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forest defenders
What We Can Learn From Trees
They are our ancestral model for cooperative, non-violent, and sustainable communities.
Feb 03, 2024
As I began this piece on trees in forests, woods, and parks, a friend asked, why in January in New England? Why didn’t I wait until the deciduous trees were a palette of new spring green crowning the stark brown trunks and branches of winter? The next day, January 7, nature provided the answer: a 10-inch snowstorm. Trees after a winter snowstorm—their upstretched dark deciduous branches shouldered with snow and their downreaching evergreen branches pillowed with snow—are a feast for the eyes.
“A forest is a sacred place... The medicines available in the forest are the second most valuable gift that nature offers us; the oxygen available there is the first.” These are the words Diana Beresford Kroeger, Irish-born and educated in the ancient Celtic culture of spiritual and physical respect for trees. This brilliant botanist went on to receive advanced degrees, culminating in a doctorate in medical biochemistry. She affirmed that simply walking in a pine forest is a balm for the body and soul, elevating our mood, thanks to their chemical gift of pinenes, aerosols released by pine trees and absorbed by our bodies.
Korean scientists confirmed that walking through forest areas improved older women’s blood pressure, lung capacity, and elasticity in their arteries. Walking in an urban park with trees, or an arboretum, or a rural forest reduces blood pressure, improves cardiac-pulmonary parameters, bolsters mental health, reduces negative thoughts, lifts people’s moods, and restores our brain’s ability to focus—all findings of recent studies. Park RX America (PRA), a nonprofit founded in 2017 by the public health pediatrician Dr. Robert Zarr, has established a large network of healthcare professionals who use nature prescriptions as part of their healthcare treatment for patients. A sample prescription: “Walk along a trail near a pond or in a park with a friend, without earbuds, for half an hour, twice a week.”
Without trees, we could not survive, whereas they have and could live without us.
The healing potential of nature even stretches to those hospitalized. Patients recovering from surgery heal more quickly and need fewer pain killers if they have a hospital room with a window that looks out onto nature. Similarly, studies of students in classrooms with a view of nature have found that they both enjoyed learning and learned more than students without a view of nature.
Suzanne Simard worked for Canada’s minister of forests doing research on the most efficient ways to re-grow forests that had been clear-cut by the logging industry. Loving forests since a child growing up in rural British Columbia, she grasped immediately that clear-cutting whole areas of a forest and applying herbicide to kill any competitor plant or tree before replanting monoculture tree seedlings was a “war on the forest.” In testing her insight, she found that clear-cutting and planting single species seedling trees made no difference to speeding up the growth of the desired tree plantation and in some cases, reduced tree survival in the monoculture wood lots.
In pursuing a doctorate and subsequent years of research, Simard documented that biodiverse forests are the healthiest of forests, with trees communicating with other trees of their own species and other species by an underground fungal network linking their roots with each other. Through this network, known as the wood wide web, trees provide chemical food and medicine to keep each other as healthy as possible. Her work has shown that “the fungal networks between roots of diverse trees carry the same chemicals as neurotransmitters in our brain,” strongly suggesting, she says, that trees have intelligence. She has learned from Indigenous people that “they view trees as their people, just as they view the wolves and the bears and the salmon as their relations.” We need that back, she asserts.
Trees teach us lessons of community and cooperation through all the seasons, writes German forester Peter Wohlleben in The Hidden Life of Trees. He deems forests as “superorganisms,” sharing food with their own species and even nourishing their competitors. Together they create an ecosystem that enables them to live much longer as a community than a single living tree alone, a life lesson for us humans. Moreover, “sick trees are supported by healthy ones nearby… until they recover; and even a dead trunk is indispensable for the cycle of lifesaving as a cradle for its young.”
Trees are essential for life on Earth; the older they are, the more essential they are. They remove carbon dioxide from the air, store carbon in their tissue and soil, give back oxygen into the atmosphere and slow global temperature increases. They offer cooling shade in hardscape urban neighborhoods, buffer cold winter winds, attract birds and wildlife, purify our air, prevent soil erosion during rainstorms, and filter rainwater falling through their soil.
Without trees, we could not survive, whereas they have and could live without us. Older than we so-called homo sapiens (“wise men”) by a thousand times, they are wiser than many humans: They do not wage war with each other nor destroy their own habitat. They know not genocide nor ecocide. They are our ancestral model for cooperative, non-violent, and sustainable communities.
I write this to honor and thank the multitude of forest protectors across our country and those working to restore nature to their towns and cities.
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Stop Marginalizing Indigenous Knowledge in Climate Negotiations
Indigenous Peoples are living the change that all recent scientific reports call for; this provides a baseline for policymakers and governments at COP28.
Dec 09, 2023
The unimaginable is becoming reality. The Aral Sea, with its historically thriving shipping and fisheries, has dried and is now the Aralkum Desert. In the Amazon, an unprecedented drought left the basin’s largest rivers almost completely dry, impacting hundreds of communities without means of navigation, food, or drinkable water. In 2023, wildfires in Canada burned an area larger than Greece and more than double the 1989 record year in Canada. These forests have never before burned like this in thousands of years of existence, since mile-high ice sheets receded at the close of the Pleistocene.
In this year of catastrophic drought and fire, more than 160 countries are attending the United Nations’ annual climate summit in Dubai. And this gathering comes at another historic inflection point. Just weeks ago, global average temperature passed a critical threshold exceeding 2°C hotter than preindustrial levels—an ominous signal of a changing climate.
Yet solutions are no further than big forests and other thriving natural systems that miraculously persist around our human footprint. Overwhelming evidence points to forests as essential to a livable planet. We cannot waiver in our commitment to forests. Forests are more than a landscape accessory; they capture carbon, shield us from environmental disasters, and sustain irreplaceable elements of humanity’s collective wisdom and sense of wonder.
We urge global leaders to acknowledge that discussions about the future of forests are inseparable from Indigenous Peoples.
In no small way, all big forests are home to Indigenous Peoples. By no accident, 40% of the world’s most intact ecological systems, including over one-third of the best remaining large-scale forests on Earth, or intact forest landscapes, are on lands managed and loved by Indigenous Peoples in relationship with plants and animals of their territories for millennia. In contrast to the concept of untrammeled wilderness, many of the most life-sustaining ecosystems on Earth are, in part, engineered and designed across generations by Indigenous Peoples.
Evidence supports Indigenous Peoples’ effective forest management. Research by the World Resources Institute in January 2023 underscores this reality. Between 2001 and 2021, forests under Indigenous stewardship in the Amazon acted as carbon sinks, removing the equivalent of the U.K.’s annual fossil fuel emissions. Why? The time-honed practices of Indigenous Peoples are simple in their framing and profound in their impact. For instance, in western Canada, shifting government policies that maximized the sustainable “take” of a given resource, to Indigenous practices of setting minimum thresholds for how much of a given resource to “leave” behind for a system to thrive, has resulted in abundant forests and fisheries that are setting global standards.
Worldwide, ecosystems are thriving through management by Indigenous Peoples. The practices of Indigenous Peoples result in the lowest deforestation rates in the Amazon. The boreal region in Canada is the largest remaining intact forest on the planet and holds about 12% of the world’s land-based carbon reserves. Scores of Indigenous nations are creating Indigenous Protected Areas, and together, they stand to protect well over 500,000 square kilometers. In northern Manitoba, four Indigenous nations have proposed protecting 50,000 square kilometers of the Seal River Watershed, which holds 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon—equivalent to eight years’ worth of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Unfortunately, the knowledge systems that underpin Indigenous practices are routinely marginalized in climate negotiations. This is a perilous omission. Indigenous Peoples recognize that people and the land are interdependent: “If we take care of the land, the land takes care of us.” Indigenous Peoples are living the change that all recent scientific reports call for. This provides a baseline for policymakers and governments at COP28.
We urge global leaders to acknowledge that discussions about the future of forests are inseparable from Indigenous Peoples. As the global community gathers in Dubai, we must continue foregrounding forests as an essential climate solution. Furthermore, decision-makers must commit to a simple step in our policymaking—provide Indigenous Peoples and their governments, including forest guardians, with the respect and direct financial resources they need to continue to sustain their homelands and waters. Establishing a fund to compensate nations most impacted by Climate Change for “loss and damage” is a step. Indigenous Peoples’ care for their homelands and waters in all regions of the Earth must be eligible for this funding, and, more generally, for the highest levels of financing that global leaders at COP28 commit to.
Time’s running out. A vibrant future for humanity is rooted in the wisdom of those who have cared for forests for millennia and still live within them today. In fully respecting and resourcing Indigenous Peoples’ care for their territories, we chart toward a future where our relationship with the Earth is abundant, and our collective cultural and social futures can be rich in thriving forests and a livable climate.
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How to Convince a Village to Destroy Their Future in 8 Steps
if you are an unethical multinational mining corporation, read here's a handy guide to dividing communities, sparking conflict, and creating the exact amount of chaos necessary for your project to proceed.
Jul 09, 2023
Multinational mining companies all over the world use similar strategies to convince communities to agree to their destructive extractive projects. Want to know their secrets?
We're diving into the mining conflict currently occurring in the village of Falan, Colombia, where multinationals including AngloGold Ashanti are preparing the village for the mines they want to open there. The mining projects will have a devastating impact on the environment, access to potable water, agriculture in the region, and the current and future potential of tourism.
So you can imagine, it's a hard sell for the families living in the region. Like thousands of other communities in the world, the inhabitants of Falan are resisting the upcoming extractive projects in their region, protesting to preserve their right to clean water and a healthy living environment.
Since no informed person would like an open pit mine close to their home and it's totally rightful for them to resist, it's not always easy for multinationals to expand their businesses in other countries. But if you too are an unethical multinational mining corporation looking to devastate a local community and the surrounding natural area and propel the climate crisis and social injustice, look no further.
Read the eight steps below for a handy guide to dividing communities, sparking conflict, and creating the exact amount of chaos necessary for your project to proceed.
Step 1. Think About a Suitable Name for Your Destructive Project
For obvious reasons, your company might have a bad reputation in the region you're tearing up. Here's a quick fix: Just create a subcompany with a different name! Yes, it is that easy.
Anglogold Ashanti is using this strategy all over Colombia, where a lot of communities resist the company coming to their neighborhood because of its reputation in other regions. Rather than waste time speculating on what that bad reputation might say about their business, they create subcompanies, with ambiguous legal ties, to start with the exploration phase in a certain region.
Take the case of Falan. In Falan a company named Miranda Gold is currently exploring the region, making holes 200 meters deep in the earth to check which mountains are ideal for gold extraction. Closer research strongly suggests that the company has ties with (and may get their funding from) AngloGold Ashanti.
With the proper branding, people can drink any poison.
The name game doesn't end there. Each mine has a name. To properly hide the horrifying impact it's having, use a name that has a certain historical, cultural, or environmental value for the communities that will be affected. With the proper branding, people can drink any poison.
What always works is just using the name of the mountain, the lake, or waterfall that will be 'replaced' by your destructive project. Like the La Colosa mining project in Cajamarca named after the La Colosa waterfall. So, you don't have to be original. Cultural appropriation at its finest.
For another good practice in this field we can go back to Falan. The village is rightfully very proud of their natural reserve called Ciudad Perdida, or Lost City, in English, that—next to hectares of beautiful nature and waterfalls—also houses the ruins of two mining villages from the 16th century. It's a very unique ecotourism attraction that's famous in the wider region.
Along comes another company performing exploration for extraction in the village (and that now has formed an alliance with Miranda Gold). In a clear nod to continuing a legacy of devastation, the company chose the name Lost Cities SAS to obtain licences to start exploring for valuable minerals in the area. Job well done.
Step 2. Get the Local Government on Your Side
It's important to have local authorities on your side. They have a lot of power and influence and can bend local procedures to your advantage and pave the way for you. So don't be afraid of corruption and paying off politicians in charge.
How to do this? First, understand how federal governments work. The appeal of a multinational lies in neoliberalism. This means countries are viewed as 'poor and underdeveloped' or 'rich and developed' in terms of resource consumption. Bringing multinationals from 'rich' countries to 'poor' ones, federal governments hope, will bring in profit through taxes.
Then, pay off the local politicians to agree and hand out licenses, but also to actively fight opponents of the projects with threats (see step 7). Play into the downfall of democracy: Limited political terms mean the same politicians agreeing to the projects are not the ones that will have to deal with the situation of water scarcity, contamination, and poverty created by the mining projects in a certain amount of time.
Important point: Make sure there's no paper trail or legal basis holding you responsible for the impact of your project on the environment or human rights.
Step 3. Lobby as Much as Possible to Bend the Law in Your Favor
Sometimes your destructive mining project might find itself facing pesky 'legislation' to defend the rights of communities to make decisions about their lands, or to protect the environment, or some such thing.
As someone interested in none of those things, now is the moment to form alliances with other multinationals. Take those funds—around the amount that would restore a significant area of the rainforest—and pour it into government lobbying to create legal loopholes for corporations. Behind closed doors, of course—wouldn't want the public to know about this.
Take Colombia for example. In Colombia communities had the constitutional right to organise referendums and make decisions about their lands. Because of that law and lots of communities standing up for their rights, several mining projects were prevented from happening.
Remember: Good corporate lobbying doesn't rely on logic or science.
But thanks to a strong mining lobby, in 2018 the (unconstitutional) decision came that these referenda can't be organised anymore for mining projects. Because that's a matter of national interest that transcends the stakes and interests of a local community. There have to be some sacrifice zones for others to live a wealthy lifestyle. Remember: Good corporate lobbying doesn't rely on logic or science.
Also locally there are often regulations and procedures that you have to take into account for the completion of your project and, if needed, bend to your advantage. In Colombia for example every municipality has a POT (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial) in which they decide for a certain amount of years what their land can be used for. The POT of Falan for example only allows agriculture and tourism. But luckily AngloGold has friends within the city hall (see step 2), and they are currently working on revising the plan for mining to be added as a way of using the land.
Step 4. Presents! Buy Off Public Opinion
Presents. Always. Work. Especially in areas where the access to information about the impact of mining is limited, so these are the areas that are often easier to win over.
Remember to only give gifts that also benefit you, like promises to build better roads (that your company will need to transport the metals and minerals). Those are a win-win for everyone. When in doubt, just hand out money.
The saying goes 'there's no such thing as bad publicity,' so make sure your company and project name gets spread as much as possible. Children are our future leaders, don't forget about them. They are also an easy means to, through their school, reach whole families.
Miranda Gold (or should we say AngloGold? It's hard to tell the difference) is a champion in handing out gifts. In Falan there's records of farmers getting machetes, food, and money. The company even created a special game for the children in Falan on the day of Halloween, through which they could win tablets! They handed out toys with their company logo to children through the local school. A great way to get some extra publicity. Who says love can't be bought?
Step 5. Create Chaos and Conflict; Divide the Community in Two Camps
So you gave out gifts, but probably didn't win over everyone, right? Don't worry. There's other strategies that you can apply too. This is where the next step comes in: divide and conquer. Make sure there's conflict between the groups in the communities. Feed that conflict. Use your imagination.
In Falan, Miranda Gold fired 100 employees at the same time. All of them, coincidentally, were residents of the municipality, and this happened, coincidentally, at a moment where protests against the mining project were heating up. This is a good way of showing families how dependent on the mining project lots of them are, and to feed resentment against those protestors portrayed as the cause of the dismissals. And if there are too many activists against the project, well, take a look at step number 7.
Step 6. Prepare the Local Community Well for a Lack of Access to Potable Water in the Future
The impact of big scale mining on the water resources in the wider region is tremendous: Water scarcity due to the huge demand of the extraction process, dried out lakes and rivers, contamination of rivers and ground water with heavy metals and toxic substances...
But of course, having access to sufficient and clean water is important for health, for agriculture, and for life in general. Local communities can't drink gold. So if you're planning to deprive a community of clean water, the trick is to prepare them ahead of time and disguise the link to the extractivist mining. This is a good moment to suddenly feign interest in climate change and shift responsibility there.
Local communities can't drink gold.
That's exactly what happened in Falan. Recently, different regions have experienced a lack of water for up to five or six days at a time. The local government attributed the scarcity to climate change. Which is weird, because it rains almost every day there, and a lot.
Also weird is that the companies that are exploring in the region (and they need a lot of water for that) continue to have water for their operations; they don't experience the same inconveniences as the inhabitants.
Step 7. Threats Are Effective Deterrents
Struggling with these do-gooder environmentalists fighting your development project? Why listen when actions speak louder than words?
Threaten them. Go by their houses, let them know you know where they live. 'Reason' with them. Preferably accompanied by a large group of intimidating-looking men. Focus on the leaders of the struggle. Scaring people works. Especially in Colombia, since it's one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders. Last year 186 were killed, which is almost half of the global total registered number.
In Falan, people received intimidating visits from workers of the mining company and even death threats. For that last one the pro-mining local government even sent the police (and true to the previous steps, despite the clear benefit this brings to Miranda Gold, the lack of paper trail makes it impossible to prove a connection).
Step 8. Having Wreaked Havoc, Now Frame It as a Successful Story of 'Growth'
Effective communication to portray yourself as a hero means a lot of empty keywords. Describe your project in terms of 'growth' and 'development.' Because who doesn't want growth and development? Those words mean prosperity, welfare, and jobs—right? Just don't mention anything about the disastrous effects of unchecked growth for both people and the planet. And obviously no need to mention that the prosperity and income from said corporate growth aren't meant for the local community or those poorer countries. Regardless of how it is shared, communicate that obviously a bigger cake is always desirable. Certainly omit to mention that you got out of paying most of the taxes required of multinationals. And avoid putting emphasis on the fact that the jobs are short term, while the environmental damage is forever.
Now It's Up to You
With these steps for success, you will push through your big scale destructive mining project in no time. Let us know if there's other tactics we should add to the list!
Changed Your Mind About Wanting an Extractivist Mining Project? Join Us in the Struggle to End Them!
Corruption, abuse of power, threats, Trojan horses, what is happening in Falan is also happening all over the world.
But resistance is strong. Communities are resisting and fighting for a better world for themselves, their children, and for future generations. The inhabitants of Falan are ready to take action and have alternative plans for the future of their village.
Follow Colectivo Ambiental Falan y Frias and Catapa (website/instagram/facebook) to keep up to date on the situation in Falan and other struggles against mining multinationals. You can also join the Catapista volunteer movement and take an active role in striving towards a society within the boundaries of both people and planet, towards a world in which mining is no longer necessary.
There is also a new campaign launched by the Network of Persons Affected By AngloGold to denounce and unmask the unethical and violent behavior of the multinational and demand that they leave Colombian territory. In a web series called Historias Quebradas, they unveil the malpractices and secrets of AngloGold Ashanti in Colombia. Check out their website and discover how you can support them.
This article is the result of a research project conducted by volunteers from CATAPA's study and lobby working group in collaboration with Colectivo Ambiental Falan y Frias.
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