Above Photo: From stopgetrees.org
September 21, 2017 was the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations. The Campaign to STOP GE Trees coordinated with the World Rainforest Movement to speak out against the social and ecological dangers associated with tree plantations. Join us and share the following stories and videos online to help spread this important message.
Video: Ten Replies to Ten Lies about Tree Plantations
This new short video summarizes the ten top lies of the timber and pulp industries in their justification of destroying native forests for the expansion of industrial tree plantations.
5 Video Shorts: Tree Plantations Are NOT Forests
In the link above, World Rainforest Movement, a founding member of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, offers five one minute videos on the impacts of tree plantations.
Monoculture Tree Plantations and GE Trees in the United States – An Update
This piece provides an update on the situation with GE trees in the U.S., as the USDA weighs whether or not to legalize freeze tolerant GE eucalyptus trees for planting across the U.S. South–a region already suffering the impacts of widespread pine plantations.
Brazil: Eucalyptus plantations photo essay and two videos
The photo essay provides a detailed description of the industrial mechanized process of creating a monoculture tree plantation and the two videos detail the impacts of and resistance to these plantations.
Brazil Photo Essay: A Eucalyptus Plantation From Cradle to Pulp Mill
Video: Green deserts: Eucalyptus plantations, agrochemicals and water
This video in English and Portuguese includes stunning videography of native forests and plantations in Brazil as well as interviews with Indigenous Peoples, experts and others on the social and ecological impacts these “green deserts” have in Brazil.
Interview with a Militant of the MST / Entrevista com uma militante do MST
In this video in Spanish, English and Portuguese, a militant with the Landless Worker’s Movement (MST) of Brazil is interviewed about the impacts of tree plantations and the direct actions taken against them and against GE trees by women of the MST.
Chile Photo Essay: Wildfires, GE trees and Protest
In April and June of this year, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees organized a delegation to Chile to examine and document the impacts of monoculture pine and eucalyptus plantations in the country. This post includes a photo essay of from the delegation in a community ravaged by the worst wildfires in the country’s history–directly connected to tree plantations. This photo essay, “Chile’s 2017 Devastating Fires – The Legacy of Pinochet Continues” was shot by GJEP co-founder and Langelle Photography Director Orin Langelle.
Portugal: Eucalyptus Wildfires Explode in the Countryside
In Portugal in June, a drought and heatwave caused a wildfire to explode into an uncontrollable firestorm that killed dozens of people. The fires were fueled by highly flammable eucalyptus plantations, as the video below explains.
For more news coverage on tree plantations, see our Tree Plantation blog.