[Onthebarricades] Fw: RAINFOREST ALERT UPDATE: Demand Ugandan Government Stop Killing Rainforest Protestors and Fully Protect Mabira Rainforest Preserve

[Andy]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <GlenBarry at EcologicalInternet.org>
To: "Dr Andrew Robinson" <ldxar1 at tesco.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 5:53 PM
Subject: RAINFOREST ALERT UPDATE: Demand Ugandan Government Stop Killing 
Rainforest Protestors and Fully Protect Mabira Rainforest Preserve


> ACTION ALERT UPDATE                      PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
>
> Demand Ugandan Government Stop Killing Rainforest Protestors and
> Fully Protect Mabira Rainforest Preserve
>
> By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
> http://www.RainforestPortal.org/
> April 12, 2006
>
> TAKE ACTION
> Last Chance to Stop Great Ugandan Mabira Rainforest Give-Away
>  http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=uganda
>
>
> Update:
> Ugandan police have opened fire at hundreds of Mabira rainforest
> protection campaigners in Uganda protesting against government
> plans to allocate forest land to a sugar company. Ecological
> Internet is sad to report that two local rainforest
> conservationists, protesting to save the Mabira protected
> rainforest from being 1/3 cleared for sugar cane have, were shot
> dead when protesting according to BBC. Stopping the "Great
> Mabira Rainforest Give-Away" has been something the Ecological
> Internet Earth Action Network has been deeply involved with
> internationally (media coverage below). This in support of one
> of Africa's first grassroots modern ecological protest campaigns
> - with local peoples organizing boycotts against the sugar
> company involved, setting up cyber-petitions and text messaging
> via cell phones to organize protests. Efforts to save Mabira
> rainforest are a spontaneous, home-grown rainforest conservation
> protest that deserves our continued support. Search "Mabira":
> http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/search/welcome.aspx?searchtext=Mabira
>
> Ecological Internet's 25,000 strong global campaign community
> must let the Ugandan government know that shooting protestors is
> unacceptable, that the authoritarian efforts to give away
> Mabira's rainforests are undemocratic and corrupt, and once
> again emphasize that Uganda needs more protected ancient primary
> and old-growth forests and restored buffer zones and corridors
> to ensure national ecological sustainability including water,
> climate, soils and local development options.
>
> Though indications are the President is going to ram this
> rainforest give-away through Parliament, let's not give up. And
> let's not abandon those dying in the streets for the principle
> that logging ancient rainforests is archaic and must be banned.
> The message being sent has been completely altered so please
> send again if you did already. We have other campaigns coming
> but this is important. Please take action now at:
> http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=uganda
>
> *******************
> Must recent alert:
> Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni continues to pursue legally
> dubious plans to destroy large areas of Uganda's last important
> intact and protected rainforests. Some one-third of Mabira
> Forest Reserve, about 7,000 hectares of an area which has been
> protected since 1932, will lose its protection for sugar cane
> production by the Mehta Group. Ecological Internet was the first
> to bring a thriving Ugandan rainforest protection and protest
> movement to an international audience. Since that time many more
> local and international groups have joined the campaign. Uganda
> has long been facing a deforestation crisis, with forests
> covering 20 percent of Uganda 40 years ago, but now just
> covering seven percent. Deforestation has been directly
> responsible for declining levels of waters in Lake Victoria,
> River Nile and other rivers resulting in a scarcity of drinking
> water and reduction in hydroelectric energy production.
> Continued destruction of Uganda's surviving forests will have
> further grave ecological consequences -- threatening ecotourism
> revenues, rare species, sparking soil erosion and water
> pollution. Already the movement for sustainable rainforest use
> and development in Uganda has won. Maintaining and expanding
> rainforest protection has been established as a critical pillar
> of climate change mitigation, water availability and national
> ecological sustainability for Uganda's future. Please contact
> the entire Ugandan parliament, Ugandan ministries and embassies
> and insist that the Mabira sugar cane project be abandoned, and
> Uganda's remaining rainforest strictly protected. Take Action!
>
>  http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=uganda
>
> Discuss alert:
> http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2007/04/alert_update_demand_ugandan_go.asp
>
>
> **********************
>
>
> Deaths in Uganda forest protest
> Source:  Copyright 2007, BBC
> Date:  April 12, 2007
> Original URL
>
> Two people have been killed in Uganda during violence at a
> protest against government plans to allocate forest land to a
> sugar company, police say.
>
> A suspected looter was shot dead by security guards and a
> passer-by hit by a stray bullet, say the police, who have fired
> live bullets and tear gas.
>
> There have been several attacks on Asians, leaving two people in
> hospital. A Hindu temple has also been damaged.
>
> The sugar firm which wants to use part of the Mabira forest is
> Asian-owned.
>
> Environmentalists say the move threatens existence of rare
> species of trees and birds in the 30,000 hectare forest.
>
> 'Frightening'
>
> The march began quietly, with about 500 people marching through
> central Kampala, carrying placards and tree branches.
>
> "People were demonstrating peacefully when there was a
> misunderstanding with the police. All of a sudden they opened
> fire," Frank Muramuzi, and environmental activist told Reuters
> news agency.
>
> The BBC's Sarah Grainger in Kampala says protesters threw stones
> at the police and set fire to vehicles.
>
> Reuters news agency reports that police had to rescue about 40
> men from a Hindu temple after it was attacked by a mob.
>
> "We were inside the temple and the protesters started attacking
> us from outside," 50-year-old Dipaul Patel told Reuters. "It was
> very frightening."
>
> The Sugar Corporation of Uganda (Scoul), part of the Mehta
> group, owned by a Ugandan Asian, wants to expand its plantations
> in central Uganda, taking over one-third of the Mabira forest.
>
> Campaigners are now calling on Ugandans to boycott its sugar
> products.
>
> In recent years, Ugandan Asians have started to return to the
> country, after being expelled by Idi Amin in the 1970s.
>
> They used to control much of the economy, sparking resentment
> among some Ugandans.
>
> Text campaign
>
> Parliament is yet to change the status of the forests and
> campaigners have threatened legal action if the forest is given
> away.
>
> Public protests over the government plans have heightened in the
> capital and car bumper stickers urging people to save Mabira
> forest have become very popular, our correspondent says.
>
> There has also been a text message campaign, urging people to
> take part in the protests.
>
> Supporters of Scoul's bid for more land say the expansion of
> would create more jobs and income for the country.
>
> They dismiss those opposing the move saying subsistence farmers
> have already encroached on much of the forest land.
>
> The kabaka, or king, of the local Buganda community has offered
> to give alternative land for the sugar company in a bid to save
> the hardwood forest.
>
> ---
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