World Rainforest Movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) is an international initiative created to strengthen the global movement in defense of forests, in order to fight deforestation and forest degradation. It was founded in 1986 by activists from around the world.
WRM believes that this goal can only be achieved by fighting for social and ecological justice, by respecting the collective rights of traditional communities and the right to self-determination of peoples who depend on the forests for their livelihoods.
For this reason, WRM's actions are oriented to support the struggles of indigenous peoples and peasant communities in defense of their territories.
WRM's International Secretariat is composed of a small team with members from different countries. The head office is in Uruguay.[1]
- Expansion of monoculture tree plantations for the production of timber, cellulose, palm oil, rubber or biomass. Industrial tree plantations pose a major threat to communities beyond tropical forest areas.
- Impacts of corporations that extract timber, minerals, water and fossil fuels from forest territories, and of the infrastructure that supports this exploitation.
- Initiatives that are presented as "solutions" but in fact only exacerbate forest loss and climate change. These include certification of forest management concessions, monoculture tree plantations, carbon offsets, environmental compensation programmes, among others.
- New trends related to corporate tactics and national and international policies that facilitate the appropriation of community forests.
- Local struggles and resistance strategies of movements, organisations and communities in the defence of their territories and forests.
- The differentiated impacts that women face when their lands are encroached and appropriated: sexual violence, harassment, persecution and deprivation of livelihood, among others.