South America - Environmental Paper Network

Forest fires in Chile – chronicle of a catastrophe foretold

Glenn Beltz/flicker (CC BY 2.0) At least 46 people have died, and more than 1,100 homes have been destroyed in the worst forest fires to hit Chile in a decade. In the first week of February, the fires have been commonly attributed to climate change. This is correct, but only part of the truth. What […]

Suzano’s ongoing disrespect for local communities and their traditional land

On 28 November, Mr. Antônio Sapezeiro, leader of the Quilombola community of Nova Vista in Sapê do Norte, São Mateus, (Espirito Santo, Brazil) was filmed lying, immobilised and defenceless, on the concrete road, surrounded by Suzano security guards and military police officers called by them. This is not uncommon behaviour for Suzano, the biggest pulp […]

Caustic soda spill at UPM controversial plant – more than 70 civil society organisations demand action from the Uruguayan government.

Over 70 Uruguayan and international civil society organisations wrote an open letter to the Uruguayan authorities to address the largest chemical spill in the history of Uruguay. The spill occurred in a pulp mill owned by UPM, a Finnish pulp and paper company. The demands of the organisations are twofold – a total shutdown of […]

Chile on fire. Civil society had warned about the risks and demanded to change the forestry model

Five days of raging fires have already burned more than a thousand homes and more than 200,000 hectares,[1] with more than 200 active outbreaks[2] and the loss of 26 lives between the regions of Ñuble and Los Ríos, territories dominated by exotic monoculture tree plantations controlled by the Chilean forestry and cellulose industry business. “Forest […]

Pulp & paper industry expansion in Cerrado risks fires, water shortage and climate damage, says new EPN report

New research released today by the Environmental Paper Network reveals the impacts of the ongoing and massive expansion of the pulp & paper industry in Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil’s Cerrado biome. Pulp production in the area around Três Lagoas, in the eastern corner of Mato Grosso do Sul,has exploded from zero to more […]

Who is profiting from Paraguay’s biggest and most harmful pulp project?

In Paraguay, Paracel SA is building a new pulp mill, including a biomass power station and accompanying monoculture plantations. The project is well underway to severely violate indigenous rights and local communities’ rights and to inflict serious harm on biodiversity and the climate. Paracel has failed to provide complete, understandable and accessible information to the […]

Paraguay, the next catch of the pulp industry

Landscape in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay, May 2004. Photo by Ilosuna. Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 (Generic). After taking over vast tracts of land in all South America, the pulp & paper industry is now expanding in Paraguay. Paracel, a joint venture between a Paraguayan oil trader and foreign entities, is constructing a pulp mill and […]

Indigenous Rights, Paper Giants and Armed Squads. Scenes from Land Conflicts in Brazil

Several Indigenous communities, who had reclaimed their ancestral lands taken away by companies, have recently been targeted by armed fazendeiros (agrarian latifundists) mobs in different regions of Brazil. The official recognition of these areas as Indigenous land can be an arduous process. It’s often hampered by legal actions carried out by the fazendeiros, and the […]

Stolen land and fading forests in Chile

A new report from the Environmental Paper Network reveals another case of “Conflict Plantations,” this time in Chile. Since May 7th the military police have been sent again to garrison Araucania, Southern-central Chile, where the pulp & paper industry is embroiled in a longstanding conflict with the Mapuche indigenous people. This is not a good […]