Brazil Bank Funds Destructive Projects, Say Activists

[demoleft]

Source: ips

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 26 (IPS) - Public money in Brazil is being used by the state development bank to finance deforestation projects and others that trample rights, concentrate wealth, and encourage "imperialist" expansion of large national companies, according to activists at a three-day meeting in this southeastern city.

The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) promotes "a deadly kind of progress," complained indigenous leader Toninho Guaraní, describing what he regards as the abuses of the pulp and paper industry, which has fomented monoculture of eucalyptus trees in the eastern state of Espirito Santo.

In South America, Brazil behaves "exactly the same way as U.S. imperialism," the head of the Bolivian Forum on Environment and Development (FOBOMADE), Manuel Lima Bismark, told IPS.

For instance, Brazilian firms "are plundering Bolivian natural resources" like oil and lithium, without having been granted a contract through proper tender procedures, in violation of the constitution and national laws, he said.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20091127/wl_oneworld/world3681941259364431

[harlfxstc]

1. The age old dilemma

One man's job is another man's deforestation.

[demoleft]

2. welcome to DU, you there. n/t

[bertman]

3. The job of turning trees into pulp by replacing forests with monocultures, destroys

the natural habitat and the riches therein, which we are discovering are far more valuable than trees for pulp. But I'll bet you already knew that, harlfxstc.

Welcome to DU.