1.3.2 Eucalyptus grandis 19

For many years I have been concerned about the effects of Smurfit Carton de Colombia's (SCC) activities on the environment and local communities of Colombia. I welcomed the opportunity to go there and see first hand what was happening. I joined the delegation during the second week of their visit. I arrived on Saturday 14th November and stayed with the delegation until after their exit meeting with SCC on Friday 20th. I was quite disturbed by a number of aspects regarding the activities and practices of SCC:

Our visit to the reservation of the Paez Indians was both enlightening and educational. The key concerns these people raised with me was the continuous pressure and intimidation they were put under by an organization called Agroforestal. They spoke of their farms being attacked and their crops being destroyed. These people's tradition and way of life needs to be protected not threatened. They have much to teach us about sustainability and surviving in harmony with nature.

The Paez Indians have their own school in the area which I visited. It was in an extremely remote part of the mountains and very difficult to get to. The school had little or no facilities. When I say facilities, I mean basic materials such as paper, pencils and school books.

Although it is not permitted to plant within the wetland areas or close to the barrier fencing, I did observe trees planted right up to the fencing and within the wetland areas. It was also evident that chemical substances were used around these trees including those in the centre of the wetland area. Despite being assured that SCC had not destroyed primary forests we actually visited areas where primary forests were destroyed to provide access to plantations.

Another concern raised by ecologists was that when plantations are cleared there is a tendency to encroach on the primary forest. A further problem is the effect these plantations are having on the soil. I observed that the soil within the plantations was extremely dry even though this was the wet season. During our exit meeting with SCC I received no reassuring evidence that the effect on the soil was being closely and carefully monitored.

In some of the areas I visited which were on very steep slopes, I believe there is a danger that when the trees are cut down the soil will be totally exposed to the elements and will inevitably lead to massive soil erosion.

In some of the areas we visited local people expressed deep concern about the demand these plantations placed on local water supplies.

There was also concern expressed about the fact that heavy vehicle activity on the routes to and from the plantations were having a negative impact on the quality of the local roads.

Finally on the issue of workers rights and labour laws, I was very disturbed by SCC's employment practices. Apparently many people are employed through sub-contractors. This has raised problems for a number of people I spoke to. Some claimed that the subcontractors did not fulfill their social security obligations. Despite believing they were covered, it was only when an accident happened that they realised they were not covered.

Because they were employed by a subcontractor SCC claimed no responsibility. When these people went to look for the sub-contractors they found no records available and the contractor would have changed name. I believe this practice of using sub-contractors allows the company to avoid its responsibility to its workers. This practice would not be tolerated in Ireland.

Several years ago disturbing rumours started emerging from Colombia concerning the operations of the Jefferson Smurfit Group in that country. The rumours related to possible adverse environmental and social effects of pine and eucalyptus plantations, to a forestry concession on the Pacific Coast and to a land dispute with an indigenous tribe, among other issues.

In order to investigate these matters it was decided to buy some shares in the company, as the possession of even one share gives the right of participation in the company's annual general meeting and permits direct questioning of Michael Smurfit, the company chairman, in an open forum. This group of concerned shareholders attended several AGMs where we pursued the issues. Smurfits then invited us to visit their Colombian operations. We accepted this invitation and made a two week visit to Colombia in November 1998. The first week was spent seeing and hearing Smurfit's side of the story, while the second week was spent with our own contacts. We were joined on that second week by Patricia McKenna MEP.

This is the report of our visit.

In 1986 the Jefferson Smurfit Group took over the Colombian pulpwood company Carton de Colombia, which then became known as Smurfit Carton de Colombia or SCC.

Smurfit Carton de Colombia sometimes operates under the names of subsidiaries, eg. Pulpapel, Reforestadora Andina etc. However for the sake of clarity these are referred to throughout the report as SCC or Smurfit Carton de Colombia, unless describing company operations prior to the acquistion by Jefferson Smurfit Group, when the name Carton de Colombia is used.

Small and medium size cultivators with up to 500 hectares can avail of the incentive. However in order to benefit from the CIF, one has to have a forest establishment and management plan with so many technical requirements that no campesino (farmer) could possibly fulfill them to qualify for grant aid.

Both native and exotic tree plantations are not bad in themselves but it is the social context and the geographical location in which they are planted that determines their potential to have adverse environmental and social impacts.

SCC are involved in a number of environmentally beneficial activities including recycling of waste paper, conservation of threatened tree species (Pinus chiapensis and Prumnopitys spp.) and the setting up of four Forestry and Agricultural Technical Institutes (ITAFs) designed to offer opportunities for study, develop forestry, animal farming and agriculture.

However in spite of such social investments, there are local people who claim that SCC has had a negative impact on their quality of life. Since at least the early 1980s, Colombian environmental and development organisations, Municipal Councils, local campesinos, ecologists and the Colombian print media have questioned the planting of pine and eucalyptus plantations on account of their potential adverse effects. These include displacing campesinos from their land by land purchases, reducing biodiversity and water flows and accelerating soil erosion. There is also concern that forestry plantations provide less work than the farms that the forestry plantations displaced.

On August 27^th 1997, the Municipality of Filandia, QuindÌo banned pine and eucalyptus in certain areas of the municipality. The Department of Risaralda is considering banning the planting of pine and eucalyptus in the Department until it can be shown without doubt that they do not adversely affect the environment. The Corporacion Regional de QuindÌoí (CRQ - the environmental agency for QuindÌo) is involved in the establishment of commercial forestry plantations. Sometimes they are involved in conjunction with forestry companies that they themselves are charged with monitoring. This must be called into question. In addition, staffing levels at the CRQ are inadequate to carry out its environmental protection role including the monitoring of commercial forestry plantations.

The major threats to biodiversity are considered to be cattle ranching, logging and cocoa growing which have caused extensive soil degradation and loss of habitat. The Colombian Ministry of the Environment puts deforestation rates at 150,000 hectares per year with only 10,000 hectares replanted.

In the vicinity of Vereda El Castillo, Municipality of Calarc·, members of the Association of Graduates of the University of QuindÌo (Asociacion de Egresados en Biologia de la Universidad del QuindÌo) found the remains of native vegetation throughout which eucalyptus had been planted by Reforestadora Andina (subsidiary of SCC). The respected Colombian botanist Cristina Velez confirmed that many of these plants are components of primary forest. After environmentalists accused SCC of the destruction of native vegetation, SCC sued for libel on two separate occasions but the company lost their case twice.

At La Palmira Alta, SCC does not deny clearing disturbed primary forest to construct a road to facilitate timber harvesting. We consider the clearing of any relatively undisturbed primary forest unacceptable due to the rapid logging of native forests in Colombia as a whole and argue that the road could have been re-routed away from the native vegetation.

In general, the species of flora and fauna that colonise forest plantations are often widespread pioneer species. The plantations tend to lack the rare species with specialist requirements. In any case, the few species that do manage to adapt to plantations are often disturbed at the time of harvest.

On some sites that we visited, a very impoverished flora although good overall cover under pine (Pinus patula) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus grandis) was observed. We visited one such plantation that was being managed for timber production. In such an instance, pioneer species would have been given a relatively long time to colonise, occupying light gaps formed by natural tree fall.

Plantations managed for timber production cannot be considered representative of the majority of SCC plantations grown for pulpwood which are harvested after only 7 years in the case of Eucalyptus grandis and after 15 years in the case of Pinus patula.

Planting pine on degraded pastures may not be as environmentally benign as SCC claims. Some species of flora and fauna are confined to these pastures, demonstrating the need to conserve some areas of pasture within the plantation zone to maximise species diversity. Some pasture sites may have higher overall diversity than some planted sites depending on the plantation age and how it is managed.

Data on the impacts on the fauna and flora of site preparation, fertilisation of the trees and timber harvesting is sparse but is currently being investigated by Colombian researchers. It demonstrates that these issues were not examined prior to allowing the large-scale afforestation of Colombia with exotic species.

SCC are in breach of CRQ regulations that stipulate that 30 m should be left between the centre of wetlands and tree plantings at one of their plantation sites.

SCC in their involvement with various reforestation projects in areas of arable land have failed to ensure that there is no loss of valuable crop varieties which might be of future use in breeding new high yielding or pest resistant varieties by initiating such an agricultural crop variety conservation programme.

SCC has been prosecuted twice for allowing fires in two separate locations to burn out of control and destroy the last remnants of primary forest that remain at these altitudes.

At one site 1,000 m≤ of native forest and 10 hectares of plantations were affected.

The sanction imposed was negligible, obliging SCC to replant 3 hectares of native forest. SCC did not replant all the native species destroyed in the fire as some of the native species were difficult to reproduce. In effect, the replanted forest is a poor copy of the original forest that existed before the fire with its myriad of species associations. In addition we considered it unacceptable that SCC was not required to maintain the native plantings.

At the second site SCC were fined nine minimum salaries for the forestry infraction totalling only 800,000 pesos, again a derisory sum considering the profits made by SCC and the irreplaceable nature of the native forest lost. The fire affected 1200m2 of natural forest and vegetation in succession.

Commercial forestry plantations have been accused of adversely affecting water resources either by increasing runoff resulting in flooding or decreasing it by interception by the tree canopy and its subsequent re-evaporation into the atmosphere thereby reducing water supply to rural and urban populations. Others maintain that by consuming excessive amounts of groundwater supplies e.g. lowering the water table, relative to pastures, plantations can dry out wetlands which fulfil a number of functions such as purifying wastes and acting as breeding and nurseries for commercial fish species not to mention their wildlife value.

There are some studies carried out in hydrographic watersheds that show reductions in flows as a result of a change of cover from grass to eucalyptus plantations. The influence of eucalyptus and pine on surface runoff depends on the species used, local conditions of climate, slope and management of the under-storey.

A revision of 94 experiments in micro-watersheds affirmed that pine and eucalyptus can cause an average decrease of water performance of 40 mm for each 10% change in vegetation cover. This is sufficient evidence to warrant concern, as some areas of Risaralda Department where SCC has commercial plantations of pine and eucalyptus, (e.g. Santa Rosa de Cabal) are projected to suffer from water shortages in the long-term. This calls into question whether the planting of pine and eucalyptus in these areas is an appropriate land-use.

An unacceptable level of soil erosion has been a problem in Colombia from the time of the commencement of agriculture, substantially increasing due to inappropriate cattle-rearing practises.

The limited number of comparative studies that exist on soil erosion below crops of eucalyptus and other types of vegetation are at times contradictory. In general, the incidence of erosion appears to be low in lands utilised permanently under tree cover as has been found in numerable studies (Eljk and Moreno, 1986, cited in CONIF 1998a).

However there is some evidence that mature stands of Eucalyptus spp. are not adequate for erosion control, especially when grown in large-scale plantations, where they were not very effective in detaining surface runoff.

The amount of soil lost from SCC land from the time of clear-cutting to the time of replanting is not known as the company does not monitor soil losses on all its plantation sites. The soil in SCC plantations is often left exposed for between two and three months before planting.

In 1974 the Colombian government granted Carton de Colombia/Pulpapel a concession of 61,600 ha. of tropical rainforest to harvest in the Pacific coast area of Bajo Calima. In 1986, Smurfit took over the company which then became known as Smurfit Carton de Colombia (SCC). The concession was terminated in 1993.

The area of the concession was an area of exceptionally high biodiversity, being one of the most species-rich areas of rainforest in the world and containing many species found nowhere else on the planet: an area of immense ecological value. It is alleged by the local community (among others) that during the time of the concession, Carton de Colombia was responsible for the environmental, social, economic and cultural devastation of the area, and furthermore, that the manner of their leaving in 1993 made the situation even worse.

We concluded that the presence of the Carton de Colombia in Bajo Calima during the 19 years of the concession contributed, both directly and indirectly, to a serious deterioration in the quality of life of the local community and the widespread destruction of their environment. This is beyond dispute, attested to both by the community itself and by independent scientific reports.

We consider therefore that Smurfit Carton de Colombia has a moral responsibility to repair the damage done to both the community and the forests of Bajo Calima.

The environmental authorities have been ineffective in monitoring and controlling the damage done to the environment. In at least one case, that of the CRQ, they have actively participated in an industry they are supposed to regulate.

Many elected bodies, regional parliaments and town halls have all tried to legally halt the spread of pine and eucalytus plantations. SCC and others have fought legal battles to challenge the legal validity of such decisions. They have met with mixed success. We fully support these attempts by the people to exercise their democractic rights. We believe that SCC should listen to these elected representives and meet their concerns rather than trying to challenge their decisions on mere technicalities.

Those who have opposed SCC has on occasion been unsuccessfully sued for libel. We reject these attempts to silence environmentalists.

The land dispute with the Paez Indians continues. Smurfits agreed to meet them to discuss the situation but to date have not lived up to this promise made when the Paez visited Ireland last year. As a result of our investigation we have found that the Paez claim of territory has some justification. It is not that SCC bought the land illegally but that this was done under a legal regime which did not recognise the Indians. We further found that one of the farms in dispute belongs to SCC and that they could begin to negotiate its future now as a measure of good faith. We were not impressed by Agroforestal's version of events nor by SCC's claim that this is an independent company over which they have no control. Legally they could solve this problem now and we call on them to hand over the land the Indians claim and to compensate Agroforestal. We further believe that the contracts with Agroforestal should be revoked and new contracts drawn up which give real independence to these peasants in their dealings with SCC.

Many trade unionists have been sacked from Smurfit Carton de Colombia without any just cause given. Their trade union leaders have been sacked in contravention of Colombia labour law. SCC has refused to reinstate these workers. They further refuse to recognise these trade unionists as the elected representatives of the workers. This despite the fact that the Ministry of Labour continues to recognise them and has in fact fined SCC for the sackings. We call on SCC to reinstate these workers and to withdraw the criminal charges made against their leaders

We further found that SCC was less than open and honest with us.

Future global increase in paper consumption is hard to quantify as it depends on such factors as population growth, the amount of packaging around manufactured goods and the relative costs of paper versus other packaging materials. The development of an ethic involving reduction of paper use, the reuse of paper and the recycling of paper will also affect consumption. In spite of efforts at reducing paper use, the consumption of pulp is expected to rise substantially in the coming years. Paper consumption in Colombia is 26 kg/person/year while in Ireland it is 100 kg/person/year. An average citizen in the richer countries can use over 155 kg/year of paper and paperboard. In the United States, the corresponding figure is 325 kg. In the developing world, an average citizen may use only 5 kg/year.

Presently most wood chips for pulp manufacture in Colombia as in other tropical countries (such as Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand) have been derived from fast-growing exotic species such as pine (Pinus spp.) or (Eucalyptus spp.) grown in commercial plantations.

To feed pulp and paper mills, vast areas of pine, eucalyptus and acacia are increasingly being established in developing countries where fast tree growth, inexpensive land and labour and lavish government subsidies make wood production cheap.

Fast-growing plantations amount to only about 25% of the total industrial plantation area, but their importance to global wood supply, particularly pulpwood supply is out of all proportion to their size.

In Indonesia some industrialists expect 3-4.6 million hectares of land to be under short-rotation pulpwood plantations by 2003 while Thai officials envisage over 4 million hectares being put under private-sector plantations by 2020. Ethiopia has mooted plans to plant as much as 3.5 million hectares by 2,000, Malaysia 500,,000 hectares, and Burundi 300,,000 hectares (Evans, 1991 in Carrere and Lohmann, 1996).

The most commonly planted pine species have been Pinus patula, P. caribaea, P. elliotti, P. merkusii, P. kesiya and P. oocarpa. The most commonly planted eucalyptus species have been Eucalyptus grandis, E. camaldulensis, E. globulus, E. saligna, E. tereticornis, E. robusta, E. citriodora, E. urophylla and E. deglupta. Error! Reference source not found. Over 19 million hectares of fast-growing pine plantations and over 6 million hectares of eucalyptus are currently in existence (in Carrere and Lohmann, 1996).

Colombia has an area of 110 million hectares with a population of 38 million. Deforestation in the country is considered high; between 350,,000-700,,000 hectares per year depending on the source of the data. This is in contrast to the 304,206 hectares reforested up to 1993. According to IDEAM (http: //www.ideam.gov.co) for each hectare planted 60 hectares are felled.

The National Census of Population and Housing of 1985, maintains that 35.8% of the Colombian population depends on firewood for cooking. This has accelerated the cutting and degradation of forests, generated soil erosion and sedimentation of water bodies and has affected forest biodiversity. In Colombia, it was estimated that in 1995, the consumption of wood for energy was divided up among the following uses: 84.5% for cooking, 15% by the farming and mining sector and only 0.5% by the industrial sector.

There has been a decrease in the consumption of wood due to its substitution in the energy sector by natural gas and electric energy. The utilisation of firewood for cooking is a very wasteful process: only 7% of the calorific value of the wood being used with the remaining 93% being lost (http: //www.ideam.gov.co). Eucalyptus is considered to have a high calorific value; one of the reasons why it is planted in social forestry projects for fuelwood.

In Colombia forests for wood production have been planted since 1945. There are three types of plantation: industrial plantations, protective forests and ornamental forests in urban areas. The Instituto de HidrÛlogia MeteorologÌa y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM) proposes as part of its forest policy to reforest 160,,000 hectares and establish 4,0000 hectares of watershed protection plantations (http: //www.ideam.gov.co) with the help of an economic instrument called the Certificate of Incentive Forestry (CIF).

The Certificate of Incentive Forestry was established under Law 139, 1994 which came into effect in 1995. It gives generous economic incentives to larger farmers and forest companies to plant native or introduced species. The support measures provide 75% of the costs of establishing native species and 50% of the establishment costs for introduced species. The upkeep of the trees for the first five years is also funded. The funding is the same whether it is an introduced or a native species. The farmer or forest company can exploit these plantations when they mature. Up to December 1997, $10 thousand million pesos had been paid.

In 1997, a CIF was created for the conservation of natural forests but up to 1998 no fund had been established to finance this scheme that would be of immense environmental value (Broderick, 1998). The Certificate of Incentive Forestry was established under Law 139, 1994 which came into effect in 1995. It gives generous economic incentives to larger farmers and forest companies to plant native or introduced species. Indeed according to Cecilia LÛpez MontaÒo, ex minister of agriculture, the explicit intention of Law 139 was to give an incentive to reforestation activity in the country with the proposition of supplying industry with forest products provided from cultivated forests.

Small and medium size cultivators with up to 500 hectares can avail of the incentive. However according to JosÈ Romero AguillÛn, director of the organisation Fedecaucho, in order to benefit from the CIF, one has to have a forest establishment and management plan with so many technical requirements that no campesino (farmer) could possibly fulfill them to qualify for grant aid (Broderick, 1998).

According to the Instituto Geografico Augustin Codazzi, large areas of land currently used for agriculture and livestock are not suitable for these purposes but are suitable for forestry (Instituto Geogr·fico Augustin Codazzi , 1998). In Colombia, 12.7% of land is considered suitable for cultivation. But only 38% of this potential is being used representing 4.66% of the national territory. The total amount of land suitable for agricultural use can diminish rapidly due to the degradation of the soil by erosion, desertification and salinization.

Lands under forest cover occupy 49% of the national territory of which 68.5% are considered suitable for forests. Colombian forests have been divided into three main categories:

• Primary forest: natural forest occupying 44.87% of the national territory.
• Supervised forest: forest that has been utilised by man for production of forest products totalling 4.01% of the country.
• Planted forest: sown and managed forest occupying 0.12% of the nation's area.

(Instituto Geografico Augustin Codazzi, 1998)

According to the Atlas of Colombia (Instituto Geogr·fico Agustin Codazzi, 1998), production forests in the Andean region are found in zones with a humid and rainy climate, generally undulating relief of slopes less than 25% and shallow acid stony soils. These areas are found in very localised areas, in the colder climatic zones. The surface covered by production forests in the Andean region is 111,051 hectares that represents 0.38% of the land area of the region.

The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) considers that exotic species often have initial superior performance and management advantages but that they may lack long-term adaptation to the soil and climatic conditions of the site. It states that forest managers and planners should therefore not assume that the initial growth advantages of exotic species would be maintained without additional management inputs over time.

Given the choice however, plantations are rarely established on degraded land as the objective is to grow trees quickly to maximise profits which requires a certain level of fertility and water supply; areas which have been used by Colombian campesinos for agriculture.

Plantations are a high-risk venture in that if economic circumstances change, the chances of maintaining essential management inputs are reduced. Government subsidies such as the aforementioned Certificate of Incentive Forestry reduce these risks. Tropical forest plantations are costly to establish and so the Colombian government has tended to heavily subsidise them with the Colombian taxpayer's money.

There are 28370 hectares of commercial plantations of Pinus patula in Colombia. Pinus patula is native to the north-east and south-east of Mexico. It is widely planted in Ecuador, Africa and New Zealand. In Colombia, Pinus patula grows between 800-3300m, with an annual precipitation of 1,000-3,000 mm and average temperatures between 8-22∞C. It develops well in deep humid neutral or acid, well-drained sandy-clay soils, derived form volcanic ash. This pine can reach 20-30m in height and a diameter of 1 m.

It is the most important introduced species used in Colombian commercial reforestation, owing to its rapid growth, and diversity of uses. It has been used for the recuperation of degraded soils and as part of a silvo-pastoral system where individual trees are planted in pastureland. Its wood is used for saw-wood, cases, chests, construction, floors, posts, turned products and pulp for paper (Tokura et. al, 1996).

When establishing Pinus patula plantations, the grasses and herbaceous plants around the planted trees are eradicated using the herbicide glyphosate. Planted at a distance of 3 x 3 m, 1111 trees per hectare are obtained. Total weed control is carried out each time that the weeds reach 50 cm in height or two thirds of the height of the tree; an operation that is repeated in the second and third years.

Pinus patula is very susceptible to deficiencies of boron and phosphorous. Independent of the analysis of the soil, 50-70 g of NPK and 10-15 g of 68% Borax per tree is applied. SCC has the largest area of commercial Pinus patula in Colombia totalling 7044 hectares in 1995 (CONIF, 1998a). Pinus patula is inoculated with a mixture of mycorrhizae. These are fungi that help the trees to utilise soil nutrients. Fungi employed in the inoculation process are: Boletus sp., Rhizopogon sp. and Pisolithus tinctorius. Inoculation is carried out in the seedbed using fruiting bodies, mycelia or infected earth.

Pruning is carried out between the fourth and fifth years with as much as 50% of the crown removed. The second pruning in the rotation takes place between years eight and nine to a maximum height of 6-7 m. Growth rates in good soil can reach 35 m≥/ha/year, with an average yield of 20 m≥/ha/year.

Eucalyptus grandis is native to the coastal region of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. In Australia it is called Flooded Gum. It is adapted to an altitude range of 1,000-2200 m, precipitation between 1,000-3,000mm/year and temperatures from 10-35∞C, corresponding to the following life zones of Holdridge (1967): Humid Premontane Forest, Humid Tropical Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, Very Humid Premontane Forest, and Very Humid Lower Montane Forest.

Eucalyptus grandis can reach heights of 25-50 m and trunk diameters of 2 m It requires deep well-drained soils of variable texture but preferably open clays, neutral to acid pH and high fertility. It is sensitive to the boron deficiency which is characteristic of the volcanic soils found under some of the landholdings of SCC. These volcanic soils are also deficient in phosphorous. The fertility of these volcanic soils is a function of the age of the volcanic eruption. At planting, 70 g of NPK and 10 g of 68% Borax, is applied independent of the analysis of the soil with a further 70 g of NPK at random in the second year and 15 g of 68% Borax in the third year.

It is the most commonly planted eucalyptus species in the world as a result of its high volumetric output. In Colombia yields can reach between 24 and 38m≥/ha/year. Its wood is used for cabinets and joinery, telephone and electric posts, fences, construction of housing, floors and panels, pulp for the manufacture of paper and firewood. Its use for firewood is due to its high calorific value and pulp for paper (Tokura et al., 1996). It has been used to recuperate zones degraded by bad livestock-rearing practices. SCC and other entities have promoted the use of Eucalyptus grandis for live fences (Uribe & MarÌn, 1996).

Eucalyptus grandis is widely used to make pulp because it has a whitish wood with a low lignin content and therefore it requires less bleaching than other woods. It also has relatively short wood fibres of 2mm ideal for pulp making.

Management involves the total cleaning of the land of grasses and other herbaceous plants prior to planting as it cannot tolerate competition. Weeding is very important for the first two years. If the slope is less than 30%, ploughing and raking of the land is carried out to permit rapid growth.

Mycorrhizae are fundamental to the achievement of the high growth rates of Eucalyptus grandis. These are fungi that form a relationship with plant roots enhancing nutrient uptake. The fungi used are Scleroderma sp. and Laccaria laccata. The fungi are cut up and made into a soup which is supplied to the seedlings a few weeks after they germination. There is a separate inoculation area of Eucalyptus grandis in the Restrepo nursery that provides supplementary supplies of the fruiting bodies of Scleroderma. The fungi are also collected from the wild. Eucalyptus grandis does not require pruning except when it is being coppiced.

The following private companies or public entities have planted Eucalyptus grandis: Sociedad Cafetera del Valle, SCC, the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca (CVC), CiprÈses de Colombia and the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Risaralda (CARDER). Out of all these entities, SCC has by far the most land under E. grandis in Colombia. In 1996, out of a total of 9007 hectares of commercial E. grandis plantations in Colombia (CONIF, 1998a), SCC has 8651 hectares of commercial plantations of E. grandis.

In Colombia marginal soils that have performed poorly under pasture and arable land can be productive for forestry plantations where yields of pine and eucalyptus exceed 25 m≥/ha/year (Ladrach & Zobel, 1986).

Pasturelands occupy 35.11% of the national territory but only 16.8% are suitable for this activity. Pastures may be of several types including:

• Managed pastures corresponding to pastures that have been subjected to some type of technical management. These occupy 4.54% of the country.
• Natural pastures occupying 23.11% of the national area
• Weedy pastures consisting of areas of varied vegetation with a predominance of pasture. This pasture type occupies 7.46% of the national area.

Between 1980-89, Colombia increased the land area under pasture by 35% from 30 million hectares in 1980 to 40.2 million hectares in 1989. This was the highest increase of all countries in the Latin American and the Caribbean region. In the same period however, cattle population only increased 2% from 24.7 million heads of cattle in 1980 to 25.2 million in 1989 with a reduction in meat production per hectare from 20 kg/ha in 1980 to 16 kg/ha in 1989. This data shows the magnitude of this activity in Colombia but also the inefficiency of cattle rearing activity in Colombia.

Scrub regeneration on the cattle pasture is often cleared by the campesinos by burning it in the summer. During the rest of the year, it is cut by machete. Sometimes the cattle themselves are used in scrub clearance. They are driven through the scrub so that they can flatten the vegetation.

SCC claims to only plant on degraded pastureland containing such grasses as yaragu· mixed with kikuyu (Ladrach, 1983) on slopes as steep as 30-40%. Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum) is a commonly used pasture grass that was introduced from Africa as packing material.

Pastureland degraded by cattle due to inappropriate farming practices may still be important for the conservation of biodiversity in that it may contain unique species characteristic of open grassland habitats.

Some of the cattle farms purchased by SCC has exceeded 100 hectares. SCC claim not to have brought any new land since 1994. Land purchase has been and continues to be a controversial issue as will be discussed below.

QuindÌo is one of the Departments where SCC plants pine and eucalyptus. It is one of the smallest departments in Colombia. It is situated at the heart of the zona cafetera (the coffee producer zone) with a relatively high standard of living in the rural areas.

Land use in QuindÌo Department is divided up as follows: natural forest 34%, pastures 30%, coffee 27% (53,602 hectares), forestry 3%, other crops 2%, urban areas 1%, bare land and glaciers 3%.

Natural forests cover 34% of QuindÌo, pastures (30%), and coffee (27%). Forestry plantations take up 3% of the land area. The land holdings of SCC amount to 3.6% or 7104 hectares of the Department of which 2% are plantations and 1.6% are protected natural forests inherited from the previous owners.

Most of the land owned by SCC in QuindÌo is centred around Salento (3645 hectares) and Pijao (2510 hectares). Plantations also occur around Calarc· and Filandia. SCC employs 230 in QuindÌo, has built 70 km of new roads, maintains 40 km/year and harvests 25,000 tons of wood per year.

Waste sludge from the effluent treatment plant and coal ash from the power station is taken to the landfill site and dumped. SCC claim that they were one of the first Latin American companies to use oxygen bleaches to produce TCF papers. This was probably due to developments in Scandinavia where there had been a move to chlorine-free processes in response to greater environmental awareness.

Colombia's apparent paper and board consumption is close to 1 million tons of which 70% is produced in Colombia. In 1998, SCC collected and recycled 80,000 tons of waste paper consisting of trimmings from the paper and board industry, and packaging from shopping centres, stores and supermarkets. Forty-three percent of the 80,000 tons came from industrial sources, 52% from commerce and 5% from houses. This activity employed 250 people. The recovered material is collected, sorted and bailed and then transported to the pulp-mills in Bogot·, Cali, MedellÌn and Barranquilla to be used in the manufacture of paper products.

CAMCORE was founded in 1980 to conserve forest genetic resources for breeding and conservation purposes and is based at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. CAMCORE strives to protect and improve rare and threatened forest species in Mexico and Central America and other countries. For species of high conservation value but low economic potential, e.g. Pinus chiapensis, it maintains conservation banks to maintain the genetic diversity of its wild populations. CAMCORE has collected seed from 32 species.

Recent conservation efforts have focused on such species as Pinus patula, P. jaliscana, P. maximartinezii and P. chiapensis in Mexico, Gmelina arborea in Myanmar (Burma) and Eucalyptus urophylla in Indonesia. It has the largest database on tropical and subtropical pines in the world. The seed of Pinus chiapensis, a threatened 3-5 needle pine species native to Chiapas, Mexico has been collected and stored at the Yumbo site. There is a fine example growing in the grounds of the ITAF Smurfit Social Foundation school.

Until very recently little work has been done to avoid the extinction of species of the conifer family Podocarpaceae as a result of deforestation and their use for timber. Eight members of the Podocarpaceae in three genera (Podocarpus, Prumnopitys and Retrophyllum) have been recorded in Colombia. SCC has supported research on the ecology and silviculture of the Colombian members of the Podocarpaceae involving the gathering together of all the information on this theme including various investigations and experiments carried out in their two nurseries: La Florida nursery, Popay·n, Cauca and the Rancho Grande, nursery Restrepo, Valle.

Forestry trials were carried out on a number of farms in the Departments of Valle del Cauca, Cauca, QuindÌo, Caldas and Risaralda at altitudes between 1700-2100m. The areas involved ranged between 0.5 and 1.5 hectares (MarÌn VÈlez, 1998).

The Prumnopitys spp. conservation project has been going on for five years. In the wild, male trees are very rare due to logging and therefore the trees have had to be produced from cuttings. SCC has tried different concentrations of the same hormone to get the cuttings to root. They are also trying controlled cross-pollination to augment populations. SCC has discovered that the trees require shade in their initial stages of growth.

All clones are kept in a clonal archive outside the laboratory in blocks of 20 hectares. Duplicates occur in trial plantations. Tissue cultures are not used to maintain the clones in the long-term. The newer clones have increased yields by 40%. In other words 40% less land is needed to produce the same amount of wood.

An agreement has been reached with the Colombian Coffee Federation to produce Cordia alliodora as a shade tree. This species is also good for furniture, flooring, panelling and ceilings. It has a growth rate of 2-3m per year. In years 1-5 it has a growth rate of 3 cm/year after which the rate of growth slows down.

Most plants are sold on the local market. Some projects involve planting on private land where the community provides the land and SCC plants it up and prepares the soil.

Excess plants of various species from SCC nurseries are donated to various groups. Native plants are grown when there is a demand for them. Some such as Alnus acuminata are sold at cost to private landowners and government institutions. Trees are also grown for ornamental use in SCC installations, e.g. Tabebuia chrysantha, Jacaranda caucana.

As part of the plant breeding process, SCC buys seed from commercial dealers, exchanges seed with 35 other countries or collects it themselves from their seed orchards. In the early days when seed was in short supply, some seed was collected from street trees in Cali.

SCC has set up four Forestry and Agricultural Technical Institutes (ITAFs) which are designed to offer opportunities for study, develop forestry, animal farming and agriculture. Two ITAFs are situated in Cauca Department and two in Valle del Cauca Department. They also claim to promote a good use of agricultural, forestry and farm animal production that generates income in rural areas thus helping to slow rural migration to the cities.

The total student population at the four ITAFs is 415. The ITAF at Restrepo, Valle del Cauca, has a school garden where various agricultural crops are raised: beans, taro or coco-yam (Colocasia esculenta). The leaves of taro are fed to fish and chickens while its roots are fed to humans, pigs and fish. The leguminous tree Leucaena leucocephala bordered the vegetable plots. It is a tree commonly used as a live fence and for firewood while its leaves and fruit are used for animal feed. The coffee was grown under the partial shade of banana trees as coffee needs a mixture of shade and light throughout the day. There is a Colombian coffee variety that can be grown in full sunlight conditions where there is land with no tree cover.

Banana plants and the tree Cordia alliodora are often used to shade coffee in Colombia. In other areas coffee is grown in the shade of canopy trees in natural forest. The banana plants give the farmer income until the coffee plants start to produce fruit (beans).

The students eat some of the vegetables and fish produced at the school while the surplus is sold in the market. The students breed good land races for the local community. There is a fish-pond containing mirror carp that are fed with produce from the farm (plantain banana, papaya) and kitchen waste. The grass Brachiaria sp. is grown as a forage crop the seeds of which attract such seed-eating birds as the Yellow-bellied seedeater.

However in spite of such social investments, there are local people who claim that SCC has had a negative impact on their quality of life as will be outlined below.

Such actions have been spurred on by claims that the eucalyptus trees take too many nutrients, are useless for fodder, supply little firewood to the community, can lower water levels in nearby ponds, wells and woodlands and deposit sand in neighbouring fields by erosion. In effect, the trees have provided few of the benefits that the community woodlands displaced by the eucalyptus plantations have provided (Carrere & Lohmann, 1996). Thai villagers have demanded individual land rights, community rights to local forests and the right to veto commercial plantation schemes in their locality.

North-eastern villagers and their NGO allies have muted alternatives to eucalyptus including multi-purpose native trees which provide food, construction materials and medicines. They have launched native tree planting on degraded lands and designated new areas as community forest.

A recent study in Chile has shown that pine plantations are less attractive to tourists than areas of native forests (CODEFF, 1992 cited in Carrere and Lohmann, 1996). In this regard, if tourism takes off in Colombia, it is pertinent to ask, What will be the reaction of future tourists to Colombia to the pine and eucalyptus plantations being promoted by the Certificate of Incentive Forestry.

Plantation trees especially those with roots which extend several metres horizontally can compete with neighbouring crops for nutrients, water and sunlight. As a result, Uruguay has enacted laws requiring that the outermost line of trees in a plantation must be a certain distance from neighbouring land (Carrere & Lohmann, 1996).

SCC has caused a lot of controversy in Colombia since it started to buy up land for pine, cypress and eucalyptus plantations. SCC began to buy land in Risaralda in 1989-1990. They have land around Santa Rosa and Guatica. Local people have accused the company of damaging public roads. This was denied by the company who claimed that they maintain the roads.

In Risaralda Department, farms have been brought up to plant pine and eucalyptus. At meetings with campesinos and environmental groups in QuindÌo and Risaralda, comments were made with regard to SCC and pine and eucalyptus plantations:

Campesino: ‘Cattle ranches and arable land that once grew wheat and beans have been brought up (by SCC)'.

Even if the land was degraded pastureland, some campesinos and ecologically concerned individuals believe that improved livestock rearing techniques could reduce or reverse degradation. Unfortunately many landowners did not have the financial or technical help for these improvements at the time they were under pressure to sell their land to SCC. Although SCC currently has a policy of not purchasing land at the present time, we consider that this should be the permanent policy of SCC.

The campesinos were also concerned that forestry plantations provided less work than the farms that the forestry plantations displaced.

Campesino: ‘The plantations don't generate the same level of work as agricultural activities - the majority of the workers were subcontractors brought in from outside'.

Ladrach and Zobel (1986) calculate that forestry plantations employ over four times more people than a typical farm of 900 hectares with 1.3 animal units per hectare, producing a combination of meat and milk. However, Carrere and Lohmann (1996) maintain that there appear to be general agreement that forestry plantations cannot employ as many people as conventional agriculture particularly family farms. It is likely that each case should be considered on its merits, the number employed on a farm varying with the type of agriculture (arable, livestock, mixed) and the intensity of management. Further investigations in this area are required. Other comments made by the campesinos were:

Campesino: ‘There is pressure on landowners to sell their land'.

Campesino: ‘Smurfit started to buy land about 20 years ago in the high parts of the RÌo Consuba San Pablo watershed. They only brought up the larger farms from the bigger campesinos. There are now rumours that they want to buy out small farmers'.

Campesino: ‘The farming practices were lost so that all they can do now is extract timber'.

Campesino: ‘Smurfit came into the DariÈn and RÌo FrÌo areas displacing peasants from arable land in 1983-84. They also moved to Restrepo and then north up to Sevilla, Calarc·, Salento, Santa Rosa, Guatica and Riosucio. They bought up large farms affecting people attached to these farms; five or six people were displaced from each of these farms. They are finishing off the Andean peasant culture and the native forest by planting with pine and eucalyptus'.

Campesino: 'At La Selva Farm situated at 2550m, around 200 species have been displaced from the area'.

Colombian environmentalist:‘In the high parts of the RÌo QuindÌo watershed, natural forest occurs above 2,000 m. Under 2,000 m, the forest has been reduced to scattered fragments. Until about 20 years ago, the region was important for potato growing until pine began to appear. It is a 19,000-hectare watershed with 8,000 hectares of forest, 5500 hectares of fields, 12700 hectares of p·ramo and 2700 hectares of commercial plantations. The plantations have been planted in the middle of fields and native forest. We have lost the capacity for agricultural production, lost native vegetation, while people have been displaced from their land'.

Colombian environmentalist:‘The Cruz Gorda watershed around Salento has a population of 3500 people. Less than 30% of the area is natural vegetation. This is found largely at the higher elevations at 2600 m where the rare and threatened Spectacled Bear lives. Smaller forest fragments occur at lower altitudes. The water supply is regulated by wetlands; the largest being 2,000 m≤. The first part of the watershed that was brought up was 80 hectares at La Bolivia Farm. Today the area is very dry with some rivers and streams having dried up. Two years ago, two farms constituting 50% of the watershed were brought up. There has been soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Rather than being planted on, the degraded pastureland could be improved by modifying the existing agricultural techniques'

Campesino: ‘In Risaralda there is a civic environmental monitoring body that was set up by an ordinance of the Departmental Assembly. This civil observation body is made up of representatives from the black and Indian populations and other NGOs. The law relating to civil monitoring is concerned with the defence of biodiversity and culture, altitudinal biodiversity and tropical Andean forest. Therefore the law is in direct conflict with pine plantations'.

Colombian Environmentalist: ‘The management plan for La Selva Farm recommended to cut the trees in chequer-board fashion but this was not done. Instead, their concept of chequer-board was one of clear-cutting'.

Although we were not able to inspect the environmental damage alleged above, in the Department of Riseralda, the similarity of the comments gives cause for concern there may be some truth in the allegation that at least some people have been adversely affected by the planting of pine and eucalyptus plantations. We call for an independent investigation of such claims.

Since at least the early 1980s, other Colombian environmental and development organisations have questioned the planting of pine and eucalyptus plantations on account of their potential effects on soil, flora, fauna and water supplies.

A letter dated August 26^th, 1981 to Dr. Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, then president of Colombia from the Municipal Council of Salento outlined the problems associated with reforestation by the CRQ (the environmental agency for QuindÌo, Bavaria and SCC.

The Municipal Council denounced the indiscriminate buying of 28 farms totalling over 3,0000 hectares in QuindÌo. They were concerned with the sowing of seed on land of agricultural and cattle-rearing vocation that generates agricultural employment, and the leaching of nitrogen into water for human consumption with the resulting formation of cancer-forming nitrosamines. They argued that pine plantations do not guarantee the regulation and control of water flow as little vegetation grows under them thus increasing soil erosion through increased runoff. The CRQ wanted to overturn the findings of the Municipality of Salento with regard to commercial plantations but were ruled against by the Colombian legal authorities.

In September 1982, an open letter signed by a number of organisations in the municipality of Calima-DariÈn, Valle del Cauca was sent to the then President of Colombia (Dr Belisario Betancur). The signatories included the Municipal Committee of Coffee-growers, the Body of Voluntary Firefighters and Traders Associations. They outlined their concern at the advance of SCC in the area without evaluating future socio-economic consequences. They continue to say that they recognise the importance of industrial forestry and expansion in the country but are against its siting in areas with potential for the production of food and crops with a high capacity for employment generation (Broderick, 1998).

In 1983, at the first regional forum on the cultivation of pine in Calima-El DariÈn Valle del Cauca, Dr. Guillermo CastaÒa Arcila, president of the Ecological Council of the Western Central Region of Colombia, expressed the concerns of the ecological movement on the planting of pine.

On the 16^th August 1990, La Patria, a daily newspaper with a regional circulation in the zona cafetera ran an article criticising pine for its effect on campesinos that have sold their land to big multinationals. The money obtained by the campesinos often has not been invested in other activities but has been but into banks or has simply been squandered (La Patria: 16 August, 1990). In September 1993, the newspaper El Tiempo reported how FundaciÛn EcÛlogica Cosmos sent a letter to the CRQ denouncing abusive ‘coniferisation'.

On August 27^th 1997, the Municipality of Filandia, QuindÌo banned pine and eucalyptus in certain areas of the municipality; the very plantations that are so heavily subsidised by the Colombian taxpayer in the form of the Certificate of Incentive Forestry. Some argue that this money could be better spent at least in some areas on improving agricultural techniques thereby increasing the income of campesinos so that they would not be under pressure to sell their land.

The local government of Risaralda has asked the governor to stop all reforestation with pine and eucalyptus. The acting governor of Risaralda Department outlined what is going on in Risaralda with regard to its environmental activities and its concerns over the planting of forestry plantations:

Acting governor:‘ Environmental legislation is quite thin on the ground as the Ministry of the Environment was only set up two years ago. People are not very well informed. We are very conscious of the need to protect the environment.

This Department is rich in natural resources. The city of Pereira has 300 hectares of natural forest which are used as dumps by local people. Agriculture accounts for 30% of the GDP in Risaralda. We have 1 million hectares of coffee plantations. In the coffee zone of QuindÌo, Caldas and Risaralda, 15,000 hectares is planted with pine. When a small insect called Broca that burrows into the coffee bean attacked the coffee, the small landowners couldn't afford the pesticides needed to control it. Their land was brought by large landowners including forestry companies.

We thought that we would plant Juglans neotropica (a native tree species grown for its edible fruits, source of dye and construction wood) giving economic stability to our peasants. We feel that it is important to use biological control in pest management.

The Department of Risaralda has a project called Risaralda and the Forests for the World. We have carried out some modest environmental campaigns. We want to use these forests as corridors and botanical gardens that would be integrated into the city. We want to recycle and create links with existing institutions'.

We visited RÌo San Ramon situated at 2,000m altitude near Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda Department to be told that in one case, SCC had closed off all the roads leading to two public and one private spring. According to the Colombian constitution, these springs constitute heritage. An appeal was made to allow access to these springs. The case was won, but to the best of our knowledge the appeal decision was not complied with.

According to Colombian environmentalists, the municipal body agreed to prohibit the planting of pine and eucalyptus until an environmental impact assessment was carried out. The mayor objected to this but his decision was over-ruled by the president of the municipal body. However it was once again not complied with.

A Deputy in the Departmental Assembly of Risaralda outlined his objections to the planting of pine and eucalyptus:

Deputy: ‘I am against the concentration of land in the hands of multinationals with huge investment budgets. The central government gives tax breaks to the forestry companies, as it wants to reforest Colombia. The budget of three of these companies amounts to 16,000 million pesos. We are looking for a ban on the planting of pine and eucalyptus in Risaralda Department. In the municipality of Salento, QuindÌo, they own 9.7% of all land. They have not purchased new land recently but have come to an arrangement with landowners whereby SCC (or its subsidiaries) plant up land while the landowner gets a certain percentage of the harvest. In general, the landowner can sell 25% of the timber'.

Local communities receive the most direct beneficial and detrimental impacts of commercial forestry plantations. A CONIF report on the socio-economic effects of commercial plantations is in preparation that should make interesting reading. We consider that community consultation over the planting of commercial tree plantations in their areas is very important. Attention to possible impacts on archaeological, cultural or spiritual sites at the local, national and global levels is paramount. Consideration must be given to the impacts of commercial plantations on the disruption of legal or customary land rights and patterns of land use, and reduction of cultural values.

Although local communities can raise objections to the establishment of a commercial plantation through the Regional Autonomous Corporations, there has been no formal community consultation mechanism established by SCC with regard to decisions relating to planting, managing and harvesting of commercial plantations. We recommend that such a consultation body be set up. The body would consist of community leaders, environmental non-governmental organisations and SCC staff. Local communities should have access to an easy information retrieval system on all current and future activities. The training of SCC staff in the importance of environmental protection, community consultation, conservation of archaeological, spiritual or cultural sites, the conservation of soil, biodiversity and genetic resources is paramount.

At the same time as arable and pastureland was being extensively planted by SCC and other forestry companies, 70% of Colombian food was being imported. We consider that at least some of the financial resources currently subsidising commercial plantations through the Certificate of Incentive Forestry that only benefits large forest companies should be directed towards supporting Colombian agriculture or social forestry that would reap benefits to a greater number of people.

With increased access to credit and technical assistance, the lands currently been planted with commercial plantations could have their agricultural vocation recuperated to prevent the migration of small farmers to the cities or villages. A good forestry policy cannot be divorced from agricultural policy nor economic policy in general (Broderick, 1998).

The concept of social forestry involves planting trees which are widely accepted by local communities and which reap multiple benefits for such communities such as provision of fodder, fuel wood, medicines, building materials, green manure and fruits. Both native and exotic species can be suited to social forestry if they are well adapted to the site, grow well and supply products that are needed by local people.

A range of different species may be needed at different times of the year to obtain the same product e.g. a range of different fire woods with different drying rates, sizes and burning qualities allows flexibility in use. In India and Nepal, farmers depend on a large number of different tree species lopped at different times to fulfil their livestock feed and bedding requirements (Hughes, 1988). Social forestry does not necessarily exclude the use of eucalyptus for live fences or fuelwood. Many inhabitants of the Andean valleys of Ecuador and Peru would regard Eucalyptus globulus (Tasmanian Blue Gum) as an integral part of the Andean landscape so complete has been its cultivation, spread and use.

A useful model of community participation might use the PACOFOR (Proyecto de Desarrollo de la Participacion Comunitaria en el Sector Forestal) project as a model. This is a joint initiative between four Regional Autonomous Corporations (CORPOCALDAS, CARDER, CRQ, CORTOLIMA), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) and the Dutch government.

The PACOFOR project encourages men and women to work together to direct their physical, intellectual and emotional resources towards individual and community growth through the satisfaction of community needs identified by the communities themselves. It undertakes to identify, execute and evaluate forestry and agroforestry projects in order to protect, conserve and use natural resources in a sustainable fashion through the provision of live fences, mixed gardens and agroforestry and firewood plots.

It must be recognised that fibres to make paper products whether from wood, bagasse (from sugarcane), kenaf (an African plant) or seaweed will be needed for the foreseeable future, due to population growth and until such time as a global recycling ethic is well-accepted. Pine and eucalyptus should only be used to satisfy the needs of wood and firewood of the population of the municipalities, in situations where they do least social and environmental damage e.g. in flat sites or those of low inclination.

Where commercial plantations are established, local communities should share in the benefits of the forestry plantations, e.g. free firewood, inter-cropping between trees, share of the timber harvest.

Pine and eucalyptus plantations in unfavourable locations (hills or mountains that play a role in the infiltration of subterranean water, on very steep slopes and on relatively delicate soils) should be removed. In their place one could allow the expansion of native vegetation by natural regeneration. However when replacing pine and eucalyptus plantations from these locations on steep slopes, it is recommended to replace the plantations little by little to prevent massive soil erosion due to increased run-off on bare slopes.

A number of functions are assigned to the 36 Regional Autonomous Corporations (Corporaciones AutÛnomas Regionales):

• The execution of the environmental policies, plans and national programmes, defined by the law that approved the National Development Plan and the National Plan of Investments or by the Ministry of the Environment within the ambit of its jurisdiction.
• To promote and encourage community participation in environmental protection programmes, sustainable development and sound management of renewable natural resources.
• To give advice to the departments, districts and municipalities found within their territory in the drawing up of environmental development plans and environmental protection programmes and projects in such a manner that assures the harmony and coherence of the policies and actions adopted by the distinct territorial entities.
• To participate with other organisations in its jurisdiction in planning taking into consideration the environment in all the decisions that they take.
• To give advice to the territorial entities in the formulation of formal environmental education plans and in the execution of formal programmes of environmental education, which conform to national policies.
• To establish norms and directives for the management of hydrographic watersheds situated within the area of its jurisdiction, conforming to national policies.
• To bring forward in co-ordination with the indigenous community authorities and in lands traditionally inhabited by the black communities to which Law 70, 1993 refers, programmes and projects of sustainable development and management, use and conservation of natural resources and the environment.
• When a Regional Autonomous Corporation, has as its principal objective the defence and protection of the urban environment it will raise with the municipal or district administrations, programmes of adaptation of urban areas in zones of high risk, such as erosion control, management of watersheds and reforestation. In the same way it will administer, manage, operate and maintain the executed works or those that the municipalities or districts carry out.

(Instituto Geografico Augustin Codazzi, 1998).

The 1991 Constitution mentions the planning and management of natural resources. In some instances, the new 1991 constitution has to be tested in the courts. Law 99 of 1993 also mentions sustainable development. This law tends to be strong in some areas but poorly enforced.

Central government funding of the CRQ and all other departmental environmental protection agencies is very low. It is mainly funded by property taxes. The municipal authorities have the power to set and collect property tax that can vary between 1.5 and 2.5% of the value of the property. This is then passed on to the Regional Autonomous Corporations such as the CRQ.

The CRQ has a sub-director of natural resources, a secretary general of the corporation and a sub-director of environmental quality. It is the highest public entity charged with carrying out environmental policies and environmental administration within QuindÌo. It strives to embrace sustainable development in the region. Its area of jurisdiction takes in the twelve municipalities in QuindÌo.

The highest authority of the CRQ is the corporate assembly. The mayors of the 12 municipalities elect four from among themselves to sit on the corporate assembly. The governor of QuindÌo Department is the president of the executive council. The executive council elects the director general who can run for a second term. A representative of the president of the republic, a representative of the Ministry of the Environment, two representatives from an environmental NGO elected from amongst themselves, two representatives of the business associations and one representative from the indigenous communities also sit on the corporate assembly.

The NGO representatives in the Corporate Assembly are from La FundaciÛn Herencia Verde and FundaciÛn Verde Andina. The Indian representative is a member of the Emera ChamÌ people.

We had a meeting with the CRQ to discuss their policies on pine and eucalyptus plantations in QuindÌo. They maintained that they don't consider any plant exotic in nature and that pine and eucalyptus have adapted well to the Colombian environment. We consider that it is true that every plant has a natural range and so in this sense no plant is exotic. However using widely accepted definitions, pine and eucalyptus are exotic species in Colombia as they are being grown outside their natural range.

The CRQ can sanction groups for environmental violations by issuing fines. The person responsible is called to answer and then the corporation imposes a sanction, e.g. financial or they are asked to sow trees, normally native species. They can go further and issue penal proceedings. The violator of environmental laws can be fined 0-300 times the minimum salary. The fine depends on whether the violator had a previous conviction. The CRQ normally ask for damage to be repaired. In 1994-1995 there was a 500% increase in the number of environmental infractions. Out of 350-400 licences every year, 25-30 licensees commit infractions. For example a forestry company can be sanctioned for not leaving a margin not than 30 m on either side of permanent or temporary water bodies free of planted trees. This regulation has been the norm since 1986.

Many licences are given for the cultivation of guadua (Guadua angustifolia). Guadua is a type of bamboo which can reaches 25 m in height. It is considered to have a ‘thousand uses' ranging from stakes, waterpipes, housing, crafts and paper pulp. One of the problems with guadua is that its seeds have a low germination rate and so guadua is usually propagated asexually using sections of the stem, parts of its branches or rhizomes.

The CRQ only gives felling licences for dying trees. Three people assess licence applications while ten people are responsible for control and follow-up. The CRQ claims to monitor plantations from the time of planting right through to harvesting. Considering the size of QuindÌo, we consider the staffing levels at the CRQ inadequate to carry out its environmental protection role.

Since 1991, the CRQ has considered forestry plantations as a crop on an equal footing with agricultural and fishing. Under Decree 1753, 1994 an environmental licence is explicitly required. The licensing system has now been replaced by a register system. In order to register a plantation, a forestry company has to present to the registry a forest establishment and management plan. The forest establishment and management plan allows the CRQ or other Autonomous Regional Corporation to make a decision on whether to grant permission to establish a plantation. We asked to see some of these plans in order to evaluate their effectiveness in assessing the environmental impact of such plantations. The CRQ initially said that they would give us copies of some of the plans. These were however not sent. We had hoped to compare the content of such plans with what was expected in a typical environmental impact statement required for forestry developments in Europe under the European Union's Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment (EC EIA Directive 85/337/EEC).

The public can object to the establishment of a plantation. When a project is mooted, the town hall of the community in which the project is being carried out puts up a notice and also in the CRQ office informing the public of the project. The public has the right of petition and must reply within 10 days.

In studying the environmental impacts of pine and eucalyptus one must compare the pre-existing land-use before plantation establishment with the site after plantation establishment. For example one cannot compare soil erosion rates under native forest with those under forest plantations, if the site was previously under pasture.

The stage of plantation development and the end-use of the timber is also important in determining environmental impacts. Site preparation methods at the time of planting, the growth phase of the plantation (young, intermediate and mature stages) and harvesting activities can all determine what impacts the plantations have on soil, water and wildlife.

The species used is also important. For example, different species will allow varying amounts of light to reach the forest floor as a result of having different architectures manifested in varying amounts of spacing between the branches and the orientation of the needles or leaves in space. The different light regimes have an effect on forest understorey development. Pine and eucalyptus trees planted at wide spacings in agroforestry systems may have different impacts compared to closely spaced intensively managed monocultures of the same species.

Population growth has contributed to the invasion of colonists in some areas that ought to be protected, accelerating the processes of deforestation, expanding the agricultural frontier in the Colombian Andes and contributing to the deterioration of natural resources such as biodiversity. The major threats to biodiversity are considered to be cattle ranching, logging and cocoa growing which have caused extensive soil degradation and loss of habitat.

There is an urgent need to provide economic incentives to encourage sustainable forest management. According to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (http://www.wcmc.org.uk), the Western and Central Andes of Colombia and Ecuador are centres of restricted range birds and plant diversity and are therefore considered critical priority areas for conservation.

Currently, 17% of Colombia's territory lies within its protected area network (global average 5%; South American average 9.8%) with 6% being strictly protected, i.e. protected from any direct physical disturbance but national investment and staffing in protected areas are less than the global average

The number of species in the major plant and animal groups in Colombia are as follows [number of species unique to Colombia (endemic species) are given in brackets]: 260 mammals (29), 1721 birds (62), reptiles 585 (110), amphibians 591 (214), higher plants 5,0000 (1500).

Some threatened plants and animals are located in the general area where SCC has its plantations. The endangered endemic Grallaria alleni (Moustaced Antpitta) is a bird of the undergrowth of the Very Humid Montane Forest lifezone of Holdridge (1967). There are only two records of this species. The type specimen was recorded from the western slopes of the Central Andes above Salento, QuindÌo Department at 2,100 m.

Endangered endemic plants include the Andean wax palms Ceroxylon spp. including C. alpinum and C. mooreanum that are rarely found below 1800m and often growing above the limits of other arborescent vegetation.

Endangered birds include Ognorhynchus icterotis (Yellow-eared parrot) found in mountain forest and partially cleared terrain where there are wax palms (Ceroxylon andiculum) mostly between 2,000 and 3400m. It was formerly widely scattered in all three Andean ranges but was mainly found in the Central Andes. The most recent records date from the seventies (Hilty and Brown, 1986).

Colombia participates in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP), an international strategy for maximising the contribution of forestry sectors to national economic and social development while maintaining conservation principles. In 1989, the National Planning Department presented a Forest Action Plan which interpreted the global Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP) to suit Colombia's distinct biological characteristics and objectives. Seventy projects were set up to develop, protect and improve forested areas including four in protected areas.

Some of the plant and animal species found in the three Cordilleras that cross Colombia are found in all three cordilleras. However, each cordillera has a high number of unique species. Colombian native species support a wider range of species than exotic species because they have adapted themselves to these native species by evolutionary processes over millions of years. Many native species have not been evaluated for their potential use in agroforestry systems or in commercial plantations. Up to 1986, SCC had evaluated 110 native species and 99 exotic species for their growth characteristics. On the Coastal Pacific, native species were found to be superior to any exotic species tried. On the Atlantic Coast, Ceiba Roja (Bombacopsis quinata) produced wood of good quality in forestry plantations and has been used as one of the principal species in reforestation (Ladrach and Zobel, 1986).

Many native species have to be evaluated outside the plantation setting for their use in agroforestry systems. There is an urgent need to evaluate more native tree and shrub species suitable for the middle elevations of the Colombian Andes so as to diversify production away from the use of pine and eucalyptus.

The development of innovative forest processing technologies in the late seventies has enabled tropical hardwoods to be pulped in a single mixture to the detriment of species-rich temperate and tropical hardwoods. In addition, at least 15% of all tropical plantations world-wide have been established at the cost of natural closed forests (in Carrere & Lohmann, 1996). Native hardwoods have been or are due to be used as the raw material for pulp in Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Chile (Carrere & Lohmann, 1996).

The Colombian Ministry of the Environment puts deforestation rates at 15,0000 hectares per year with only 10,000 hectares replanted. SCC claim to protect the largest amount of natural forest in Colombia of any private landowner (18,000 hectares). However under Colombian environmental law enforced by the Regional Autonomous Corporations, these areas often have to be protected as a matter of course where forests form part of a watershed which supplies drinking water to urban populations.

In addition SCC claim that they would not clear native forest to establish plantations as it is too expensive to clear compared to the clearing of relatively cheap pastureland. This seems to imply that if native forest was not expensive to clear then they would clear it, thus calling into question whether SCC are protecting the native forest on their land as a result of a nature conservation ethic.

At a meeting in Salento with local communities, concern was expressed at the displacement of native vegetation in the past by pine and eucalyptus plantations.

Campesino: ‘Most of the land was pasture but they encroached into native forest. We are worried about the fact that Carton de Colombia (prior to its acquisition by Jefferson Smurfit) finished off the native forests in Cauca Department in the area of Sierra Blanca where they chopped down the native forests for pulp.

Campesino: ‘In among the plantations are native trees in danger of extinction. When it comes to blanket cutting the plantations, the native trees are cut as well and thus the plantations encroach even further into the native forest'. In this way the changes are very subtle and not noticeable. The areas of native vegetation cut vary from 1,000 m≤ to individual trees. Native vegetation beside the plantation is also lost in this way. When roads are opened, they drive them through native vegetation namely mature native secondary forest'.

We examined a site in QuindÌo at 2,000 m that had four-year-old E. grandis that was being managed as a coppice. The system involves allowing the growth of sprouts from the cut tree stump. After two months, the sprouts are reduced to between two and three stems and then after a further 6-8 months, the best stem is selected to grow on into a full-sized tree after a further 6-8 months. It is not known however how many rotations of Eucalyptus grandis one can obtain under this system before the coppice system starts to decline.

Stumps of native species were observed in amongst the stumps of the eucalyptus at the coppice site. Isolated trees were observed in the pasture in the hills surrounding the plantation. In this instance, it is hard to determine whether the trees observed in the plantation were present in the pasture before the eucalyptus was planted or whether it formed part of a natural forest on the same site that had been cleared by SCC.

We were shown around Sonora Farm, QuindÌo Department. The land comprising Sonora Farm, QuindÌo in the Cordillera Central was originally pasture land which was brought by the Colombian company Bavaria who sold the land to SCC in 1986. Pinus patula and P. tecumani were planted on this farm. The average distance between the trees was 2.8m planted at a density of 1275 trees per hectare.

There was a 20-hectare area of native vegetation beside the river consisting of members of such plant families as Bromeliaceae, Melastomataceae, Guttiferae and Cyclanthaceae. SCC claim that this native vegetation is spreading into the plantation area so as to demonstrate how SCC is protecting native vegetation. But even if this is true, when the trees are harvested, then this regrowth will be adversely affected by the logging operations. However one could equally argue that the trees have been planted within the native vegetation. In addition, one could argue that native vegetation must be retained as a matter of course under regulations regarding planting near watercourses administered by the Regional Autonomous Corporation of QuindÌo.

In the vicinity of Vereda El Castillo, Municipality of Calarc·, members of the Association of Graduates of the University of QuindÌo (Asociacion de Egresados en Biologia de la Universidad del QuindÌo) together with internationally respected botanist Cristina Velez, found the remains of native vegetation throughout which eucalyptus had been planted by Reforestadora Andina (subsidiary of SCC).

The fallen trunks and shoots of several plant species (see Appendix) of native forest were noted by the graduate students including Heliocarpus, Weinmannia, Cecropia, Quercus humboldti as well as a number of epiphytic orchids and bromeliads (Graduate Students of the University of QuindÌo, November 1993).

Heliocarpus popayanensis is a species that develops well in humid soils along the banks of rivers or water sources. Weinmannia pubescens grows between 1,600-2,800 m with average temperatures of 12-18∞C and a precipitation of 1,200-2,000 mm. It is a species that protects the banks of rivers and streams against erosion. Its wood is utilised for the manufacture of , beams, columns and posts. The bark produces tannins with which one can tan leather a reddish colour.

Quercus humboldtii grows between 1,600-2,300 m, with average temperatures of 14-18∞C and precipitation of 1,000-2,000mm. It develops well in well-drained sandy acid soils. It produces a fine, hard and heavy wood used for cabinets, fence posts and also for firewood. Like

Weinmannia pubescens, it stabilises riverbanks thus preventing soil erosion. Its bark provides tannin for dyeing hides (Tokura et. al., 1996).

Species of Cecropia are typical of forest light gaps. They are pioneer species that cover light gaps in forest and abandoned pastures playing a vital role in protecting the banks of streams and rivers. Cecropia fruits and seeds are eaten by birds and mammals (Tokura et. al., 1996). Cecropias are found from sea level up to the sub-p·ramos in dry and humid areas. The respected Colombian botanist Cristina Velez confirmed that many of these plants are components of primary forest. After environmentalists accused SCC of the destruction of native vegetation, SCC sued for libel on two separate occasions but the company lost their case twice.

Commercial forestry plantations have often been accused of being essentially sterile environments for wildlife for a number of reasons:

• There is often a lack of over-mature trees with hollows, standing dead trees and decomposing fallen trees. These are important for bat roosts, hole-nesting birds, fungi and specialist invertebrates of the dead wood habitat which in turn provide food for other animals.
• The number and abundance of epiphytes and climbing plants tends to diminish under plantations.
• The lack of trees of different heights to diversify forest structure within the plantation, e.g. birds such as some species of parrot prefer the canopy trees, others such as some tanagers like the under-storey layers while others, e.g. the antpittas feed on the ground. Birds essentially are more dependent on vegetation structure than on species composition.

In general, the species that colonise forest plantations are often widespread pioneer species. The plantations tend to lack the rare species with specialist requirements. In any case, the few species that do manage to adapt to plantations are often disturbed at the time of harvest. Any plants which have managed to colonise the plantation from transported seed or from the seed bank in the soil may not survive or at least may be disturbed as a result of the changed light regime in the clear-cut or due to soil disturbance by horses. Horses and wheeled vehicles may spread exotic invasive plants that outcompete the native flora into the plantation. The preparation of the ground prior to planting can limit the frequency of plants that can survive on the plantation site. The progressive reduction of species with increasing tree growth could be due to light reduction, competition between the trees and the native plants for soil nutrients, allelopathic effects and accumulation of needles that impede the germination of seeds.

In general, the more simplified the forest ecosystem becomes the less biodiversity will be present. The different growth phases of a plantation and how they are managed will favour or disfavour different species of flora and fauna. Species of bird that prefer open habitats disappear as the plantation develops. However, as plantations grow the community of birds changes.

The existence of relicts of natural forest will result in many animals visiting the adjoining plantations but nevertheless they may not permanently reside there if their needs for nestsites, food, shelter and water are not met.

On sites that we visited in the second week of the visit, a very impoverished flora under pine (Pinus patula) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus grandis) owned by Agroforestal Naya at La Paila, Cauca Department (1900 m altitude) was observed. Agroforestal Naya brought 1600 hectares at La Paila spread over three farms from SCC in 1991 and an additional 115 hectares from neighbouring landowners. Some of this land is the subject of a dispute with the Paez Indians. Agroforestal Naya have 950 hectares are natural forest, 200 hectares are commercial plantations for harvesting, 500 hectares of young commercial plantations which they have planted and 150 hectares have been set aside for crops and roads. Although Agroforestal Naya own the land, Pulpapel (subsidiary of SCC) owns the pine subject to the terms and conditions of the joint venture agreement between SCC and Agroforestal Naya.

Under the 3-year-old eucalyptus at La Paila owned by Agroforestal Naya, we observed a sparse vegetation cover consisting of the widespread fern Pteridium aquilinum and plants with the common names Chilca and Salvia. The sparse vegetation is a result of herbicides that according to the Paez Indians are applied every 6 months, although the Paez claimed that herbicide was not applied in 1997.

Weeding during any stage of plantation development can reduce the biodiversity that can manage to survive within the plantation. SCC claim to only spray some weeds. However on some sites a scorched earth policy is practised mainly on flatter sites. This policy essentially eliminates the majority of plants that have colonised the soil whether they are the grassland species of degraded pastures or plants that have colonised a plantation prior to harvesting. However the control of weeds does not always mean a decrease in biodiversity, e.g. if the controlled weeds are dominant, their reduction can result in an increase in biodiversity.

We also visited a 4-year-old stand of Pinus patula at La Paila. At this site the lower branches had been pruned to help tree growth. The branches were left on the ground to decompose to add nutrients to the soil and reduce soil erosion. However no plants except a few fungi were observed under this plantation probably due to the exclusion of light from the soil surface by the blanketing effect of the large pruned branches.

We visited one plantation that was being managed for timber production. In such an instance, pioneer species would have been given a relatively long time to colonise occupying light gaps formed by natural tree fall. An example of this was seen when we were brought to a very mature Cupressus lusitanica (Cedar of Goa) plantation that had a good under-storey cover.

These plantations cannot be considered representative of the majority of SCC plantations grown for pulpwood which are harvested after 7 years in the case of Eucalyptus grandis and after 15 years in the case of Pinus patula.

At Guatemala Farm, we saw eight-year-old Pinus maximoi with nothing growing under the trees as a result of canopy closure taking place after three or four years. At this farm, forty percent of the trees were due to be removed in 1999 and after 15-17 years, the pines will be harvested. The thinning operation at Guatemala Farm this year will allow more light to reach the forest floor and thus one might expect some plants to colonise under the increased light conditions although these are likely to be widespread common species.

At Cuc