21 June 2001 Edition
Smurfits in Colombia: Vandals or environmentalists?
BY SOLEDAD GALIANA
The presence of Colombian campaigner Nestor Ocampo at the Jefferson Smurfit Group's Annual General Meeting at the beginning of May highlighted the impact of globalisation and multinational companies on the livelihoods of communities in developing countries. This was not the first time the complaints of those affected by the Smurfit Group's activities in Colombia have been heard in Ireland. Three years ago, two representatives of the Paez Indigenous communities travelled to Dublin to inform people about a land dispute with Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia (SCC).
Although his presence at the Smurfit AGM was a good publicity coup, Ocampo was disappointed with the reception he received from the company's shareholders. ``In their case, I do not think we can put everything down to ignorance,'' he said. ``This is a planetary illness. We have got used to thinking in very simple ways. People think about benefits and share prices... and Colombia is so far away! What I saw at the AGM were some silly and indifferent smiles. Some do not understand the problem itself and others do not want to understand it because it involves their economic interests.
``At the end of the meeting, two old ladies approached me and wanted to give me £20 and £5 towards my travel expenses. Very charitable! But they should realise that when they have a coffee in the morning, coffee that they have bought with the money produced by their shares in the company, their clothes are splattered with Colombian workers' blood and sweat... I think they do not know this and they do not want to know.''
Ocampo says that some of the specific problems caused by Smurfits' pine and eucalyptus plantations in his hime province of Quindío involve the displacement of peasants from their rural communities to the shanty towns around the cities. ``When the forestry company arrives, it buys the land from the peasants, who then leave the area, happy because they have a few pesos in their pockets, and go to live in the cities. There, they find there is no place for them, as their traditional knowledge is not of any use any more - they cannot teach their sons and daughters to milk a cow, as there are no cows, or of the healing uses of mint, because there is no mint around.
``The role of the peasants on the plantation is taken by an administrator, who knows about square metres of wood, administration, etc. but who does not love the land and does not know its culture.''
Colombia is rich in biological and environmental diversity, but the continuous increase of the land used for forestry reduces the native jungle, affecting the rainforest and the biological specimens that live in it. ``The plantations extend as a cancer on the Cordillera, creating a green desert,'' says Ocampo.
He adds that traditional economic structures in the communities are suffering as a consequence of the pine and eucalyptus plantations, as they occupy land that was previously used to produce staple food for the rural population. The plantations also have an impact on the water volume of the rivers and on the structure and chemical composition of the soil, which suffers acidification.
Victor Giraldo, vice-president of Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia (SCC), does not agree with the arguments of the environmentalists. Giraldo explains: ``Colombia is a big country. There are around 140,000 hectares of pine and eucalyptus plantations, which make up 1% of the total land. This is a minimal percentage. We think Colombia needs to plant many more trees because this is the only way to protect the native forest, as plantations produce the wood that otherwise people would take from the native forests. Colombia still has 50 million hectares of natural forests. SCC, apart from the 38,000 hectares dedicated to pine and eucalyptus plantations, has also around 18,000 hectares of native forest which are protected.''
The Smurfit Group opened its Colombian operation in 1944, producing paper, cardboard and related products. In the year 2000, the company produced around 237,000 tons of paper in Colombia, worth $200 million.
SCC's main factory is in Cali, 400 km Southeast of Bogotá. There are also factories in Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla. Smurfit's pine and eucalyptus plantations grow around Cali. The plantations occupied an area of 38,000 hectares on the land in 32 municipalities and spreading over the Departments of Cauca, Valle, Risaralda, Quindío, Caldas and Tolima.
Giraldo insists that the environmentalists' complaints are excessive, as the impact of the pine and eucalyptus plantations would not be very different from the impact caused by coffee, orange trees, olive trees, sugar cane, corn, etc.
``Nowadays we know the impact of the plantations is very positive,'' he says. ``For example, the company responsible for the waterworks of some Colombian cities, like Medellín, covered the land around the rivers and reservoirs with conifer trees and eucalyptus, because these protect the soil and also their wood can be sold to pay for the waterworks costs.''
Ocampo disagrees. ``I live in an area called Carlacá. The water sources for the area are the rivers and springs that come down from the Cordillera Central mountains, and this is part of an area that Smurfit Cartón de Colombia has purchased lately. One of the main sources of water is la Quebrada el Salado. In the last 17 years, the water volume of that river has reduced from 200 litres per minute to 50 litres per minute. And the only change in this area for the last 17 years has been the arrival of SCC.''
Giraldo claims the arrival of Smurfits in the Quindío Department has improved the situation of the communities in the areas, through the creation of four Forestry and Agricultural Techniques Institutes (ITAFs), designed to offer opportunities for study, develop forestry, animal farming and agriculture. Nestor Ocampo dismisses such initiatives as charity. ``They built a small school here, another in some other place... and they gave away some cardboard to those who lost their homes during the earthquake that flattened Quindío two years ago. But in the company inner circles they call it ``political investments''.
Ocampo points out that there is a big difference between a jungle and a tree plantation. ``Farmers and peasants know the difference, because when the jungle is gone to make room for the plantation, those animals they used to hunt, the healing plants and the plants used for crafts, are also gone. The rivers change and when the rain season arrives there is flooding and when the dry season comes there is no water. Peasants know the consequences.''
Nestor Ocampo blames the lack of legislative protection in Colombia for the excesses of the multinationals. ``Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia does follow the rules imposed by the environmental institutions,'' he says, ``but this is a legislation that meets the multinational needs.''
``In Colombia, multinationals and government share many economic interests... The Colombian government does not represent the interests of the Colombian people, but those of a very small minority who ally with the multinationals. It is the power of multinationals that keep the government going in a country like Colombia. Our work is to monitor the activities of Smurfit's in Colombia and to keep denouncing its activities at local, national and international levels.''
The presence of Colombian campaigner Nestor Ocampo at the Jefferson Smurfit Group's Annual General Meeting at the beginning of May highlighted the impact of globalisation and multinational companies on the livelihoods of communities in developing countries. This was not the first time the complaints of those affected by the Smurfit Group's activities in Colombia have been heard in Ireland. Three years ago, two representatives of the Paez Indigenous communities travelled to Dublin to inform people about a land dispute with Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia (SCC).
Although his presence at the Smurfit AGM was a good publicity coup, Ocampo was disappointed with the reception he received from the company's shareholders. ``In their case, I do not think we can put everything down to ignorance,'' he said. ``This is a planetary illness. We have got used to thinking in very simple ways. People think about benefits and share prices... and Colombia is so far away! What I saw at the AGM were some silly and indifferent smiles. Some do not understand the problem itself and others do not want to understand it because it involves their economic interests.
``At the end of the meeting, two old ladies approached me and wanted to give me £20 and £5 towards my travel expenses. Very charitable! But they should realise that when they have a coffee in the morning, coffee that they have bought with the money produced by their shares in the company, their clothes are splattered with Colombian workers' blood and sweat... I think they do not know this and they do not want to know.''
Ocampo says that some of the specific problems caused by Smurfits' pine and eucalyptus plantations in his hime province of Quindío involve the displacement of peasants from their rural communities to the shanty towns around the cities. ``When the forestry company arrives, it buys the land from the peasants, who then leave the area, happy because they have a few pesos in their pockets, and go to live in the cities. There, they find there is no place for them, as their traditional knowledge is not of any use any more - they cannot teach their sons and daughters to milk a cow, as there are no cows, or of the healing uses of mint, because there is no mint around.
``The role of the peasants on the plantation is taken by an administrator, who knows about square metres of wood, administration, etc. but who does not love the land and does not know its culture.''
Colombia is rich in biological and environmental diversity, but the continuous increase of the land used for forestry reduces the native jungle, affecting the rainforest and the biological specimens that live in it. ``The plantations extend as a cancer on the Cordillera, creating a green desert,'' says Ocampo.
He adds that traditional economic structures in the communities are suffering as a consequence of the pine and eucalyptus plantations, as they occupy land that was previously used to produce staple food for the rural population. The plantations also have an impact on the water volume of the rivers and on the structure and chemical composition of the soil, which suffers acidification.
Victor Giraldo, vice-president of Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia (SCC), does not agree with the arguments of the environmentalists. Giraldo explains: ``Colombia is a big country. There are around 140,000 hectares of pine and eucalyptus plantations, which make up 1% of the total land. This is a minimal percentage. We think Colombia needs to plant many more trees because this is the only way to protect the native forest, as plantations produce the wood that otherwise people would take from the native forests. Colombia still has 50 million hectares of natural forests. SCC, apart from the 38,000 hectares dedicated to pine and eucalyptus plantations, has also around 18,000 hectares of native forest which are protected.''
The Smurfit Group opened its Colombian operation in 1944, producing paper, cardboard and related products. In the year 2000, the company produced around 237,000 tons of paper in Colombia, worth $200 million.
SCC's main factory is in Cali, 400 km Southeast of Bogotá. There are also factories in Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla. Smurfit's pine and eucalyptus plantations grow around Cali. The plantations occupied an area of 38,000 hectares on the land in 32 municipalities and spreading over the Departments of Cauca, Valle, Risaralda, Quindío, Caldas and Tolima.
Giraldo insists that the environmentalists' complaints are excessive, as the impact of the pine and eucalyptus plantations would not be very different from the impact caused by coffee, orange trees, olive trees, sugar cane, corn, etc.
``Nowadays we know the impact of the plantations is very positive,'' he says. ``For example, the company responsible for the waterworks of some Colombian cities, like Medellín, covered the land around the rivers and reservoirs with conifer trees and eucalyptus, because these protect the soil and also their wood can be sold to pay for the waterworks costs.''
Ocampo disagrees. ``I live in an area called Carlacá. The water sources for the area are the rivers and springs that come down from the Cordillera Central mountains, and this is part of an area that Smurfit Cartón de Colombia has purchased lately. One of the main sources of water is la Quebrada el Salado. In the last 17 years, the water volume of that river has reduced from 200 litres per minute to 50 litres per minute. And the only change in this area for the last 17 years has been the arrival of SCC.''
Giraldo claims the arrival of Smurfits in the Quindío Department has improved the situation of the communities in the areas, through the creation of four Forestry and Agricultural Techniques Institutes (ITAFs), designed to offer opportunities for study, develop forestry, animal farming and agriculture. Nestor Ocampo dismisses such initiatives as charity. ``They built a small school here, another in some other place... and they gave away some cardboard to those who lost their homes during the earthquake that flattened Quindío two years ago. But in the company inner circles they call it ``political investments''.
Ocampo points out that there is a big difference between a jungle and a tree plantation. ``Farmers and peasants know the difference, because when the jungle is gone to make room for the plantation, those animals they used to hunt, the healing plants and the plants used for crafts, are also gone. The rivers change and when the rain season arrives there is flooding and when the dry season comes there is no water. Peasants know the consequences.''
Nestor Ocampo blames the lack of legislative protection in Colombia for the excesses of the multinationals. ``Smurfit's Cartón de Colombia does follow the rules imposed by the environmental institutions,'' he says, ``but this is a legislation that meets the multinational needs.''
``In Colombia, multinationals and government share many economic interests... The Colombian government does not represent the interests of the Colombian people, but those of a very small minority who ally with the multinationals. It is the power of multinationals that keep the government going in a country like Colombia. Our work is to monitor the activities of Smurfit's in Colombia and to keep denouncing its activities at local, national and international levels.''