Environmentalists oppose Nicaraguan logging plan
MANAGUA -- A recent agreement of intent between a Taiwanese logging and pulpwood company and the Nicaraguan government has environment groups very concerned.
In a leaked fax to Silvio de Franco, minister for finance, the company claims it will reforest the 270,000 hectares it cuts and, in addition, will reforest 200,000 hectares of Caribbean pine and other trees in northern Nicaragua close to Puerto Cabezas. The company claims its investment in the veneer, plywood and lumber mill will be US$100 million, which will generate US$70 million in exports.
The company has requested exemption from all taxes, including on imports of machinery and supplies, business taxes, property taxes and taxes on remittance of profits to other countries, for the first five years of operation. For the remaining 15-year period of the contract, the company has solicited an 80% exemption.
The reforestation projects will cost, according to the company, US$150 million over 20 years for trees, replanting, maintenance and interest. The fax concludes: “We need the requested concessions to help us bear these costs”.
A report by the Nicaraguan Government Natural Resources Institute, however, that the Taiwanese company “has no experience in projects of sustained forestry management” and “no experience of management or financial investment in the production of paper pulp in plants supplied by forest plantations”.
A coalition of Nicaraguan environmental groups has formed to oppose this proposal. It is seeking information from groups with knowledge about logging in Malaysian forests who may have useful information on the company involved, Equipe Enterprise Co Ltd of Taipei. It is also calling for international lobbying of the Nicaraguan government to encourage it to work for sustainable development of its natural resources.
