Expert: Nordic Forest Companies Violate Rights of Brazilians

[Judi Lynn]

Expert: Nordic Forest Companies Violate Rights of Brazilians
published today 02:56 PM

Finnish development studies expert Markus Kröger says that Brazil’s federal government has forgotten the needs of local residents in connection with industrialisation projects. Kröger, who has defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki on Saturday, says that Nordic forest industry companies have also violated the rights of local residents while expanding their wood plantations.

Kröger emphasises that the negative impact of the activities of Nordic companies are not very great in comparison with other companies.

Markus Kröger has focused on the Veracell pulp mill in the northeastern province of Bahia. The mill is largely owned by the Nordic pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso.

The company also owns about 80,000 hectares of forest land, and it also has access to about 100,000 hectares of publicly-owned land. The greatest problems are linked specifically with public land, which local residents also want to use for agriculture.

Kröger says that Brazil’s land registry practice is unreliable, and the use of forged documents is common. Consequently, indigenous tribes have often had to give up land which they have been allowed to use by virtue of tradition

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/03/expert_nordic_forest_companies_violate_rights_of_brazilians_1565504.html?origin=rss

[protocol rv]

1. Why use the term "nordic"?

Stora Enso is a Finnish company. If the problem is related to a Finnish company, the article ought to say so. Using the term "Nordic" implies nations "from the North", which of course is misleading. :-)