on April 29, with dozens of actions planned in cities around the country and around the world.
Citigroup has agreed to take immediate steps to stem short-term damage to ecosystems and indigenous populations through projects that it funds, while working closely with RAN towards a permanent and comprehensive set of environmental and social policies over the next few months.
RAN has therefore agreed to a 90 day "moratorium" on all external campaign activity. At the end of 90 days, we hope to have a satisfactory policy in hand. If not, the Campaign for a Sane Economy will continue, full steam ahead, until we do!
This is an important milestone in the long struggle for global justice and ecological sanity. Remember to celebrate this victory and congratulate yourselves and everyone else who's worked on this campaign over the past few years. We'll be sure to keep you posted with updates as the 90-day negotiating period moves forward, and we look forward to working together with you towards a permanent victory on this campaign and a more just, earth-centered economic system for all!
In Solidarity for the Earth, The RAN Citigroup Team
Positive feedback from the campaign to protect national organic food standards
From the Union of Concerned Scientists, who sponsored a campaign to protect national organic food standards (EAN letter March 2003):
Congratulations, UCS activists! You have helped restore meaningful organic standards.
Outraged activists responded to a UCS alert in February by sending 10,987 letters to members of Congress. These letters objected to a late-night rider, slipped into the 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that undermined years of collaboration between government, consumers, advocacy groups, and industry to establish strong USDA organic standards. The rider would have allowed meat to be labeled "organic" even if it came from livestock raised on conventional, non-organic feed.
Organic food consumers nationwide reacted strongly and Congress responded. Bills to rescind this rider moved rapidly through Congress, shepherded by Senators Patrick Leahy (VT) and Olympia Snowe (ME) and Representatives Sam Farr (CA) and Ron Kind (WI), eventually gaining 68 cosponsors in the Senate and 103 in the House. Ultimately, this legislation was folded into the 2003 supplemental spending bill signed into law on April 16, 2003.
According to Senator Leahy, "The swift and strong groundswell of opposition to that rider [was] an eye-opener for many in Washington." This extraordinary support for organic foods and sustainable agriculture has left an indelible impression on Congress about the importance of food labels to American consumers. This victory is a powerful warning to anyone hoping to weaken organic and other food-labeling standards in the future.
The World Bank has agreed not to fund the construction of a mega-highway network through Leuser Ecosystem
Following is an excerpt of a letter to Global Response, whose campaign on the Leuser ecosystem we participated in with a letter in our Jan. 2003 packet. Note the reference to "over 1000 letters," which means that it's likely that over 20% of those came from EAN members...
"I wanted to express my overwhelming appreciation to Global Response's Quick Action Network for assistance in our campaign to preserve the Leuser Ecosystem, in northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
As you know, the Leuser Ecosystem is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, and is of overwhelming conservation importance. It is also provides life support ecosystem services for more than 4 million people who live in the buffer zone of the ecosystem. Our campaign sought to work with local NGOs to oppose the project to construct a mega-highway network through this protected area... Our campaign efforts are ongoing, but the Global Response Quick Action Network generated more than 1000 letters protesting the road network to the World Bank. In part as a result of the campaign, the World Bank has agreed not to directly fund the road network. The letter campaign has also encouraged the World Bank to lobby other potential foreign donors and the Indonesian government against the roads...
In the early hours of our letter writing campaign, a number of colleagues and skeptics doubted the effectiveness of a letter campaign. While it is true that a fragmented and diffuse effort to raise people to initiate letters to follow a campaign may be of little effect, the strength of Global Response, is that a network is established, readily available and reliable to send many letters. All friends of the Leuser Ecosystem are indebted to you and to Global Response, for a timely and effective response that has significantly contributed to our efforts to preserve the Leuser Ecosystem. I personally can't thank you enough for your excellent help...
Sincerely, Kala Mulqueeny, Environmental Law Fellow, Harvard Law School
Arctic Drilling Defeated in the Senate, 54-46, In Major Environmental Victory!
Last month, 54 Senators joined together in a successful bipartisan effort to turn back the latest attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. This win represents the environmental community's biggest political win in years as a majority of Senators opposed Arctic drilling under any condition or scenario, a major defeat for President Bush's oil and gas-focused energy plan.
This victory is due in large part to the efforts of environmentalists like you that made the calls, wrote the letters and lobbied their Senators to help protect the Arctic Refuge, an American natural treasure. Thank you for all your hard work! (EAN included letters on this issue in our March 2002 packet and a number of previous packets.)
This vote is an important victory for the Gwich'in people, who are indigenous to the area and who have fought against any oil exploration and development in the Refuge. This vote by the Senate makes it unlikely that drilling in the Refuge will make it into any final energy plan, however, drilling there has already passed the House, so it will remain on the table as part of the Senate-House negotiations. We must continue to fight against any moves by the U.S. Government to open up drilling on the sacred and traditional lands of the Gwich'in people.
Oil drilling prevented within U'wa traditional territory
Many thanks to all of you who, over the last three years, wrote letters to Occidental Oil Company and to the Colombian and U.S. governments on behalf of the U'wa people, who are determined to prevent oil drilling within their traditional territory. Together we are celebrating a victory today! (EAN members sent letters on this issue in our February 2000 packet and previous packets.)
May 3, 2002: At its annual shareholder meeting today, Occidental Petroleum announced its plans to return to the Colombian government its controversial Siriri oil block (formally Samore), located on the traditional territory of the U'wa people. This follows a nearly decade-long peaceful campaign by the U'wa to halt the oil project.
"This is the news we have been waiting for... this is the result of the work of the U'wa and our friends around the world," said U'wa spokesperson Ebaristo Tegria.
The U'wa's campaign to protect their people and land from the violence and environmental destruction that comes with oil projects in Colombia has garnered international attention and created an ongoing public relations liability for Oxy. Peaceful U'wa resistance to the Oxy project has been met with several episodes of violent repression over the years, in one case resulting in the death of three indigenous children during a military breakup of peaceful U'wa blockades.
Activists noted that while Oxy's departure from the oil block is a welcomed development, the threat remains that another company could take over the area. In addition, Repsol-YPF is currently looking to develop the Capachos oil block, also located on traditional U'wa land.
Meanwhile, Occidental also finds itself center stage in the growing controversy around the Bush Administration's military aid proposal to hand over US $98 million of U.S. taxpayers' money to defend Occidental's Cano Limon oil pipeline in Colombia, which runs through traditional U'wa land. (EAN March 2002 letters.) If Congress passes the proposal, this targeted military assistance for the pipeline will set a dangerous precedent of taxpayers covering private corporations' security expenses overseas. Critics say this is a clear case of corporate welfare. Based on last year's level of U.S. oil imports from Cano Limon, taxpayers will be covering Occidental' security expenses at the cost of $24 per barrel of oil.
McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passed.
Another recent positive outcome was the recent passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which is a very small but important first step in reforming our very corrupt campaign finance system. EAN members sent numerous letters on this subject over the last several years. Like the two issues described below, this "victory" is very important but only a step in the right direction...
Nationwide Trader Joe's drops genetically engineered ingredients.
Posted March 2002. From Greenpeace: Trader Joe's Says No To GMOs! (EAN letter October 2000)
A year-long campaign to force Trader Joe's to drop its use of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in its store brand products ended recently as the mainstream grocery chain announced it would do just that, "effective immediately." According to the company statement, "...we will work with any new vendor to produce private label products for Trader Joe's without genetically engineered ingredients. Our goal for existing private label products is to have all such products reformulated, if necessary, and certified within one year." Eighty-five percent of the products sold at Trader Joe's stores will be affected by this policy change as they carry the company name brand.
Trader Joe's has almost 200 stores in 15 states, located primarily on the East and West Coasts. They sell mainly their own brand products and a good selection of organic and natural foods. Their two top competitors are Whole Foods (who have already gone GMO-free in their store brand products) and Safeway. Whole Foods announced last year they intended to go GMO-free in all of their store brand products. Trader Joe's, on the other hand, took a little more coaxing.
Kenyan courts stop the strip-mining project of Tiomin Kenya Limited
Posted October 2001: Great news from Kenya: A High Court judge in Mombasa ruled against Tiomin Kenya Limited, a Canadian firm that wants to strip-mine the coast for titanium. A year ago, a Global Response letter-writing campaign helped persuade Kenya's Environment Ministry to put the mining project on hold in order to conduct further studies and community consultations (see: http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/gra0400.html).
Our successful international letter-writing campaign (EAN participated in our July 2000 packet) bought valuable time for the coalition of affected populations, farmers, fishermen, environmental and human rights organizations and tourism agencies that was fighting to stop the project. Today we join them in celebrating a victory in the Kenyan courts that should stop the strip-mining project for good.
Costa Rican government rejects proposal for oil exploration and development along the country's Caribbean Coast.
On 2/28/02 the Costa Rican government rejected the Environmental Impact Studies submitted by Harken Energy Corp. and its partner MKJ Xplorations for oil exploration and development along the country's Caribbean Coast. Coastal communities and a coalition of national and international environmental organizations are celebrating a tremendous victory for environmental protection in Costa Rica. The decision listed 55 reasons for rejecting the oil company's bid. (EAN members sent letters on this issue as part of a Global Response action to the President of Costa Rica and the CEO of Harken in our April 2001 packet.)
Mexico's president Vicente Fox recently revoked Sol Melia's permit for luxury hotel construction on X'cacel beach, Mexico's most important nesting beach for green and loggerhead sea turtles.
Mexico's president Vicente Fox recently revoked Sol Melia's permit for luxury hotel construction on X'cacel beach, Mexico's most important nesting beach for green and loggerhead sea turtles. Araceli Dominguez, President of Grupo Ecologista del Mayab, Mexico, said "This is a watershed moment for the consideration of environmental impact in Mexico." Mary Louise Whitlow of the same organization said "On behalf of Grupo Ecologista del Mayab, thank you for your help with the campaign to save the sea turtle nesting beach...Global Response helped when many other NGOs would not get involved..." EAN sent letters on this issue in September 1998 and April 1999 as part of ongoing Global Response campaigns.
A contract is signed to explicitly prohibit oil/gas explorations in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh
Posted July 2001. Here's some feedback from Global Response regarding a letter campaign we participated in: Take a minute to celebrate a victory for the people, mangroves and tigers of Bangladesh -- and for the global citizens' cooperation that brought this victory about!
Last October, at the request of the Institute for Environment and Development Studies (Friends of the Earth - Bangladesh), Global Response launched an international letter-writing campaign to prevent oil/gas explorations in the Sundarbans. [Earth Action Network participated with two letters in our October 2000 packet.] The Sundarbans mangrove forest is a World Heritage Site and the world's largest tiger reserve. On July 4 the oil/gas exploration contract was signed -- and it explicitly prohibits explorations in the Sundarbans! This is very good news for the two million people who depend on the biologically rich Sundarbans ecosystem for their survival. The Save the Sundarbans campaign organizers in Bangladesh told us:
"After our challenging and strenuous efforts to protect and save the Sundarbans from Shell Energy, yesterday, July 4 the final Production Sharing Contract has been signed between the Bangladesh Government and Shell & Cairn Energy. The Bangladesh Government has strictly imposed one condition: NO OIL/GAS EXPLORATION IN THE SUNDARBANS.
We feel very proud to relay this message to you folks. The Sundarbans campaign would never have been successful without your full, active and zealous cooperation...."
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's involvement in the Three Gorges Dam project in China.
Posted March 2001. Many of you who sent the letter to Mr. Philip Purcell regarding Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's involvement in the Three Gorges Dam project in China received a reply denying the company's "direct" involvement. Please see the article below for clarification of "direct" vs. "indirect." Deals and Deal Makers (Wall Street Journal Jan 29, 2001)
Berkeley, Calif.-- Environmentalists are set to launch a consumer-boycott campaign against Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.'s Discover Card, in a move to pressure the Wall Street firm to sever its financial ties with China's Three Gorges Dam project. Several groups led by the International Rivers Network said they would call for the boycott, scheduled to begin Monday, in an effort to get Morgan Stanley to cut its indirect financing of Three Gorges, a giant dam planned for China's Yangtze River.
The environmentalists are calling on college students, in particular, to quit using the Discover Card, which is heavily marketed to them. "People in China who have spoken out against the dam have been imprisoned, so we feel the way we can help is to go after the U.S. institutions are supplying the money," said Pamela Wellner, coordinator of the boycott for International Rivers Network, based here. The dam has drawn sharp controversy for what critics call adverse social and environmental impacts.
Morgan Stanley officials said their company hasn't supplied any money directly to Three Gorges. But activists said the company has helped underwrite bonds for China Development Bank, a funding arm for the dam, and that it is a 35% owner of China International Capital Corp., an investment bank involved in the project. Morgan Stanley officials confirmed the underwriting and the 35% stake.
Boise Cascade cancels its Cascada Chile project.
Posted March 2001. (From Global Response) "GREAT NEWS TO CELEBRATE!! Boise Cascade cancelled its Cascada Chile project. Cascada Chile would have been the world's largest chip mill, doubling the rate of logging in Chile's southern temperate rainforests. [Earth Action Network joined Global Response members] to help launch a worldwide campaign against Cascada Chile, with an international letter campaign in 1999. Thanks to all who wrote letters on this issue!" (EAN letters in March and September of 1999)
From Rainforest Action Network press release:
Boise Cascade Closes Mills, Cancels Major Project amidst Sweeping Changes in the Wood Products Industry Boise, Idaho-Following on the heels of the recent announcement that it will close its last mills in Idaho, this week Boise Cascade disclosed that the company is also canceling its controversial Cascada Project in southern Chile.
Slated to be the world's largest chip mill and Oriented Strand Board (OSB) facility, the Cascada Project was expected to double the rate of logging in southern Chile's old growth forests, the second largest temperate rainforest on the planet. Intense international pressure and legal action in Chile to protect endangered native forests from Boise Cascade's proposed mill had successfully delayed the project for years.
"We may be seeing the last gasps of a dying old growth logging industry," commented Michael Brune, Campaigns Director of the Rainforest Action Network. "Legal activists and environmental groups have been fighting for protection of Chile's endangered forests for some time. We'd like to congratulate our allies in Chile including Geo Austral, Defensores del Bosque Chileno, and Renace as well as dozens of organizations in the U.S. including American Lands Alliance, Co-op America, Global Response, Greenpeace, the National Forest Protection Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, and many others [including Earth Action Network]."
New policy to protect 60 million acres of roadless public lands on our nation's National Forests
Posted January 2001. Here's some recent news regarding one of the issues our letters have focused on in the past couple of years, from the Wilderness Society: "In a huge step for conservation, nearly 60 million acres of roadless public lands on our nation's National Forests will be protected from road-building and logging under a new policy announced today (1/3/01) by President Clinton. This is a major conservation achievement by the Administration and the Forest Service. Your letters, calls, and faxes made this monumental achievement a reality. Your efforts will help ensure that our nation's forest wild lands are protected for all Americans."
Alaska's Tongass National Forest is added to a protection plan for some of America's most pristine lands.
Posted December 2000. The following press release concerns letters we sent in June and September of this year, as well as another letter in this month's packet In a major win for environmentalists, the Clinton administration has added Alaska's Tongass National Forest - the nation's largest - to a protection plan for some of America's most pristine lands. The plan covers 58.5 million acres of national forests that do not have roads. It prohibits road-building; bans logging except when such activity is deemed to help maintain or improve areas; seeks to improve habitats for threatened, endangered or sensitive species; and attempts to reduce the risk of severe wildfires.
Environmentalists have been pressing for years for a road ban because they believe the pathways increase erosion, disrupt wildlife habitat and make it easier for logging trucks and mining operators to reach remote public lands. A draft of the plan in May covered 43 million acres - an area the size of Washington state - but delayed until 2004 a decision on whether to include the 8.5 million roadless acres in the Tongass. Under the new plan, the protections would be extended to the Tongass in 2004. Administration officials released the new version of the plan Monday after receiving an avalanche of comments at public hearings and through written correspondence, mainly from environmentalists seeking a broader plan.
"Never before have the American people so actively participated in helping to decide how their public lands should be managed," Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said in a statement released prior to a news conference. "The fact that more than 1.5 million comments were received from Americans show that these truly are all of the people's lands, not just a few, and they care deeply about how they are cared for."
Tiomin project in Kenya is put on hold until environmental concerns are addressed
Posted December 2000. Global Response reports a positive development regarding our letter to Kenya in our July/August packet: "Our letters to Kenyan government officials helped convince them to put a strip-mining project 'on hold' until environmental concerns are addressed!
"An email message to Global Response from Ojiambo Elphas, ActionAid Kenya, reads:
'The Government of Kenya has put the Tiomin project on hold until they meet the various environmental issues that have been raised. This is a success for us environmental organisations that have been working around this issue..... We should all celebrate about this. But we also have to be cautious about this new development....Thanks for the good work!' "
The government of Guatemala retracted its plan to open the Maya Biosphere Reserve to oil development
Posted October 2000. (re--Maya Biosphere Reserve, 4/2000). "We want to bring you up to date concerning the threats to the Maya Biosphere Reserve from oil development. During the months of April, May and June of this year, we received hundreds of letters and emails, demanding that Guatemalan authorities respect one of the last remaining tropical forests on our planet. We are very happy to inform you that the pressure was successful! "Under the leadership of Tropico Verde, and with your invaluable support, the international campaign was a complete victory. The government of Guatemala retracted its plan to open the Maya Biosphere Reserve to oil development. The government recognized the severe social and environmental impacts that oil development could provoke, and made a decision without precedent in our country: oil development will not proceed as long as the people of Guatemala oppose it.
"This decision is very important for us, although we realize that there's a long road ahead and we must keep our attention on this issue so that the decision is never reversed. But know that together you and we have accomplished a huge achievement.
"We send you our most sincere appreciation for your support and your solidarity with our cause. Your letters were very important in winning this victory, and we want you to know that we will always remember your gesture of solidarity. Wishing you all the best"
Piedad Espinosa, President Tropico Verde
America's fourth largest lumber retailer, 84 Lumber, pledged to phase out all wood from forests considered endangered.
Posted September 2000. (re--The Spirit of 84, 5/1999) America's fourth largest lumber retailer, 84 Lumber, pledged recently that by 2003 it will phase out all wood from forests considered endangered and sell only wood independently certified as coming from sustainably managed forests. With this move, 84 Lumber, which has more than 400 stores in 30 states, follows the lead of the top two home-improvement giants, Home Depot and Lowe's. The announcement came two days before protests were to have been staged at 84 Lumber stores by the Rainforest Action Network.
Maheshwar Dam in India cancelled: hundreds of thousands of people's lands, homes and forests will not be flooded.
Posted September 2000. From Global Response: Let's celebrate an important victory on the road toward putting a final stop to the Maheshwar Dam in India! This is a victory in which Global Response letters played a significant role. (Earth Action Network letters in January 2000 packet) "Last December (re--GR Action #6/1999), Global Response members wrote to the German chancellor, asking him to deny loan guarantees to the German multinational Siemans company for work on the Maheshwar Dam. Our letters persuaded the chancellor to commission a study of the Maheshwar project. The commission's report concluded that the Maheshwar project has no viable plan for resettling hundreds of thousands of people whose lands, homes and forests would be flooded.
"In light of this damning report, Siemans just withdrew its application for the German government loan guarantee, and a private German bank also withdrew funding for the Maheshwar project. Take a minute to celebrate with the courageous and inspiring people of the Narmada Valley, whose struggle against the Maheshwar Dam spans a decade.
"And then, if you haven't already done so, follow this link and sign a petition to the Indian Prime Minister, calling for a review of the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project -- another huge destructive dam on the Narmada, opposed by the people of the Narmada Valley and by environmentalists worldwide."
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declares FAO's opposition to Terminator Technology.
Posted June 2000."In a recent interview, the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jacques Diouf declared FAO's opposition to Terminator. Diouf pointed out that the technology would affect farmers in both the North and the South. Diouf's public rejection of Terminator reverses earlier statements made by one high-ranking FAO official. The positive change could be attributed, in part, to the letter-writing campaign of Global Response (a US-based non-profit organization) whose 4,000 members in forty countries wrote to Director General Diouf last year, asking him to oppose the Terminator as a matter of global food security. In publicly rejecting Terminator, FAO's Diouf has come to the defense of the 1.4 billion people who depend upon farm-saved seed for their survival."
The Mitsubishi's controversial salt mine project was cancelled
Posted March 2000.The Mitsubishi salt mine project was cancelled. Our most recent letter regarding Mitsubishi's controversial salt mine project in a grey whale sanctuary in Baja California was in this year's January packet. Just last week, the Mexican Government announced that it has cancelled the project.
Boise Cascade cancels its Cascada Chile project.
Posted March 2000. Boise Cascade announced that the massive Cascada logging project which has spawned protests in Chile and the U.S. (and our letters in March and September of 1999) has been delayed, reports IPS News. The company stated that declining prices for plywood prompted the move to postpone ground-breaking on the project scheduled for this year. The suspension of the Cascada project means "renewed hopes for saving native forests by canceling the project," according to the Institute for Ecological Policy, one of the Chilean environmental groups opposing the Cascada project. "We hope Chile's next government understands we cannot afford to lose 2.42 million trees from primary forests each year."
Monsanto are dropping their "Terminator" seed lines.
Posted October 1999. (re--letter to Monsanto, 1/1999): Monsanto announced this month that they are dropping their "Terminator" seed lines. These are patented, genetically engineered seeds that produce plants that won't make more seeds that can be planted. Their plan was to sell these to farmers, including poor farmers, throughout the world, thus hooking them on buying seeds from them each year instead of being able to replant from their own seeds. Monsanto bowed to great international pressure and outrage, including a letter campaign in which we participated. However, our government continues to invest in research to produce this type of seed, so we have another letter on the subject this month.
Home Depot will phase out the sale of wood products from old growth forests by the end of 2002
Posted September 1999. An excerpt from a recent statement from Rainforest Action Network: "Home Depot announced last week that the company will phase out the sale of wood products from old growth forests by the end of 2002. ...This is a huge victory for everyone who has been encouraging Home Depot to stop selling old growth wood products. Activists need to continue working to ensure that Home Depot fully implements and enforces this policy. Letters from concerned citizens was likely the most effective mechanism that we employed to get Home Depot to change...Thanks to...all the grassroots organizations and activists who worked so hard to bring about this major change of policy to protect old growth forests around the world." (We sent letters to Home Depot in September '98 and January '99.)
Venezuelan government declares a "freeze" on new mining concessions in the Imataca Forest Reserve
Posted July 1999. From Global Response, regarding a letter we sent in our September 1998 packet, participating along with thousands of others in a Global Response emergency action: We've just learned that the Venezuelan government declared a "freeze" on new mining concessions in the Imataca Forest Reserve! Three times last year Global Response members sent letters to Venezuela's President, Senate and Supreme Court, urging them to protect this huge, precious rainforest, prohibit mining, and respect the self-determination of the indigenous groups that live there. Last week the government announced a "public consultation period" to develop a new plan for the Imataca Reserve, with full participation of environmental organizations and indigenous peoples. Venezuelan activist Anna Ponte wrote how Global Response letters helped achieve this breakthrough: "You must know that all the letters you sent to Venezuela made a big impression on the government officials. The Environment Committee of Senate took them all together and made a book with all those letters received. I also know "extraofficially" that the Supreme Court of Justice received the biggest amount of letters, and from the mail man to the "highest position" they were all very impressed. "But the most exciting and unexpected experience for me was in the Environmental Ministry,... during the open discussions regarding the electric project and Imataca. One of the government officials told the Edelca people (the institution responsible for the electric project), (and as he was speaking he was shaking a bunch of international letters!) that we cannot do irresponsible things because the eyes of the world will watch us, especially on National Parks, and without taking account of the rights of indigenous people in the Imataca Forest. That here he had thousands of letters arrived from all over the world, from many kinds of different people. "I must thank you, Global Response, and I must say in my bad English that this kind of action does have impact. I did not realize it completely, till now. And more than that, those of us who struggle for a better future for our children and grandchildren, feel that we are not alone on this world, because many persons walk with us and help us on our hard times." Global Response thanks you, our members, for your commitment to "walk with and help" people on every continent who are working to protect the environment.
Interfor and Doman (two major timber firms) have lost approximately $100 million in lost business and contract cancellations due to the international outcry.
Posted March 1999. In the campaign to stop clearcutting in British Columbia's rainforests (EAN packets 12/97, 4/98, 9/98) Greenpeace reports that "Interfor and Doman (two major timber firms) have lost approximately $100 million in lost business and contract cancellations due to the international outcry. Both companies, as well as the BC government, agree that pressure in the marketplace is one of their greatest concerns. This has driven these two companies to agree to temporary moratoriums on ALL of the pristine ancient rainforest valleys in the lower part of the Great Bear Rainforest. Two years ago such a moratorium was unthinkable and virtually all of the valleys were slated to be logged or have roads built in them by 2005."
UN Food and Agriculture Organization's offices are "inundated" with letters on Terminator Technology.
From Global Response, regarding their letter campaign (which we participated in January 1999) to stop Terminator Technology: "Our collaborating organization RAFI reports that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's offices are "inundated" with letters on Terminator Technology. Already the deluge of letters has pushed FAO to put Terminator Technology on the agenda of its April meeting. We have learned that over 35 patents are now pending on various Terminator-type technologies. Monsanto, in other words, is not the only problem. We have to address this on an international level -- and the FAO is the BEST target. A strong resolution against Terminator Technology at FAO's April meeting will set off a snowball effect throughout the international arena. That's what we need to stop the utilization of this technology before it starts. In November 1997 we wrote letters, as part of a campaign by Global Response, to the head of P and O Ports, a British company that wanted to build the biggest industrial port in Dahanu, a region of India that the Indian government declared "ecologically fragile." The Warli people who live in Dahanu asked Global Response to help them stop the port construction. They feared that the port would pollute their fishing waters and lead to the destruction of their forests and their environmentally sustainable way of life. In December 1998, P and O Ports announced that it will not build the port in Dahanu! The company's press release stated, "Our conclusion was based on a number of factors including doubts as to whether the project would attract the necessary finance and the uncertainty arising from the decision of the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority to declare that the port development was wholly impermissible." PAIL, the coalition of Dahanu organizations that sought help from Global Response, wrote this in celebration of their victory: "We turned to you, and you lent us a hand of support in our hour of need. We give you our heartfelt thanks."
Turkey's Eurogold mine has been shut down.
In 1997, we also joined Global Response in writing letters to the Ministries of the Environment, Agriculture and Tourism on behalf of the people of the Bergama region who waged an eight-year battle to shut down a Eurogold mine. The villagers feared contamination of their agricultural land and water from the "cyanide heap leaching" process at the Eurogold mine. In November, Turkey's highest court upheld its ruling that using cyanide to extract gold poses a risk to public health. "This puts an end to the debate over cyanide usage. It is a victory to which all people's groups can look as an example," exclaimed Senih Ozay, attorney for the residents of Ovacik. Eurogold said it has installed new safety precautions since the environmental report was commissioned; it will ask officials to re-evaluate the mine at Ovacik. According to Turkish law, there can be no further appeals to the high court. An earlier verdict found that the use of cyanide leaching to extract gold was potentially hazardous to public health.
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