Faced with the challenges of global warming, the collapse of
biodiversity and the scarcity of water, the forest is becoming a major
political issue. We consider the forest as a common good which must be
protected from capitalist errors dreaming of short-term profits. On June
28 and 29, it is the Creuse which will welcome collectives and
associations from all over France for a new "Call for living forests"
and on June 30 in Guéret a major national demonstration will take place
against two emblematic industrial projects which threaten the forests of
Limousin.
Each forest massif has its history, its species, its specific artisanal
and industrial sectors. Each forest plays an ecological, economic and
social role. This is why the forest has long been the subject of
political battles around property rights, uses and accessibility.
The forest has many ecological virtues and so does wood, provided that
harvesting is limited to the threshold of natural renewal, and that the
ecosystem is respected by practicing gentle silviculture with continuous
cover: "gardening" which allows the forest to regenerate. itself by
gradually removing the mature trees.
Wood is essential for paper and cardboard intended to replace plastic.
It is necessary in construction and essential in "zero energy"
buildings[1]. It is valuable for durable furnishings and still useful
for individual heating in rural mountainous areas. For these functions
alone the forest resource would be quite sufficient.
But wood is the victim of overconsumption in the context of the
globalization of trade and the needs for international transport in
containers: crates, pallets, cardboard boxes which are often single-use.
The biggest threat, hidden under pseudo "eco" motives, comes from the
demand for wood energy, nicely described as biomass: a little in
industry but especially in the boiler rooms of large cities.
Not to mention the latest madness that plans to fly "green" planes with
"bio-fuel" taken from the Landes forest at the same time as a project
plans to cut down thousands of hectares of pine trees to install panels.
solar... In short, the forestry industry joins the ills of agro-industry.
Humanity has always taken advantage of its nearby forest for its basic
needs: heating, housing, manufacturing objects of all kinds. But in
recent years the process has been reversed: wood crosses the globalized
planet to be valued according to market criteria. So our oaks go to be
cut in China to return to us as parquet floors produced in Poland. Worse
still, it is the industrialists who dictate to foresters the species,
characteristics and volumes that must be planted and cut. With a double
challenge: the destruction of deciduous forests (oaks, beeches,
hornbeams, etc.) and hedges on the one hand; the extension of fields of
planted trees (mostly Douglas pines) on the other hand.
State and industry destroying forests
It was under Sarkozy that the first major offensive was launched
combining the destruction of the century-old missions of the National
Forestry Office (ONF), including the preservation of forests, and the
massive cutting of high-value trees, the very old oaks in particular.
Staff then courageously mobilized to refuse this policy and the felling
of state forests (25% of French forests) to replenish state coffers.
The same logic is taking hold in private forests: large automated
sawmills no longer know how to handle the largest or just "different"
barrels and Ikea has killed the carpenters. So the hardwoods are
exported or are reduced to waste for boiler rooms. With the France -
Recovery plan, Macron offered 200 million to forest owners to cut down
their forests and replant Douglas pine fields. And clear-cutting,
disastrous for the environment, is increasing, followed by plantations
that require fertilizers and pesticides, with, however, a failure rate
of 50%!
Douglas pines which could produce magnificent barrels in a hundred or
even two hundred years but which are cut younger and younger, between 30
and 40 years to supply perfectly standard wood sawmills.
The authorities and large industrialists defend themselves with two
arguments: the trees that will die from climate change should be quickly
felled and the overall surface area of forests would remain stable. Two
lies! The surface area remains stable due to the abandonment of
agriculture in mountain areas but the quality of the forests is
deteriorating and the volume of standing timber is declining. As for
climate change (for which they are responsible) if the adaptability
tests of new species carried out by the ONF and foresters are useful,
the forest would do just as well without human intervention...
A united struggle for the forests of Limousin
Faced with the disaster, associations, collectives and unions, CGT and
FSU, have been mobilizing for several years, gaining an increasingly
wider audience among private owners who make up more than 90% of owners
in Creuse. A "Limousine forest network" brings together more than thirty
activist structures. Two industrial projects in the north and south of
the department are particularly worrying for the volumes of predation
announced: In Guéret, 500 people gathered for a public meeting against
the establishment of a wood pellet factory for boilers, Biosyl, this
winter. In the south of the department, on the border with Corrèze, 200
people gathered against the extension of a sawmill, Farges-Piveteau,
intended to be the largest in France.
Two projects stuffed with public subsidies whose wood needs involve
unprecedented cuts, the scarcity of the resource to the detriment of
individuals and small sawmills which are struggling to maintain
themselves despite the service provided locally.
On June 28 and 29, Creuse will welcome collectives and associations for
an "Appeal for living forests" and on June 30 a national demonstration
will take place in Guéret against these two projects and for the defense
of forests, in Limousin and elsewhere!
Jean-Yves (UCL Limousin)
For more information, go to the Syndicat de la montagne limousine
website or the collective's Facebook page Never Again 23
To validate
[1]Building whose annual production of renewable energy is approximately
equivalent to its consumption and whose net consumption is therefore zero.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Luttes-forestieres-Une-manifestation-nationale-a-Gueret-le-30-juin
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
biodiversity and the scarcity of water, the forest is becoming a major
political issue. We consider the forest as a common good which must be
protected from capitalist errors dreaming of short-term profits. On June
28 and 29, it is the Creuse which will welcome collectives and
associations from all over France for a new "Call for living forests"
and on June 30 in Guéret a major national demonstration will take place
against two emblematic industrial projects which threaten the forests of
Limousin.
Each forest massif has its history, its species, its specific artisanal
and industrial sectors. Each forest plays an ecological, economic and
social role. This is why the forest has long been the subject of
political battles around property rights, uses and accessibility.
The forest has many ecological virtues and so does wood, provided that
harvesting is limited to the threshold of natural renewal, and that the
ecosystem is respected by practicing gentle silviculture with continuous
cover: "gardening" which allows the forest to regenerate. itself by
gradually removing the mature trees.
Wood is essential for paper and cardboard intended to replace plastic.
It is necessary in construction and essential in "zero energy"
buildings[1]. It is valuable for durable furnishings and still useful
for individual heating in rural mountainous areas. For these functions
alone the forest resource would be quite sufficient.
But wood is the victim of overconsumption in the context of the
globalization of trade and the needs for international transport in
containers: crates, pallets, cardboard boxes which are often single-use.
The biggest threat, hidden under pseudo "eco" motives, comes from the
demand for wood energy, nicely described as biomass: a little in
industry but especially in the boiler rooms of large cities.
Not to mention the latest madness that plans to fly "green" planes with
"bio-fuel" taken from the Landes forest at the same time as a project
plans to cut down thousands of hectares of pine trees to install panels.
solar... In short, the forestry industry joins the ills of agro-industry.
Humanity has always taken advantage of its nearby forest for its basic
needs: heating, housing, manufacturing objects of all kinds. But in
recent years the process has been reversed: wood crosses the globalized
planet to be valued according to market criteria. So our oaks go to be
cut in China to return to us as parquet floors produced in Poland. Worse
still, it is the industrialists who dictate to foresters the species,
characteristics and volumes that must be planted and cut. With a double
challenge: the destruction of deciduous forests (oaks, beeches,
hornbeams, etc.) and hedges on the one hand; the extension of fields of
planted trees (mostly Douglas pines) on the other hand.
State and industry destroying forests
It was under Sarkozy that the first major offensive was launched
combining the destruction of the century-old missions of the National
Forestry Office (ONF), including the preservation of forests, and the
massive cutting of high-value trees, the very old oaks in particular.
Staff then courageously mobilized to refuse this policy and the felling
of state forests (25% of French forests) to replenish state coffers.
The same logic is taking hold in private forests: large automated
sawmills no longer know how to handle the largest or just "different"
barrels and Ikea has killed the carpenters. So the hardwoods are
exported or are reduced to waste for boiler rooms. With the France -
Recovery plan, Macron offered 200 million to forest owners to cut down
their forests and replant Douglas pine fields. And clear-cutting,
disastrous for the environment, is increasing, followed by plantations
that require fertilizers and pesticides, with, however, a failure rate
of 50%!
Douglas pines which could produce magnificent barrels in a hundred or
even two hundred years but which are cut younger and younger, between 30
and 40 years to supply perfectly standard wood sawmills.
The authorities and large industrialists defend themselves with two
arguments: the trees that will die from climate change should be quickly
felled and the overall surface area of forests would remain stable. Two
lies! The surface area remains stable due to the abandonment of
agriculture in mountain areas but the quality of the forests is
deteriorating and the volume of standing timber is declining. As for
climate change (for which they are responsible) if the adaptability
tests of new species carried out by the ONF and foresters are useful,
the forest would do just as well without human intervention...
A united struggle for the forests of Limousin
Faced with the disaster, associations, collectives and unions, CGT and
FSU, have been mobilizing for several years, gaining an increasingly
wider audience among private owners who make up more than 90% of owners
in Creuse. A "Limousine forest network" brings together more than thirty
activist structures. Two industrial projects in the north and south of
the department are particularly worrying for the volumes of predation
announced: In Guéret, 500 people gathered for a public meeting against
the establishment of a wood pellet factory for boilers, Biosyl, this
winter. In the south of the department, on the border with Corrèze, 200
people gathered against the extension of a sawmill, Farges-Piveteau,
intended to be the largest in France.
Two projects stuffed with public subsidies whose wood needs involve
unprecedented cuts, the scarcity of the resource to the detriment of
individuals and small sawmills which are struggling to maintain
themselves despite the service provided locally.
On June 28 and 29, Creuse will welcome collectives and associations for
an "Appeal for living forests" and on June 30 a national demonstration
will take place in Guéret against these two projects and for the defense
of forests, in Limousin and elsewhere!
Jean-Yves (UCL Limousin)
For more information, go to the Syndicat de la montagne limousine
website or the collective's Facebook page Never Again 23
To validate
[1]Building whose annual production of renewable energy is approximately
equivalent to its consumption and whose net consumption is therefore zero.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Luttes-forestieres-Une-manifestation-nationale-a-Gueret-le-30-juin
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten