Month: Apr 2023

The struggle of the Shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya against territorial dispossession and oil palm expansion

In the Peruvian Amazon, the Shipibo-Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya are challenging the dispossession and devastation of their ancestral forests and rivers, which have affected their traditional livelihoods, way of life and wellbeing. This is due to the aggressive expansion of a palm oil plantation currently operated by Ocho Sur P S.A.C (previously operated by Plantaciones de Pucallpa S.A.C, a former member of the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and an international, US-financed agribusiness group known in Peru as the ‘Melka Group’).

Since 2015, the community has been taking action to confront land rights violations, agribusiness-led deforestation, and threats and violence against community leaders who protect their territory. They have secured several victories and restricted the expansion of the plantations, but they continue to strive for the full restitution and remediation of their lands.

Eight years after its arrival in the community’s territory, the palm oil company’s continuing presence drives fierce competition for control over lands between groups of land-traffickers and settlers, leading to a spiral of deforestation and violence. By 2020, over 16,000 hectares of the community’s forests – an area three times the size of Bermuda – had been destroyed. Despite suspension orders from the Ministry of Agriculture, RSPO and Peruvian Environmental Regulator (OEFA), as well as widespread condemnation from civil society and Peruvian Government forest and agricultural ministries, the company continues its operations with apparent impunity.

In late 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary protection measures to the community’s leaders due to the constant hostile environment they face. Regulator OEFA ordered Ocho Sur P to immediately suspend its industrial oil palm operations, pay a US$ 2.48 million fine and undertake remediation measures.

The case reveals broader issues that expose the weaknesses in Peru’s legal and policy framework that regulate forest governance and Indigenous land tenure, as well as the State’s capacity to address these issues. Despite over 20 years of the community petitioning the authorities to comply with their obligation to title the entirety of their ancestral territory, the State has only recognised around 1,700 hectares, enabling the land dispossession and massive forest destruction which has taken place over the past decade.

In 2016, the community filed a lawsuit against the invasion and illegal trafficking of their traditional lands, and demanding their restitution and remediation. They are currently waiting for the Constitutional Court’s ruling. While the struggle of Santa Clara de Uchunya is remarkable, the injustices the community are resisting are in fact emblematic for hundreds of Indigenous communities across the Peruvian Amazon, whose applications for collective land titles remain unrecognised by the State.

In addition to highlighting formidable barriers to access to justice for Amazonian communities challenging land dispossession, deforestation and corporate impunity, the case of Santa Clara de Uchunya further reveals serious loopholes and ambiguities in Peru’s regulatory framework governing the conversion of primary forest to agricultural use and the relationship between national and regional government agencies. These lessons should be heeded by those international donors and agencies seeking to support Peru’s national forest protection strategies which commit the country to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, reducing emissions by 40% by 2030, and guaranteeing recognition and respect of Indigenous land rights.

Santa Clara is challenging the Peruvian State not only to recognise the harms inflicted on Indigenous communities by agribusiness-led land dispossession and deforestation, but also actively support community-led forms of forest protection, for instance by supporting and promoting territorial monitoring carried out by Indigenous communities and organisations and their administration of Indigenous justice. Such shifts are crucial if Peru is to meet its current climate change commitments and halt the further destruction of the Amazon forest.

Ayahuasca Healers in the Peruvian Amazon.

The Shipibo are well known for their shamanic healing traditions and their vast knowledge of plant and trees medicines of the rainforest. The Shipibo have a particularly strong relationship with ayahuasca and many consider the Shipibo to be the most highly skilled ayahuasca healers in the Peruvian Amazon.

Ethnobotanical plant medicines such as ayahuasca are now increasingly being focused on by modern researchers as having considerable potential for treating a wide range of conditions. Clinical research is also shedding light on the neuropsychological effects of these plants and the implications for improved cognitive function and integrative thinking that can help people deal with daily life issues in more effective and creative ways.

However, as western science attempts to begin to understand ayahuasca and its healing properties, Shipibo healers carry knowledge that has been passed through hundreds, possibly thousands of years of experience working with this sacred medicine. Shipibo healers undergo training for a minimum of ten years in order to be able to safely, responsibly, and effectively carry out deep healing with ayahuasca and many other plants of the Amazon.

This healing fundamentally recognises the full spectrum of human health, and the fact that we are both physical and energetic beings. Shipibo healing addresses issues on the physical, emotional, psychological (predominantly the subconscious), psychic, energetic and spiritual (soul) levels of being. They focus on addressing the root source of disorder and disease, which typically originates through unresolved traumatic experiences, both personal and trans-generational.

https://grist.org/indigenous/peru-shipibo-people-fighting-reclaim-protected-ar/

http://songoftheamazon.com/shipibo-conibo/

https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/featured-topic/struggle-shipibo-community-santa-clara-de-uchunya-against-territorial-dispossession

If you’re lost in the woods, ask a tree for directions! Author writes about the ‘extraordinary powers’ of plants

HOW TO READ A TREE by Tristan Gooley (Amazon £16, 312pp)

We all know that trees are a good thing — so good, in fact, that the UK Government has pledged to plant 30,000 hectares of them every year.

Trees provide a home for wildlife, cool our cities in summer and help reduce flooding when there’s heavy rain. They also remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen.

But if you want a deeper understanding of the wonder of trees, then Tristan Gooley is the man for you. He is such a die-hard enthusiast that when he is feeling stressed by Christmas shopping, he goes to stand next to some trees, rather than finding somewhere for a nice cup of tea like the rest of us.

New York Times–bestselling author Tristan Gooley opens our eyes to the secret language of trees—and the natural wonders they reveal all around us. Trees are keen to tell us so much. They’ll tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it.

Usually photographed in an Indiana Jones-style hat, he calls himself a ‘natural navigator’ and his motto is: ‘Nature is always making a map for us. Everything outdoors is a clue and a sign.’

Trees, he says, offer all sorts of pointers if you know how to read them. Want to find your way out of a dense forest? Then use them as a navigational aid.

The clues are in their height: if you’re in the centre you’ll be surrounded by towering trees like oaks, which grow slowly and produce thick trunks and high canopies. To move out of the forest, look for trees which are noticeably shorter.

These ‘pioneer’ trees such as birches, willows and alders will be found on the fringes of a forest where they act as a wind buffer. They are rapid growers but their slimmer trunks also limit their eventual height.

You can also use trees as a kind of compass. They grow towards the light so they produce more branches on their southern side. As a tree grows, it will shed many of these branches; and when a tree loses a branch, it uses resin or gum to form a seal at the junction with the trunk, creating something that looks rather like an eye.

When you see lots of ‘eyes’ on a tree trunk you have a marker showing you which way south is.

If you want to hear particularly good birdsong, head for holly, blackthorn or hawthorn that have spines; small birds make their home in these because they offer protection from larger predators.

Want to locate a river? Look out for a ribbon of pale, broadleaf trees like willows, alders and ashes, which typically grow by water.

Here’s an arboreal brain-teaser. You pass a tree and see that someone has carved their initials in the bark. If you return five years later, will those initials have grown out of reach?

Rather surprisingly, although the tree itself will have grown, the graffiti will still be at the same height. Once bark has appeared, that part of the tree will get fatter but not taller, so anything scratched in the bark will stay exactly where it was.

To estimate the age of a tree, look at its girth rather than height. As trees get older their height starts to lessen, but their trunk keeps getting fatter (rather like most of us).

As a rough guide, a healthy tree will add 2.5cm a year to its circumference, so a tree with a 2.5 metre girth is about a century old.

We tend to admire trees most when they are in full leaf, but Gooley writes that one of the most exciting times to examine a tree is early in the year.

Look closely at it then and you will see flashes of pinks, reds and browns in an apparently bare tree; these are the first signs that the buds are swelling. Buds are a marvel of nature — last year’s energy all packaged up in a bundle which is primed to go off in springtime and release all those fresh green leaves.

Gooley is the sort of man whose idea of a fun day out is tramping up and down hills looking at tree roots.

How To Read A Tree is so packed with information that it’s a book best dipped into rather than read in one go, but it will undoubtedly leave you with a deeper appreciation of trees.

Understanding them, Gooley writes, is to possess ‘extraordinary powers’. Your country walks will never be quite the same again.

Like snowflakes, no two trees are exactly the same. Every difference reveals the epic story this tree has lived—if we stop to look closely.

About the author (2023)
TRISTAN GOOLEY has led expeditions on five continents, climbed mountains in three, and is the only living person to have both flown and sailed solo across the Atlantic. His more than two decades of pioneering outdoor experience include research among tribal peoples in some of the remotest regions on Earth.

Tristan set up his natural navigation school in 2008 and is the author of award-winning and internationally bestselling books, including The Natural Navigator (2010) The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs (US) / The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs (UK 2014), How to Read Water (2016) and The Secret World of Weather (2021) and How to Read a Tree (2023), some of the world’s only books covering natural navigation.

Tristan has given talks across the world and appeared on TV and radio programmes in the UK and internationally, including The Today Programme, Night Waves, Countryfile, BBC Stargazing Live, Country Tracks, Ramblings, Open Country, Shipwrecks, The One Show, Winter on the Farm and All Roads Lead Home.

He is Vice Chairman of the independent travel company, Trailfinders.

Raynor Winn ~ ‘An important book and a pleasure to read.’

Isabella Tree ~ ‘Tristan Gooley has done trees the greatest service. In this gentle, enchanting book he leads us into their language – how to spot their natural tendencies and individual foibles, recognise their responses to stress and ingenious strategies to survive. And with these insights he arouses an even deeper affection and concern for trees – our friends and allies, with whose fate our own is inextricably bound.’

Wanderlust ~ ‘This book will add a new dimension to your countryside stroll.’

Peter Gibbs, Chair BBC Gardeners’ Question Time ~ ‘It was a lightbulb moment! I thought I knew my local woods – I walk there almost every day. But it’s a thrill to see it through fresh eyes, to develop a much deeper understanding.’

Peter Thomas, Emeritus Reader in Plant Ecology at Keele University, author of Trees ~ ‘Wherever you are – city or wilderness – if you want to understand the secrets of trees you pass, this is the book to read…Tristan has the rare gift of explaining the most complex ideas with humour and deep insight.’

John Lewis-Stempel ~ ‘You will never look at a tree in the same way again after reading this mesmerising book. Gooley drops learning as lighty as blossom falls in spring.’

Plant a Tree ~ the future forest company
Q&A: How To Read A Tree with Tristan Gooley, 5 April 2023 by Amy Richardson

Q. Can you tell us how the idea for your new book How to Read a Tree came about?
Trees have appeared in all my books so far and proved some of the most popular sections. In my earlier books, I kept the focus fairly narrow: how can trees help us navigate – how can they make a compass or a map for us. But over the years I have collected hundreds of other signs and this book was a chance to celebrate and share those clues.

Q. What do you hope people will learn from the book?
There are so many individual gems that I hope readers will have fun with – how to sense water through the veins of a leaf, as just one example – but my overriding hope is that readers see a whole new world. Trees go from background to fascinating foreground as soon as we appreciate that every small pattern, from roots to leaves, has meaning.

Q. You’re a very experienced naturalist, did you have to conduct new research for this book, and did you learn anything you didn’t know beforehand?
I only appreciated a few years ago that the word ‘author’ has the same roots as the word, ‘authority’ – obvious in hindsight, I know, but so are so many things!

I was commissioned to write this book thanks to a bank of knowledge built over decades, but one of the joys for me in writing any new book is the sense of philosophical exploration. I view each book I write is an invitation to take a strong level of knowledge up to whole new level. A few years ago, I thought I understood the science behind the different tree shapes we see. I really do now, and readers will do too. No two trees look alike and there is a good reason for every single difference we see.

Q. Do you believe it is important for people to connect with trees, and why?
I believe everybody knows, even if it is buried, that trees are vital to our planet and to humanity. But there is a difference between knowing that as a vague concept and feeling a true connection with trees. I think the easiest, fastest and most enjoyable way to build that connection is to understand the things we see. If every colour, texture and shape we see in every part of a tree has meaning, we find ourselves noticing more and this leads to a connection.

Q. What do you perceive to be the biggest threat to trees currently?
Like most people, I’m concerned by the economic pressures in some parts of the world to deforest, notably South America. But my one biggest fear is a pathogen that isn’t species-fussy. Just imagine ash dieback that didn’t just attack ash trees? (Actually don’t, unless you are a scientist looking for future solutions.)

Q. The UK has one of the lowest levels of woodland cover in Europe. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on what we are doing here at The Future Forest Company?
Nature is strongest when there is a rich and varied ecosystem with lots of different species coexisting in the same space. And this feeds into to my feeling about tree planting in the UK. I really like that this is a growing area and that it isn’t dominated by one public or private organisation. Diversity in this area leads to slightly different approaches and my gut tells me that will lead to a more positive result than if one organisation called all the shots. I look forward to learning more about how The Future Forest Company fits into this positive ecosystem.

Q. Can you give us a top tip from the book?
Notice how the seasons appear at different times within each tree. Spring comes earlier to low branches on tall trees than it does to the tops of those same trees. Autumn appears first high up on the southern side of tall trees.

You can find How To Read A Tree new by Tristan Gooley in bookshops– out 13th April 2023.

Help us to plant UK woodlands today. We offer a range of subscription plans and one-off gifts, you can contribute towards tree planting, conserving and restoring biodiversity on our UK sites and have a positive impact on reversing the nature crisis.

References

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-11970431/If-youre-lost-woods-ask-tree-directions.html

https://thefutureforestcompany.com/2023/04/05/qa-how-to-read-a-tree-with-tristan-gooley/

https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/tristan-gooley/how-to-read-a-tree/9781529339598/

The ‘eco homes’ plan so absurd locals thought it was an APRIL FOOL joke! Developers want to tear down 70 trees to create an ‘urban oasis’ in historic woodland in famous Cadbury’s village

A business consortium has sparked fury in a British village famous for its Cadbury chocolate factory over plans to cut down historic trees and build ‘eco homes’ instead.

Bournbrook Secret Woods’s plan for an ‘eco village’ has angered residents of Bournville, Birmingham, after it was revealed 70 historic trees would be cut down to accommodate eco homes, a treetop walkway, car park and large community centre.

Residents, who have fought off plans for homes and phone masts on the woodland, thought the plan was an ‘April Fool’ after discovering the consultation website on April 1 but soon realised it was genuine and have since called on Birmingham City Council councillor Mary Locke to intervene.

The consortium claims the plan will ‘regenerate a mismanaged, long forgotten and overgrown woodland into an urban oasis of biodiversity’.

But residents have hit back and claimed the area is already a ‘perfect eco environment’ with a rich diversity of foxes, squirrels, hawks and butterflies.

Ria, who has lived in the area for 20 years, said: ‘The area is already a perfect eco environment. ‘We see foxes sunbathing on our garden and squirrels visit everyday – we’ve even seen harrier hawks visit our garden. How can anyone think that destroying all this natural beauty is eco-friendly?’

Residents have also said the consortium’s claim the woodland is a ‘hive of anti-social behaviour’ with habitual fly tipping and illegal tree felling is false.

The land was purchased by Bournbrook Secret Woods Ltd for £75,000 in November 2022. The company is comprised of James Hewson, Lee Blake and Melissa Jones, none of whom appear to live in Bournville.

Residents are also worried thousands of visitors attracted to the eco village’s community centre would turn their quiet drive where children often cycle into a busy road.

Some claimed the green space at the top of Sparrey Drive, where children play during the summer, would also be lost to the eco village.

There have been numerous attempts to build on the land over the years, from houses to phone masts, and each application has been rejected by residents.

Sparrey Drive, along with its branches of Hawkes Close and Lea Yield Close, was created on the site of the once busy Cadbury railway sidings in 1985 – the final train of chocolate having departed some seven years earlier.

The Cadbury brothers moved their chocolate business to the area from the backstreets of Birmingham and opened the Cadbury factory in 1879.

Soon after, they founded the model village of Bournville which took its name from the nearby River Bourn and the French word ‘ville’, meaning village.

By 1895, 143 cottages were built for the factory’s employees over a total of 140 acres of land. They were intended to be ‘decent quality’ with spacious rooms and good sanitation – the antithesis to Birmingham’s overcrowded slums

The factory had a field next to it where men were encouraged to play cricket and football as well as a garden and playground for women, according to Cadbury.

Comments from the Consultation Document {below}

THE HISTORY OF THE WOODS
This once beautiful, tranquile and long forgotten woodland was previously owned by the Cadbury Family and has been left untouched for over 100 years. Nestled between Bournville and Stirchley, this 3.5 acres of land used to boast luscious green spaces, a variety of trees and be home to diverse wildlife. Unfortunately it has now become a hive of anti-social behaviour including; fly tipping, drug use, people sleeping rough, locals chopping down trees to use as firewood and teenagers drinking and shouting late at night. Bourn Brook runs along the bottom of the woods and a beautiful walk that once linked the canal to Stirchley has been lost to many dead trees and overgrown bushes. It is our dream to continue the Cadbury Family legacy and reopen this secret wood so that the local community and visitors from all over the UK can enjoy the surroundings, play, work and live here for years to come.

We anticipate that day trippers to Cadbury World, dog walkers, joggers and families would make good use of the wood everyday. We will effectively create a new, stunning space where people will congregate, talk, exercise and be social.

THE BIG ECO-BUILD
To even consider developing a woodland initially seems at odds with a conservation outlook, which is why picking the right build to sustain the natural environment is fundamental. This space deserves a sympathetic approach and our ambition will see desperately needed new eco homes provided, from 1-bed to 4 bed with provision for social housing too. Sustainability is key and at every possible opportunity, we will utilise the latest eco technologies to ensure the build becomes an exemplar to carbon neutral communities.

We will utilise cutting edge renewable technologies such as; ground source heat pumps, triple glazing, flexible solar panels and locally prefabricated modern methods of construction all aimed at delivering first class eco-homes that are future proof. Along the way, we plan to engage with local schools and youth groups to share our vision and learning and to demonstrate how building green from the start pays dividends in the long run, with the new home owners having extremely low running costs. We want to be proud of what we achieve and make sure the local community is glad we have chosen this site for the project.

PHASE 1
THE SECRET WOODS
Hidden away for decades, these woods are under-utilised and badly managed. The initial ecological report highlights that for the last 50 years, self sown trees have been allowed to grow unabated, stealing light and growing too big, diminishing the variety of flora and fauna. As a result, low quality Sycamore trees dominate the landscape, which are reaching maturity and will start to die, causing problems to other trees, any walkers and nearby properties. Our arboricultural consultant agrees that the majority of category U trees should be removed for the greater good of the woodland. We plan to sensitively build around the B rated trees which will thrive given more space and light. The Secret Woods will be home to up to 6, 3 storey sustainably built eco houses magically floating on stilts with undercover car parking. Linked by a private road off Sparrey Drive, these inspiring structures will become part of the surrounding woodland, blending in with the landscape. A public foot / bike path with disabled access, a treetop canopy walk bridge and an outdoor natural gym situated on the banks of Bourn Brook are all part of the overall plan.

PHASE 2
STIRCHLEY ECO EDUCATION &
COMMUNITY HUB
Lessons learned and technology employed on the build should be shared, so as part of the community development element, we intend to build an eco education and community hub.

The brand new visitor attraction will be owned by a Community Interest Company with any surplus revenue being reinvested into environmental projects across Birmingham.

Functionality to be imagined alongside user groups but likely to include;

Co working space – Reducing city commutes for those needing desk space
Business incubator space – Encouraging shared ideas and entrepreneurship
Community rooms – Subsidised, bookable room hire for groups and individuals
Community cafe / coffee shop
Eco-education centre – Sharing knowledge and providing contacts
Accommodation above – Schools, Scouts, Youth groups and tourists will be able to stay
Cycle hire
Car pool
Fruit orchard
Bee hives
SEECH will be a unique eco-led education and community hub, resulting in more visitors staying longer and spending more in the local community – increasing economic activity and providing jobs for local people. We plan to educate thousands of people each year on the benefits of carbon neutrality.

FULL CONSULTATION DOCUMENT ~ click link below.

https://www.bournvilleecovillage.co.uk/

https://ukdaily.news/westmidlands/anger-at-eco-village-offer-in-cadburys-backyard-plan-to-cut-down-70-trees-in-bournville-woods-195973.html