At the end of 1993, a US multinational company, Trillium Co.,
bought 2700 square kilometres of forest in the Chilean half of the
Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, and followed this up with a
purchase, in 1994, of almost a thousand square kilometres in the
Argentinian half. Faced with ever tightening environmental
legislation and well- organized pressure groups at home, Trillium
seemed to have found easy pickings in Tierra del Fuego: vast
swathes of ancient temperate hardwood forest in an area with a tiny
population base and a young, emergent political structure. Their
interest lay primarily in a wood ideal for the furniture industry:
Patagonian lenga (high deciduous beech).
The issue had all the hallmarks of a neocolonial hit-and-run
raid. No thorough, independent environmental impact studies had
been carried out; no system had been elaborated for regular
supervision of the company's logging practices; and no
consideration had been given to the potential value of the forests
as a future tourist resource. Envisaging a repeat of the disastrous
rape of the temperate forests similar to that which has occurred in
recent decades in mainland Chilean Patagonia, environmental groups
Defensores de los Bosques Chilenos on the Chilean side, and
Finis Terrae , based in Ushuaia, resolved not to let
Trillium steamroller local concerns. The groups scored several
legal victories along the way, despite woefully inadequate
resources. In 1999, just after logging had started in Chile,
permission to proceed with logging in Argentina was finally
granted, despite petitions that demonstrated the remarkable degree
of public concern about the issue on an island that depends heavily
on tourism, but these decisions are being appealed against.
Environmental damage could well be catastrophic. Soil
erosion is a great fear: topsoils on the island are very thin,
winds are strong, and there's heavy rainfall. A diverse native
forest ecosystem can absorb up to fifty times as much rainfall as
agricultural land; with much of this felled, the purity of the
island's lakes and streams would be affected by run-off and wood
pulp. Regeneration takes at least thirty years, with most
lenga trees taking over a hundred years to reach maturity.
Naturally, environmental groups would like to see the cessation of
all logging if possible, believing the value of the forests far
exceeds the value of their timber. However, if logging is to
continue, the groups aim to ensure that the local community
benefits in some way, with wood being processed on the island for
high-value manufactured items such as furniture parts, and not just
exported as planks. Their campaign will focus on ensuring that the
company is committed to sustainable practices, so that promised
jobs and investment do indeed prove to be long term.
For more information on the campaign, contact Finis Terrae, Ap.
Postal No. 22, C.P. 9410 Ushuaia (phone 02901/434122, fax
433302)