September 21st is the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations – a day to coalesce the movement against the industrial forestry model and fight for community rights to land, food, energy, and water.
Year after year, organizations and social movements carry out a number of activities during this month to give visibility to their struggles and to denounce the negative impacts plantations have on their livelihoods and territories.
Biofuelwatch supports the call to stop the expansion of monoculture plantations, as well as efforts to greenwash the industry – whether through carbon offset mechanisms or the fantasy world of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
To learn more about the day of action, check out World Rainforest Movement‘s Day of Action website and most recent bulletin: Struggles for land, forests and life: No to industrial tree monocultures!; this compilation from Global Justice Ecology Project including an update on monoculture plantations in the US; as well as Global Forest Coalition‘s photo essay about the role of eucalyptus plantations in Portugal’s massive forest fires this summer.
(Cover photo credit: World Rainforest Movement)