South America - Environmental Paper Network

Indigenous Mapuche Forest Activist Murdered in Chile by Police

Antonio Treuquil was a werkén, the traditional Mapuche spokesperson, in the We Newén community. Mapuche indigenous people are in a longstanding conflict with the forest industry that grabbed most of their land during the dictatorship. Also the We Newén community is involved in a land dispute over traditional territories, with the pulp and paper company […]

UPM: Pulp and Bioenergy Company’s Claim of Green Leadership Fails Fact Check

Berlin, 24 March 2020 – A discussion document released by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) unveils the social and environmental risks associated with the Finnish company UPM-Kymmene and its operations in Uruguay, and highlights the importance of strong social and environmental risk management policies and close scrutiny of individual investments. UPM is one of […]

Organizations question UPM’s greenwashing campaign

Social organizations from Uruguay, Finland and other countries, have published a letter which questions UPM’s greenwashing campaign. The company presents itself as a leading global corporation in the fight against climate change, but the letter provides the results of 15 years of scientific research which show the impacts of monoculture tree plantations on grasslands: QUESTIONING […]

Testimonies of impacts from biomass energy, at the People’s Summit in Santiago de Chile

The biomass industry, fueled by public subsidies, is a growing threat to forests and to effectively addressing the climate crisis. During a workshop organized by EPN and the Global Forest Coalition at the People’s Summit, in Santiago de Chile, testimonies were shared by voices from around the world on the on-the-ground impacts from the rapidly […]

Testimonies of impacts from pulp and plantations, at the People’s Summit

Yesterday, at an event organized by EPN and its partners at the People’s Summit, in Santiago de Chile, people from different regions and countries denounced the impacts caused by plantations for the pulp and paper industry, and discussed their similarities. In Chile, the plantation industry made its great boom during the dictatorship of Pinochet, when […]

Thousands march again in Montevideo against UPM pulp mill

Last Friday, thousands gathered in Montevideo to participate in another march opposing UPM 2, the Paso de los Toros pulp mill plan in Uruguay. The march was organized by the National Coordination against UPM, which gathers over 60 organizations. “The contract that has been signed with UPM will damaged the economic, social and environmental interest […]

Mapuche communities face water stress caused by the forestry industry in Chile

(Photo: Planta de Celulosa Arauco en Mariquina | INDH) A field observation mission by the Chilean National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) revealed that Mapuche communities in the Mariquina commune, in the Los Ríos Region, face water shortages and pollution caused by the forestry industry, reports Rio en Linea. According to the article, the INDH […]

All Uruguayan political parties at debate question contract between government and UPM

During a roundtable debate with environmental experts from political parties that are participating in the upcoming national elections in Uruguay, all participants expressed their concerns regarding the contract signed between the Government and UPM, the multinational pulp and paper company based in Finland. In this controversial contract, UPM agreed to invest in a new large […]

Uruguayan citizens opposing UPM’s new pulp mill appeal to the Finnish government

In Uruguay, the citizen opposition to a new pulp mill planned by the Finnish paper giant UPM continues to grow. Last Friday, a citizen movement calling itself as the “national coordination of social organisations against UPM”, representing more than 40 organisations and campaigning under #UPM2NO, went to the Consulate of Finland in Uruguay. They handed […]