From Laos to Richmond, local man honored by White House for environmental activism

From Laos to Richmond, local man honored by White House for environmental activism

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_23316177/from-laos-richmond-local-man-honored-by-white

By Robert Rogers
This Story was from Contra Costa Times

Posted:   05/24/2013 09:29:56 AM PDT

Updated:   05/24/2013 10:32:07 AM PDT

RICHMOND — When Lipo Chanthanasak was honored last month at the White House for his environmental justice work, he felt he wasn’t alone.

“I didn’t take the award as just for me,” Chanthanasak said through an interpreter. “It was for all low-income communities fighting together. I received the honor for all people in Richmond.”

The 73-year-old Laotian emigre only speaks Khmu, a tribal dialect from his native Northern Laos, but his words have stirred people in Richmond since 1991. He has been a forceful critic of Chevron’s local refinery and of fossil fuel consumption generally, and is a leading member of The Asian Pacific Environmental Network’s (APEN) local chapter.

For his efforts, Chanthanasak was one of 12 recipients of the Champions of Change Award, given to people each week by The White House Council on Environmental Quality for their work raising awareness about climate change and advocating for renewable energy development. While at the White House, he also took part in a panel discussion with other award recipients.

Chanthanasak was honored again Thursday night with a ceremony at the Nevin Community Center.

“Community members like Lipo are leading the way to healthy, safe and prosperous communities for all of us,” Roger Kim, executive director of APEN, said in a prepared statement.

Chanthanasak’s small stature and soft-spoken, native tongue — he came to the United States in his 50s with little formal education and never learned English — belies a lifetime of fervent idealism and moral righteousness.

He grew up in Phoualn, a tiny village of about 200 people in Northern Laos. During the Vietnam War, he fought with a guerrilla unit alongside American troops and the CIA. When Laos fell to the communists in 1975, Chanthanasak fled to Thailand.

He returned to Laotian jungles in 1977 to join the resistance movement. In 1985, Chanthanasak returned to Thailand and landed in a refugee camp, he said.

Finally allowed into the United States in 1991, Chanthanasak faced a new reality that bore echoes of the old.

“My community faced chemical pollution, and I saw that those who suffer most are the low-income people,” Chanthanasak said. “But here they stand up and demand change. The injustice creates the resistance.”

For years, Chanthanasak has marched at rallies and spoken at City Council meetings, always with the aid of an interpreter. His dogged but largely unsung work was finally recognized in Washington, D.C., which he hopes will only intensify the spotlight on communities that suffer on the front lines of what he calls “fossil fuel dependency.”

APEN has been among Chevron’s staunchest critics, relentlessly prodding the energy giant to reduce emissions and convert more of its operations from fossil fuel refining to renewable energy production. Chanthanasak has been a key link between the group and the city’s sizable Laotian community.

“Richmond is a community that can help lead the world toward renewable energy that doesn’t harm health and the environment,” he said. “We are proving that we can produce local clean energy good for the economy and the environment, and we can continue to push our governments in that direction.”

Contact Robert Rogers at 510-262-2726 or rrogers@bayareanewsgroup.com and follow Twitter.com/roberthrogers

burning issue: Fresh ideas needed in ties with Laos

BURNING ISSUE:

Fresh ideas needed in ties with Laos

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Fresh-ideas-needed-in-ties-with-Laos-30206697.html

Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation May 22, 2013 1:00 am

Relations between Thailand and Laos in the 21st century have already moved toward a new era, which requires not only trust and cooperation, but also a new vision to make the links mutually beneficial to people of both countries.

The joint cabinet meeting between the two governments jointly chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong over the weekend in Chiang Mai reflected no clear vision for their ties in a new era. It simply followed up work which previous governments had initiated.

Many visionary and capable Thai leaders in the past were able to open new chapters in relations with Laos. Former Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanant, together with Laotian leader Kraisone Pomvihan, managed to end mistrust in 1979 and brought the two brotherly countries into close relations, despite their different political ideologies.

Conservative forces in Bangkok halted the good ties with two military clashes in 1984 and 1987 due to boundary conflicts during Prem Tinsulanonda’s years – but such sour relations lasted for only a short time.

Visionary leader Chatichai Choonhavan dramatically led relations between Thailand and Laos into a genuine new era as he declared the policy to transform Indochina’s battle zone into a market zone at the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s. Such a policy has been fundamental for the relationship until now.

Anand Panyarachun and Chuan Leekpai during their time guided relations with Laos to regionalism and regional integration when they introduced economic liberalisation, connection and integration with Asean to the two countries.

Thaksin Shinawatra might have his problems domestically but he was famous in many neighbouring countries for his brainchild projects linking them in the Mekong basin. His initiative, the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), is still active in developing infrastructure as well as providing assistance to Laos. The latest summit of ACMECS took place with participation by Yingluck in Vientiane in March this year.

However, there has been no new policy initiative in relation to Laos since the 2006 military coup, as many governments over the years since then have been busy with domestic conflicts.

This government under Yingluck is no exception. Although the current government is relatively free from domestic political tension, it offers no policy initiative for ties with Laos. The joint statement signed by foreign ministers of the two countries reflected no new vision for future relations.

One part of the statement is even locked into relations of the 1980s. It stated that Thailand would not allow any dissidents to use Thailand as their shelter or as a launching PAD against the government in Vientiane. The anti-communist movement in Thailand has not been active since the beginning of this century, but Laos continued to worry over dissidents and mistrusted Thailand.

This government was supposed to have a policy initiative on economic relations with Laos, but it was not to be. Projects on economic and transportation links were mostly created after Chatichai, Chuan and Thaksin’s administrations.

The two countries have learned already that many road links and bridges were under-utilised due to fewer economic activities in the area. Border-crossing transportation was obstructed by bureaucracy, but ideas to liberate it have never been translated into tangible projects. The schedule to implement single-stop inspection services has been repeatedly delayed.

Asia Pacific: Proposed high-speed rail network a high investment for Laos?

This story was from channelnewsasia.com

Proposed high-speed rail network a high investment for Laos?

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/proposed-high-speed-rail-network-a-high-/682812.html

• By Anasuya Sanyal
• POSTED: 21 May 2013 4:54 PM

High-speed railway lines connecting Thailand, Laos and China might soon become a reality after the Thai cabinet met with its Lao counterparts in Chiang Mai earlier this week.

File photo: Laotian boys ride on a motorcycle with a sidecar attached in Luang Prabang, Laos. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)

THAILAND: High-speed railway lines connecting Thailand, Laos and China might soon become a reality after the Thai cabinet met with its Lao counterparts in Chiang Mai earlier this week.

The proposal would have a major impact on the region as there is currently only vehicle crossing from ASEAN countries into China.

Both governments are planning to spend billions on countrywide railroad infrastructure.

But in Laos, the plan will be nothing short of radical as the country’s rail networks are practically non-existent.

The proposed massive rail projects will require loans totalling over half of the country’s GDP, which was US$8.3 billion in 2011, according to the World Bank.

Chadchart Sittipunt, Thailand’s transport minister, said: “I think the key message for Laos will be how to create value for this high-speed train for Laos. I think we need to talk because I think there will be a lot of investment for Laos. But how will they create value from this big investment? If they can do it, it will be a good connection between Kunming (China), Laos, and Thailand.”

Rail links are not a surefire benefit to Laos’ economy.

Nevertheless, Vientiane’s ambition to transform the landlocked country into an integrated regional player is gaining support from its neighbours.

Last year the Thai government agreed to finance a US$55 million project to build a short railway line bridging Laos’ capital with Thailand’s Nong Khai province, while it plans its own railway overhaul to be completed in 2020 at a cost of US$69.6 billion.

- CNA/xq

How the World Bank funds illegal logging in Cambodia and Laos

Published on Alaska Dispatch (http://www.alaskadispatch.com)

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130514/how-world-bank-funds-illegal-logging-cambodia-and-laos

Denise Hruby | GlobalPost.com

May 14, 2013

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Five-months pregnant, Im Chanthy was told that her husband’s body had been found in the trunk of his car, brutally hacked to death for reporting on illegal logging and land concessions in Cambodia.

Many of these concessions, a new report by environmental watchdog Global Witness found, are owned by two Vietnamese rubber companies, which — with the financial support of Deutsche Bank, an arm of the World Bank and local governments — have acquired more than 500,000 acres of land in Cambodia and neighboring Laos.

The companies and officials involved have made millions growing resin trees and harvesting their sap to make rubber, while thousands of poor Cambodians and Laotians lost the little they had. Villagers have been sued and prosecuted, intimidated, threatened and shot at while trying to defend their livelihoods.

Heng Serei Odom, the journalist, paid with his life, and his wife Chanthy is now raising their 5-month old daughter on construction sites. She works carrying sand bag after sand bag for $2.50 a day — too little to eat properly, or care for her sick child.

“I move around from one construction site to the other, where I build small tents to stay there temporarily. That’s why my daughter is sick a lot, because she has no proper accommodation to shade her and I don’t have enough milk to feed her,” Chanthy said.

The companies in question continue undeterred despite allegedly being aware that many of their undertakings, such as the extensive logging of timber in national parks, are illegal, according to “Rubber Barons,” the report released by London-based Global Witness on Monday that sheds light on the secretive operations of Hoan Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the Vietnamese Rubber Group (VRG).

Germany’s Deutsche Bank, according to the report, holds $3.3 million in a subsidiary of VRG, which is chiefly owned by the Vietnamese government, and $4.5 million in the privately owned HAGL. The International Finance Cooperation (IFC), which is an arm of the World Bank, indirectly funds HAGL through its $14.95 million share in a Vietnam-based fund that invests in HAGL.

“We’ve known for some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are orchestrating the land-grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in the region. This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and IFC,” said Megan MacInnes, who runs Global Witness’ land team.

Both Southeast Asian governments have argued that the land concessions granted to HAGL and VRG will help develop the poor countries and turn simple, self-reliant farmers into plantation workers.

But in reality, the 165,000 acres HAGL, VRG and affiliated companies hold in Laos and the 445,000 acres Global Witness identified in northeastern Cambodia have brought misery and despair to communities that depend on the forests, the report shows.

Bulldozers arriving are often the first sign of a fight for land the poor countryside stands to lose. Houses have been demolished, farms flattened, cemeteries dug up, and trees in which holly spirits are said to live have been uprooted.

“Losing the forest is like losing life,” a villager told Global Witness, describing how essential the fast evergreen and semi-evergreen forests are for the community.

HAGL and VRG have made millions off the plantations and the illegal selling of luxury wood. Between 2001 and 2011, prices for natural rubber increased ten-fold and reached about $3,600 per tonne last year, when Vietnam became the world’s third-largest producer of rubber.

Most rubber is shipped to China, where it is processed and exported to the United States and Japan. As demand surges, the tight supply has fueled HAGL’s and VRG’s land-grabbing in Cambodia and Laos.

In addition, luxury rosewood grows inside the land concessions, which is illegally logged and exported, Global Witness says.

“The revenues are a planned part of the companies’ financial plan for the concessions — the impression given is that without these revenues, the concession would not be economically viable,” says Josie Cohen, a researcher for Global Witness.

In northeastern Cambodia, Dong Nai, a member of VRG is estimated to have logged 30 percent of the total forest in the area, amounting to about 10,000 resin trees, which are used for the production of varnishes or perfumes, for example.

For 100 resin trees, the company offered to pay between $250 to $330 in compensation, a sum the families would make from tapping the tree in two to three months, they said.

But reports and complaints the residents filed regarding Dong Nai’s illicit activities went unanswered — most likely due to the involvement of a cousin of prime minister and strongman Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for almost 30 years. Senior government officials, including the minister of land management, have visited the community to convince residents of the company’s good intentions.

Residents protesting the illicit timber trade in Cambodia are threatened by police and military police paid to guard the concessions, and have even shot live rounds. May 16 marks the one-year anniversary of the killing of a 14-year-old girl protesting a rubber concession by officials.

Despite Deutsche Bank’s and the IFC’s claim that they are respecting human rights, environmental and anti-corruption standards, Global Witness says that they didn’t properly research the companies before investing millions of dollars in HAGL and VRG.

“The suffering that [VRG and HAGL] have inflicted on local people, however, gives claims that they contribute to the two countries’ development a distinctly hollow ring. It also begs the question: What sort of institutions could countenance financing companies such as these?” the report concludes.

And while hundreds of thousands of Cambodians see their existence threatened — or already destroyed — a culture of impunity surrounds those responsible.

“We very much hope — for the sake of the communities whose livelihoods, forests, burial grounds and spirit forests have been destroyed — that those responsible are brought to justice,” Cohen said.

Neither government holds a positive track record in pursuing powerful and well-connected perpetrators. But international pressure has helped in some recent cases, such as the killing of journalist Heng Serei Odom, who worked to uncover similar ties between officials, rubber plantations and illegal logging. Earlier this month prosecutors announced that the case be reinvestigated.

Justice would offer some solace, Chanthy, the young mother, said.

“I am so happy that the court decided to reinvestigate the killing of my husband, and I hope that all perpetrators will be prosecuted and punished,” Chanthy said.

Vietnam firms involved in ‘illegal land grabs

Vietnam firms involved in ‘illegal land grabs’

By Jonathan Head South East Asia correspondent, BBC News

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22509425

13 May 2013 Last updated at 08:38 ET

NGOs have repeatedly highlighted the issue of land grabs

An environmental group has accused two Vietnamese rubber firms of involvement in massive land grabs in Cambodia and Laos.

In its report, Global Witness said HAGL and Vietnam Rubber Group had been allocated over 280,000 hectares for rubber plantations in the countries.

Residents had been evicted and offered inadequate or no compensation, it said.

It described the companies’ operations as leaving “a trail of environmental and social devastation”.

Both companies say their operations comply with local laws.

Aggressive expansion

The problem of land grabs has been raised for several years by donors and NGOs in both countries.

Private land ownership was destroyed by the decades of war and revolution during and after the Vietnam War, so most is now considered state-owned. The Cambodian and Lao governments have been encouraging commercial exploitation of land to boost economic growth.

Global Witness says the alleged land seizures in Laos and Cambodia reflect a global crisis of uncontrolled land exploitation, driven by rising prices for commodities.

HAGL and the Vietnam Rubber Group have denied any involvement in land-grabbing, illegal logging or corrupt activities. Each said in separate statements to the BBC that they believed their investments in rubber and sugar plantations are fully compliant with local laws.

HAGL is a striking Vietnamese business success story. It began as a small furniture factory in the highland town of Pleiku in 1990, not far from the Cambodian border. It then expanded, first into timber and later into hotels and property, and now rubber and sugar plantations.

Its founder and president, Doan Nguyen Duc, is now one of Vietnam’s wealthiest men.

The Vietnam Rubber Group is an umbrella organisation for 22 state-owned enterprises.

Both have led an aggressive expansion of Vietnam’s rubber production over the past decade, making it the world’s fourth largest exporter after Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

But available land is now hard to find in Vietnam. Cambodia and Laos have some of the last unexploited tracts of suitable land left in South East Asia.

Traditionally, rubber in South East Asia has been cultivated by smallholders, but these two Vietnamese companies mark a shift towards large-scale plantations operated by big corporations.

In its response to the Global Witness report, HAGL said it provided tens of thousands of jobs for local people.

But Global Witness has interviewed Cambodians and Laos who say they were driven off land they were cultivating, and saw their fields bulldozed and then planted with rubber trees for businesses owned or part-owned by the two Vietnamese companies.

Loopholes

It has also accused Deutsche Bank and the IFC, the financial arm of the World Bank, of investing in both companies, and of failing to perform due diligence on their operations in Cambodia and Laos.

Its says five of Cambodia’s richest tycoons are the main beneficiaries of the millions of hectares of government land concessions.

Vietnam is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of rubber, but available land is scarce

Deutsche Bank says it is not directly financing either company. It says it holds shares in HAGL in a fund on behalf of other investors and provides “clerical trustee services to HAGL as it does to thousands of listed companies globally”.

The IFC said in a statement that it holds no stakes in Vietnam Rubber Group. It does have an investment in a fund in Vietnam, which holds a stake in HAGL.

There is now a well-documented pattern of land disputes in both rural and urban Cambodia, where poorer residents are evicted from land they may have lived on for many years to make way for development projects. These projects are usually run by wealthy entrepreneurs connected to the ruling party.

The Cambodian security forces have repeatedly been accused of violently suppressing protests against the evictions, even when the evictions appear to be illegal.

The Cambodian courts have imposed prison sentences on protesters, but there have been no convictions of those accused of seizing land.

Last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a moratorium on land concessions for business, but left a loophole which has allowed hundreds of thousands more hectares to be approved for development.

He also announced a project to process land titles for poorer Cambodians, but this has been widely condemned by local human rights groups as ineffective.

The growing concern over the harmful effects of land concessions for rubber in South East Asia echoes earlier criticism of oil palm plantations, which now cover huge areas of what used to be tropical forest in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Update 14 May 2013: This story has been amended to incorporate a response from the Vietnam Rubber Group.