The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) is an international initiative created to strengthen the global movement in defense of forests, in order to fight

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and

forest degradation Forest degradation is a process in which the biological wealth of a forest area is permanently diminished by some factor or by a combination of factors. "This does not involve a reduction of the forest area, but rather a quality decrease in its c ...

. 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 There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

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 Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Main areas of work

* Expansion of

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultur ...

tree plantations for the production of timber, cellulose,

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

, rubber or

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

. 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 Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. These include certification of forest management concessions, monoculture tree plantations,

carbon offset Carbon offsetting is a carbon trading mechanism that enables entities to compensate for offset greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or remove emissions elsewhere. When an entity invests in a carbon offsetting ...

s, 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.

Activities

Mutual learning and support for community struggles

* Visiting communities that are struggling against the destruction of their forests for tree plantations and other corporate projects, to exchange experiences and to jointly decide on forms of support. * Supporting meetings elaborated collectively with people from communities, organisations and social movements on the causes of forest destruction, global trends, threats and local resistance. * Promoting exchanges between activists and organisations that resist against similar threats to their livelihoods. * Creating spaces of trust and political connection to strengthen communities' struggles. * Showing solidarity with local and community struggles, based on demands presented by the organisations, communities and activists involved.

Production and dissemination of information and analyses

* Participating in debates and international campaigns to give visibility to community struggles and to expose the private and state tactics of

land grabbing Land grabbing is the large-scale acquisition of land through buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and Multinational corporation, transnational companies, governments, and individuals. While used broadly throughout history, land g ...

. * Producing analyses and exposing violations – in local and international spaces – on the impacts of false solutions to the destruction of forests and climate change for communities. * Producing analyses about new trends and international policies related to climate and biodiversity with forest dwellers threatened by these initiatives. * Facilitating the flow of information among groups in different regions of the world, for example with translations of texts, petitions and action alerts into local languages. * Publishing the WRM bulletin, an e-newsletter, since 1997. It exposes struggles, threats and resistance in forests, as well as false policy solutions at international and local level. Articles are written by activists and organizations from all over the world. The bulletin is distributed to more than 10,000 individuals and organizations in 131 countries around the world. * Producing diverse materials for activists and communities on specific topics. * Maintaining an online library with WRM materials since 1996, available in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese. Some are also translated into other languages, such as Bahasa Indonesian, Lingala, Malagasy, Swahili and Thai.

References

{{reflist

External links

WRM site
Forests Indigenous peoples and the environment Food sovereignty Forestry Peasants Organizations based in Uruguay 1986 establishments in Uruguay Environmental organizations established in 1986 Forest conservation organizations