[asia-apec 787] Re: ECO APEC'93 WATCH Issue #4, Seattle, WA

[Mark Brown]

Hello, 

Could I ask why we have been sent this 5 year old information. Much as I
would like to continue hearing about Asian resistance to globalisation, if
this overload continues I will have to unsubscribe.

Yours,

Mark 

At 12:13 09/10/98 -0700, asia-apec at jca.ax.apc.org wrote:
>Seattle, WA                                   November 20, 1993
>
>                              APEC WATCH ECO
>
>FINAL EDITION                                       No. 4
>      
>---------------------------------------------------------
>
>ECO has been published by non-governmental groups at major
>international conferences since the Stockholm Environmental
>Conference in 1972.  This issue is produced cooperatively by
>groups attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
>Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA, in November, 1993.
>-------
>
>NEWSFLASH:  APEC SECRETARIAT TO MEET NON-GOVERNMENTAL REPS
>
>Non-governmental organizations concerned with labor, environment,
>and human rights will meet today with the APEC Secretariat.  We
>hope that this meeting will be a model for future annual
>ministerial meetings.
>
>CONTENTS:
>
>WASTE TRADE     page 1
>APEC EDITORIAL  page 2
>INDONESIA       page 3
>Taiga           page 4
>Gremlin         page 5
>Japan Reacts    page 5
>Invitation      page 6
>
>Greenpeace Reports. . .
>WASTE TRADE TARGET: ASIA
>
>Asia is currently being targeted by the world's waste traders as
>an open market for unwanted wastes from industrialized countries. 
>Without strict national laws, decrees, and policies or a regional
>agreement prohibiting all imports of hazardous wastes, Asia is in
>danger of becoming a dumping ground for vast quantities and
>several dangerous types of wastes.
>
>For example, between January and June 1993, the United States
>exported more than 19,000 tons of wastes and toxic products to
>Asia, including plastic wastes, scrap metal waste, and spent
>lead-acid automotive batteries.  These shipments included at
>least 2,000 tons of banned or unregistered pesticides to Asia.
>
>Toxic trades have offered Asian countries countless poisons;
>among the commonly offered toxic wastes and products:  asbestos,
>incinerator ash, tire wastes, industrial chemical wastes,
>municipal wastes, slag from metallurgical processes, leaded
>gasoline, banned an never-registered pesticides, useless
>pharmaceutical, plastic wastes, polychorinated biphenyls, lead
>acid battery wastes, sewage sludges and used paints to name but a
>few.  All of these materials contain or can produce upon
>incineration, extremely toxic and harmful substances such as
>heavy metals, dioxin and furans.
>
>Almost every country in Asia has been targeted as a waste
>dumpsite for wastes from industrialized countries.  In the first
>six months of 1993 along, Greenpeace has documented more than 440
>waste export schemes from the United States to Asian countries. 
>However, this number is clearly just the tip of the iceberg of
>the number of schemes from all industrialized countries to the
>region.
>
>Additionally, the number of waste shipments to Asia as a whole,
>as well as to certain countries, is increasing.  For example, for
>the first six months of 1992 and 1993, the actual number of waste
>shipments from the United States to Asian countries increased
>from 422 to 440 shipments.
>
>As Asian countries are alerted to the environmental, political,
>and social menace posed by waste imports, Asian countries are
>developing national legislation to halt the waste trade pirates. 
>For example, in 1992, the Indonesian Government banned waste
>plastic imports.  Greenpeace discovered that in 1992, 90% of all
>hazardous waste export schemes from industrialized to developing
>countries came under the guise of "recycling," recovery,"
>"further use," or even as "humanitarian aid"  Thoughout Asia,
>waste traders invariably present their proposals as "development
>plans" that will bering jobs, roads, energy, hospitals, housing
>and money.  The proposals never mention the "development plan's"
>environmental and health implications.
>------
>
>
>EDITORIAL:
>
>After the last trade minister has made the last trade, and the
>last Head of State has motorcaded out to the airport, one thing
>is clear.  APEC will never by the same.  Ambassador Bodde refers
>to APEC as a baby.  Two new babies, Mexico and Papua New Guinea
>have been added to the nursery.  But APEC needs to be potty-
>trained.  A good does of citizen activism, environmental
>journalism (the APEC WATCH ECO newsletter) and one-on-one
>lobbying ha proven that democracy is a good thing and future APEC
>meetings should accommodate it.
>Saturday, while Heads of State congregate on Blake Island State
>Park in the middle of Puget Sound, an estuary with sick fish and
>closed shellfish beds, we urge President Clinton to take a
>chapter from Section 101(c) of the Federal Clean Water Act. 
>Passed in 1972, Congress mandated the President, working through
>the Secretary of State to use all possible means to achieve zero
>discharge of pollutants into waters of the countries, not just
>our own.  A declaration that Pacific Rim trade will not be
>conducted at the expense of the Pacific Ocean and its bays and
>estuaries would be a powerful signal that the era of "Trade Uber
>Alles" has come to an end.
>Log, cigarette and waste exports are obvious examples of how
>'trade balances' and 'economies' are built on the hidden impacts
>to the Pacific Rim's citizens and environment.
>Finally, above all else, APEC must not pursue a closure of the
>General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade round by next month in the
>absence of an integration of environmental, human rights and
>labor issues into the GATT.  We can not afford to let APEC stand
>for "A PERMANENT ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS."
>------
>
>WASTE: A DEADLY BUSINESS
>(The following article was written by WALHI, Friends of the Earth
>Indonesia)
>
>A government decree issued in Indonesia in 1992 banned plastic
>waste imports.  Since then more than 5,000 tonnes of waste have
>been illegally imported. 
>
>Indonesia has not resolved its own domestic waste problem yet
>waste imports from America, Europe, Japan and Australia are
>arriving at Indonesian ports under the guise of western
>countries' recycling programmes.  However, only 60% of the
>imported waste can be recycled:  the remaining 40% is
>unrecyclable and at least 10% is contaminated by toxic or
>hazardous waste.
>WALHI/FoE Indonesia, the Jakarta Social Institute and scavenger
>groups are concerned by the impact of waste imports not only bon
>the environment and public health, but also on the incomes of
>2000,000 local scavengers, which have decreased by 50 to 75
>percent since Indonesia began to import waste in 1988.  The irony
>is that scavengers provide Indonesian cities with free recycling
>services which keep the environment clean and save the cities
>millions of dollars annually in waste disposal costs.
>
>The recycling potential of the waste industry makes it an
>extremely lucrative business.  Waste imports are paid substantial
>sums to receive materials for recycling in Indonesia which are
>considered waste by the exporting countries. US $40 and $60 per
>tonne for toxic and hazardous imports are not uncommon sums,
>whereas countries in Europe demand $160 to $100 pr tonne to
>receive such waste.  From these figures it is easy to see where
>the waste ends up.
>
>Controversy surrounding the waste imports intensified after the
>Government scheduled an auction to disperse the 5,000 tonnes of
>waste imported illegally since the ban went into  effect. 
>However, just one week before the event, President Suharto
>ordered that the imported waste be destroyed.  Government
>officials were not interested in pursing alternatives to the
>President's directives,  and balked at WALHI's suggestion that
>the wastes be returned to their countries of origin.
>
>WALHI has not so far met with success with appeals to embassies
>requesting that governments take full responsibility for the
>waste imports originating int heir respective countries and cover
>the costs of shipping the waste back.
>
>Indonesian NGOs and scavenger communities continue their efforts
>to re-export waste to its country of origin, and are
>simultaneously working to put an end to the water trade to
>Indonesia.  WALHI is launching a letter-writing campaign to
>Indonesian President Suharto urging the government to enforce the
>existing ban on plastic imports and to return the illegal
>imports. This should send a clear message that developing
>countries in the Southern hemisphere and eastern Europe are not
>dumping grounds.
>-----
>
>APEC INVESTMENTS THREATEN RUSSIAN TAIGA
>
>Numerous developing countries in the Pacific Rim, who are members
>of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), face the burden
>of servicing enormous foreign debts.  In a struggle to gain hard
>currency to meet debt payments these countries have been forced
>to export natural resources such as timber and valuable minerals
>in an unsustainable manner.
>
>Although Russia is not a member of APEC it serves as an excellent
>example of unsustainable resource management in the Pacific Rim. 
>Russia's current economic malaise and need to service its debt
>threats to accelerate destruction of the Taiga, Russia's boreal
>forest in Siberia.
>
>The Taiga
>
>The Taiga is situated in the sub-Arctic region of Siberian
>Russia.  Its size is unparalleled measuring 1.6 billion acres and
>is about three times the size of Brazil's rainforest.  There are
>about 30 million inhabitants, including 24 indigenous groups
>numbering one million people.  The Taiga has 54% of the world's
>coniferous forests, 37% of the world's temperate forests and
>makes up 21% of the world's total forest area.  The Taiga is also
>home to many rich mineral resources such as deep reserves of oil,
>natural gas, coal, diamonds and gold.
>
>Besides being endowed with valuable economic resources, the Taiga
>also serves an important global environmental function.  Combined
>with the Tundra, the Taiga contains well over one-half of the
>total amount of carbon held in forests and soils globally, far
>grater than the amount stored in the Amazon.  The Taiga is home
>to numerous rare animal species such as the Siberian tiger, the
>great grey owl and reindeer.
>
>Unfortunately the Taiga is undergoing unprecedented development. 
>The Taiga is currently being cut at the rate of 5 million acres
>per year.  This deforestation is a substantial contributor to
>global warming and a threat to its biodiversity.
>
>The rare animal species will continue to be displaced and are in
>danger of extinction if this destructive development pattern
>continues unabated.
>
>APEC Countries and the Taiga
>
>Deforestation of Southeast Asia and the depletion of forests in
>the United States have forced foreign countries to search
>elsewhere for a constant supply of timber.  The Taiga with its
>expansive quantity of wood has been an attractive location for
>foreign timber companies, mainly from APEC member countries, to
>supply their timber and paper industries.  In fact, after the
>fall of the Soviet Union, timber and paper companies from the
>United States, Japan and South Korea began offering Russia modern
>equipment, expertise and hard foreign currency in the Taiga
>region:
>
>* The Russian Supreme Court recently blocked operations by the
>Hyundai Corporation from South Korea.  Hyundai had a contract to
>cut 6000,000 of Siberian timber over the next 30 years beginning
>in 1991.  However, Russia's Regional Committee on Ecology and
>Natural Resources (RCENR) reported that South Korean loggers had
>been poaching wildlife, reneging on their obligation to reforest
>and overcutting in some areas of the region.  Hyundai had also
>received numerous negative environmental impact assessments on
>their activities from the local Goskompiroda, the State Committee
>on Nature Protection.
>
>* Weyerhaeuser, from the United States, is discussing the
>possibility of a logging, processing and replanting operation in
>the region.  In exchange for a nursery and restoration project,
>Weyerhaeuser wants a 20 year lease to cut on more than 40,000
>acres in the region.
>
>*  U.S. timber companies Louisiana Pacific and Georgia Pacific
>have also approached the Russians for timber contacts in the near
>future.
>
>Russian cannot afford to continue to rely on the fragile Taiga as
>a source of hard currency to relieve its debt burden of 80
>billion U.S. dollars.  The increased deforestation presents a
>special problem for the Taiga region.  The clearcutting methods
>employed by timber companies make it more difficult for the Taiga
>region to reforest due to its severe conditions.  Roughly half of
>all forests similar to the Taiga become swamps after enormous
>timber harvests.  The resulting damage from such unchecked
>development is unfathomable and counters Russia's ability to
>achieve sustainable development.
>--------
>
>YOU ARE INVITED:
>
>In the absence of a Pacific Rim town meeting hosted by President
>Clinton, the Seattle Citizens Host Committee invites people to
>the following rallies:
>
>FRIDAY NOVEMBER 19th - NOON -
>"CLEARCUT COSTS OF PACIFIC TRADE"
>
>Pike Place Market/Victor Steinbreuck Park with:
>
>MITCH FRIEDMAN - Director, Greater Ecosystem Alliance
>MICHAEL DONNELLY - Friends of Breiten Bush Cascades, Oregon
>PAUL CIENFUEGOS - Friends of Clayoquot Sound, B.C.
>PETE KNUTSEN- Puget Sound Gillnetters Association/ AND MORE. . .
>Contact: Josh Marks, Western Ancient Forest Campaign  632-6041
>
>SATURDAY - 20th NOVEMBER - 7:00 am.  PIER 62 off of Alaskan Way
>"FAIR TRADE FLOTILLA"
>
>APEC BLACK ISLAND SUNRISE SENDOFF RALLY
>
>Come and watch Greenpeace and the Puget Sound Gillnetters
>Association FLOTILLA. Depart 7:30 pm. FLOTILLA RETURNS at 10:30
>am and will join the BIG RALLY AT WESTLAKE CENTER AT NOON. 
>Contact: Cynthia Rust or Nick Morgan, Greenpeace 632-4326
>
>SATURDAY - 20th NOVEMBER - 11:30 am March from IBEW Local 46 Hall
>- 2700 First Ave, Seattle, to a NOON Rally- WESTLAKE PLAZA - Down
>Town Seattle
>THE HIDDEN COSTS OF FREE TRADE- PEOPLE'S APEC RALLY HUMAN
>RIGHTS - ENVIRONMENT - LABOR FAIRNESS
>
>Speakers: Dolores Huerta, Co-founder and first vice president,
>United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO -  Rev. Dr. Robert L.
>Jeffrey, Sr., Executive Director, Black Dollar Days Task Force -
>Run Judd, Executive Secretary, King County Labor Council, AFL-
>CIO, Mark Dubois, Ex. Director, WorldWise
>Contact: Washington State Jobs with Justice, 206-448-7348
>-----
>  
>GREMLIN
>
>* The best technology war does not go to Boeing, but to the push
>button espresso/latte machine in the Press Lounge.  A bit large
>for your kitchen, but it might fit on Air Force One.
>
>*  Gremlin is no weather forecaster, but notes that Seattle and
>your home city have this in common: Mount Rainier can't be seen
>from either place.
>
>* Gremlin is no tour guide, either, but before you leave check
>out the famous Underground Seattle tour of Pioneer Square. 
>Approximately 40 square blocks of Seattle that lie beneath your
>feet, a portion of which you can explore as a part of a guided
>tour.  While your are down in the deep depths of this fir city,
>see if you can find some of these missing APEC terms:  STAINABLE
>DEVELOPMENT - POLLUTER PAYS - GLOBAL WARMING - GREENING OF THE
>GATT - RIO EARTH SUMMIT.
>
>* Gremlin salutes this week's "Great American Smokeout" designed
>to help U.S. citizens quit smoking.  How ironic that in 1992
>Washington State's eighth biggest export was CIGARETTES,
>accounting for $451.6 million dollars.  There is something wrong
>with a trade system that values products that kill the same way
>as medicine that heals.
>-----
>
>
>JAPANESE REACTION TO NAFTA AND APEC
>
>"The Debate about the NAFTA included the environmental impact of
>the agreement as a high priority.  But APEC is virtually ignoring
>the environment in its discussions.  Let's see a bit more
>commitment to the long-term well-being of the Asia Pacific
>region, not just to trade growth.
>
>"We are disappointed that this meeting of APEC has committed no
>time to cover environmental concerns.  It is only a year after
>the UNCED meeting in Rio de Janeiro, where governments expressed
>their commitment to solving environmental problems.  The next
>meeting of APEC in Indonesia would ensure that environment is
>high on the agenda."
>
>Aya Saitoh, Friends of the Earth Japan
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>ECO is a publication of the Non-Governmental Organizations
>present at the APEC Meeting to present alternative trade models
>that incorporate sustainable development, poverty alleviation
>measures and the protection of the environment.
>
>Staff:
>
>Karen Fant
>Alex Hittle
>Emily Kaplan
>Hug Llamas
>Nick Morgan
>David E. Ortman
>Ita Rachmita
>John Reese
>
>The editorial office can be reached at 206-XXX-XXXX, FAX XXX-XXXX
>e-mail: foewase at igc.apc.org
>
>ECO wishes to thank the organizers of the Seattle Citizens' Host
>Committee, who seized the opportunity to work together as members
>of an umbrella coalition of environmental groups, human rights
>advocates and labor organizations under the theme - THE HIDDEN
>COSTS OF FREE TRADE.
>
>
>
#########@@@@@@@@@@@{{{{{{{{{{+++++++++++++++++*******************
Street parties coming up:

October 10 15:00 hours: Chasseveld Breda (Netherlands)
'streetrave against militarist bullshit propaganda'
Sydney, Saturday 31 October

For instant relief, take T£R£A£N£S£N£A£T£I£O£N£A£L R$E$S$I$S$T$A$N$C$E
&
Go here today: http://www.gn.apc.org/rts/
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Mark Brown  (markb at gn.apc.org)