A New Day for Liberia

More than 90 members of the Bassa tribe living near Buchanan, Liberia, were arrested in January for refusing to leave their land that they had lived on for more than 100 years. Green Advocates is providing legal assistance to them and others forced off their land. PHOTO: Green Advocates

Jerome Verdier is a leading human rights and environmental lawyer at the Association of Environmental Lawyers (Green Advocates), Liberia`s only public interest environmental law organization. Jerome traveled to Eugene recently on a Working Exchange Fellowship at E-LAW U.S.

E-LAW U.S. helped Jerome and his colleagues launch Green Advocates in 2001 and is providing Green Advocates with critical legal and scientific support for their efforts to strengthen the rule of law and defend the environment and human rights in Liberia.

In a new effort, E-LAW U.S. is helping Green Advocates create and host a web site. This web site will make critical environmental resources available to Liberians and help Green Advocates raise its public profile.

15 years of civil war

In 2003, President Charles Taylor fled Liberia for refuge in Nigeria, and a transitional government came into power. This brought to an end more than 15 years of civil war in Liberia. A root cause of this longstanding war was uncontrolled exploitation of Liberia`s natural resources, fueled by government corruption.

Liberia is home to two of the three largest remaining intact blocks of Upper Guinean rainforest. These forests harbor many endemic species found nowhere else, including the pygmy hippopotamus, zebra duiker, and Liberian mongoose. Liberia is also rich in mineral deposits.

In the past, Liberian communities had a voice in the management of forests and mineral deposits. In recent years, corrupt government officials and companies friendly to the government have run Liberia like their personal farm -- harvesting timber, mining gold and iron -- while squandering profits and damaging ecosystems.

Jerome is photographed here with E-LAW U.S. Executive Director, Bern Johnson, as guests on Eugene`s new Air America affiliate, KOPT-1600 AM.

"We want to see a new generation of leaders who have compassion for people and will respect the rule of law," says Jerome. E-LAW U.S. is working with Green Advocates to ensure that in this time of rebuilding, Liberia puts in place strong environmental laws that provide citizens with a real opportunity to participate in decisions about the environment, and help communities implement and enforce these laws.

Jerome is currently working pro bono to ensure the indictment and prosecution of Liberia`s former president, Charles Taylor, by the International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone. Taylor is accused of crimes against humanity, as well as the plunder of Sierra Leone`s natural resources. Jerome is the Director of Liberia Democracy Watch and has worked for years to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance in Liberia.

A transitional government is now in place in Liberia and elections are planned for October.

E-LAW U.S. thanks the Whole Systems Foundation, the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the University of Oregon School of Law Public Interest-Public Service Program, and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics for supporting Jerome`s public presentation at the University of Oregon School of Law ("Fighting for Human Rights and the Environment: Liberia After Charles Taylor," April 14, 2005), and his participation in the 2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting and the 23rd Public Interest Environmental Law Conference .

Oil Palm Plantations Threaten Amazon Forest

An ECOLEX workshop in the Choco region.

Ecuador is home to more species than almost any other nation on earth. This small country, straddling the equator in the Andean highlands, is home to the Galapagos Islands, alpine grasslands, coastal swamps, snow-swept volcanoes, and nearly impenetrable Amazonian jungle.

E-LAW U.S. is working with grassroots advocates at the Corporacion de Gestion y Derecho Ambiental (ECOLEX), based in Quito, to promote sustainable management of these unique ecosystems.

Manolo Morales, Executive Director of ECOLEX, traveled to Eugene early this year to work with E-LAW U.S. and participate in the 2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting and the 23rd Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.

While in Eugene, Manolo collaborated with E-LAW U.S. on his organization`s efforts to protect the Choco forests (near the Colombia border) and Ecuador`s coastal ecosystems. In May, E-LAW U.S. Environmental Research Scientist, Meche Lu, traveled to Ecuador to work with ECOLEX.

Choco forests

In 2002, the Government of Ecuador authorized the conversion of 50,000 hectares of tropical forest in the Choco region of western Ecuador into oil palm plantations. Clearing forests for this monoculture crop has threatened thousands of endemic species and introduced dangerous pesticides to local ecosystems. Manolo is working with E-LAW U.S. to ensure that oil palm plantations and their associated palm oil processing plants in the Choco region do not harm local ecosystems and the health of local communities.

As this issue of the E-LAW Advocate goes to press, Meche is in Ecuador working with Manolo and his colleagues at ECOLEX. She is conducting site visits to oil palm plantations and factories in San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, and educating local communities there about the results of local water quality analysis and the impacts of intensive pesticide use. The following is an excerpt from a field report she e-mailed from Quito.

E-LAW U.S. thanks the Overbrook Foundation and the Leo Model Foundation for their valuable support of our work in Ecuador.

Subject: Ecuador Trip Report
From: Meche Lu
Date: Fri. 20 May 2005
To: elawus@elaw.org

We crossed half the territory of the country in four days, from Quito, in the Andes, at about 6,000 feet, to the tropical forest of the Choco. We met with the people of San Lorenzo in Esmeraldas, the most remote place you can imagine. This is an area of African-Ecuadorian communities totally forgotten, with no electricity or running water.

We had an excellent workshop with the communities affected by the oil palm plantations. There were approximately 25 community representatives from the surrounding villages. This is an area where 36,000 hectares of oil palm plantations use pesticides intensively. The people complain about the pesticides and the effluents from the processing plants.

We visited La Chiquita, a 35 family village of African -Ecuadorian subsistence farmers in the middle of the forest, who subsist totally on the forest. The people were great, and offered us huarapo, fruits, sugar cane, and sugar cane juice. They were very happy, but live in poverty.

We exchanged information and I explained the impacts of oil palm plantations, pesticide use and the pollution from the processing plants. Manolo and Silvana are well-known by this community because both of them worked in the area for about 10 years before they started ECOLEX.

Victories & Steps Along the Way: Peru, Chile, Spain, Tanzania, Honduras, South Africa

E-LAW U.S. has collaborated with partners around the world to win hundreds of victories for the environment, public health, and human rights. These victories mean that forests and critical ecosystems are healthier, and communities around the world are breathing cleaner air and drinking cleaner water. A few recent successes illustrate E-LAW’s high impact work.

Protecting Public Health in Peru

La Oroya, Peru

High in the Peruvian Andes, the community of La Oroya is gravely affected by lead, arsenic, sulfur dioxide, and cadmium emissions from a U.S. corporation`s polymetallic smelter. According to the Peruvian health ministry, nearly all children in the area under the age of six have lead blood levels above the guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.

E-LAW U.S. has worked for many years with partners at the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA) and the Civil Association Labor (LABOR) to conduct soil and dust sampling, provide information about the health effects of smelter emissions, interpret the results of environmental monitoring, and help the community take steps to make its voice heard about the public health crisis.

In April, a Lima court ordered the Peruvian Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Environmental Health to take steps to alleviate the public health crisis in La Oroya. The court`s decision resolves a lawsuit filed by local residents (with support from SPDA, LABOR and other organizations) that alleges government authorities failed to comply with Peru`s health and environmental quality laws.

E-LAW U.S. Environmental Research Scientist, Meche Lu, recently traveled to Peru to provide technical support to the community groups and NGOs pushing for a more rapid clean-up of La Oroya. Meche observed: "The authorities need to present a plan to address the public health crisis. Meanwhile, we will continue to support the community and their effort to protect the environment and public health."

Chile to Compensate Toxic Waste Victims

In a strong victory for citizens and the environment, a Court of Appeals in Chile has ruled that a company acted maliciously when it contaminated the northern border town of Arica. The court ordered the company to pay for restoring the environment. The Court of Appeals also reversed a lower court and ordered the government of Chile to compensate 176 victims of the toxic contamination.

In the mid-1980s, a Chilean company, Promel, imported 20,000 tons of lead- and arsenic-laced mining wastes to Arica for reprocessing. The company then abandoned the wastes. Later, children living in low income housing near the wastes were found to have dangerously high levels of lead and arsenic in their bodies.

E-LAW U.S. worked with advocates at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) as they filed a case in local court to force the company and government authorities to remediate the contaminated area and compensate the affected citizens. Although the government moved the waste piles to a ravine just outside of Arica, a substantial amount of contaminated soil was left behind.

E-LAW U.S. Environmental Research Scientist, Meche Lu, collected a soil sample from an affected neighborhood for analysis at a laboratory in Oregon. The sample was found to contain lead and arsenic levels far above those considered safe by the World Health Organization. Meche returned to Arica with FIMA attorney Francisco Ferrada to testify in court about the results of the soil analysis. She informed the court about the continuing risks of contamination in the affected neighborhoods.

Meche`s deposition was critical to May`s ruling. In an e-mail message announcing the victory, Jose Ignacio Pinochet, FIMA Executive Director, wrote: "The direct help of E-LAW was key."

Chile Protects Endangered Hardwood

Remains of an ancient alerce tree
PHOTO: Carlos Poblete

E-LAW advocate Miguel Fredes has scored a major victory against a multi-million dollar illegal logging racket that was devastating ancient forests in southern Chile.

For years, the government of Chile has allowed trade in the endangered "alerce" tree, a majestic conifer that is a relative to the giant sequoia. One tree in Chile`s southern coastal forest is said to be 3,620 years old.

Despite the alerce`s ancient heritage, Chilean authorities have been using an exception to CITES, an international convention to stop the trade of endangered species, to export alerce to the U.S. The CITES exception allowed export of alerce logged before 1973 (when alerce was added to the endangered list) or trees damaged by fire or disease.

Miguel suspected that the CITES exception encouraged illegal logging of healthy trees and arson for salvage logging.

E-LAW U.S. connected Miguel to Cheryl Coon, a Portland, Oregon-based pro bono attorney. Cheryl worked with E-LAW U.S. Staff Attorney Jen Gleason to help Miguel use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain information from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Customs concerning import of alerce into the U.S. Miguel followed a trail of documents that laid the groundwork for a criminal investigation of authorities in Chile.

In April, Miguel won a landmark victory when Chile`s government announced it was closing the longstanding CITES loophole, and ordering no further export or trade in alerce. In early May, police arrested the mayor of the small community of Fresia, near Puerto Montt, for his alleged role in this illegal trade.

Protecting Birds in Central Spain

Airport near the ZEPA Campos de Calatrava. An endangered eagle (inset).

E-LAW advocates in Spain are making progress challenging an ill-advised airport project, proposed for an area near the ZEPA Campos de Calatrava, a protected area for birds in Ciudad Real in central Spain.

Attorney Gines Ruiz, working on behalf of Sociedad Española de Ornitología/BirdLife, called on E-LAW U.S. to review the project`s environmental impact assessment (EIA).

E-LAW U.S. scientists provided Gines with information about the potential effects of noise and air emissions on the endangered birds, and identified serious flaws in the airport design and management plan that put birds at risk. The science team also noted that the EIA lacked a risk assessment of aviation safety hazards caused by impacts with birds.

SEO/BirdLife sent the E-LAW U.S. conclusions to the European Union Commission, explaining that the proposed project violates EU regulations. Shortly thereafter, Spain`s Ministry of Public Buildings issued an order to stop the airport project.

Unfortunately, work on the airport project is underway. SEO/BirdLife has sent a report to the EU Commission, informing them that the project has not been halted. Gines is hoping for a positive ruling from the EU Court of Justice.

Cleaning up Lake Victoria

E-LAW partners in Tanzania have made progress cleaning up Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world.

Two large fish-processing plants in Mwanza, Tanzania, have been discharging untreated effluent directly into the lake. E-LAW U.S. worked with James Njelwa at the Lawyers` Environmental Action Team`s (LEAT) Mwanza office to design an environmental monitoring plan and test the effluent. Lab results showed harmful and impermissible levels of organic pollutants.

Since the monitoring, one of the companies installed an effluent treatment plant and the other one closed. Although further progress is needed (the company still operating must expand its treatment capacity) the lake is cleaner.

Congratulations to our partners at LEAT!

Hope for Natural Resources in Honduras

E-LAW advocate Clarisa Vega offers new hope for protecting reefs and coastal ecosystems in Honduras. Following her fellowship at E-LAW U.S. in the fall of 2004 (see E-LAW Advocate, Autumn 2004), Clarisa returned home to Tegucigalpa and gathered professional colleagues to launch the Environmental Law Institute of Honduras (IDAMHO).

IDAMHO and E-LAW co-hosted a conference in La Ceiba, Honduras, in April 2005, to educate community members and NGO leaders about using legal tools to protect the environment. The workshop was one of a series sponsored by E-LAW U.S. and led by members of the Mesoamerican Legal Strategy Group, a regional coalition of advocates working to protect the Reef in their home countries.

Reefs in Honduras have been damaged by Hurricane Mitch, coral bleaching events, pollution and sedimentation from coastal watersheds, and poor fishing and tourism practices. Protecting the reefs and promoting sustainable tourism could bring much needed revenue to the North Coast and Bay Islands of Honduras, where local NGOs are working hard to protect and restore diversity.

Since the workshop, Clarisa has traveled to Utila and Omoa Baracoa to help local groups develop site-specific legal strategies to address reef problems. IDAMHO will help these communities and others safeguard their natural resources. E-LAW advocates around the world will contribute to and learn from IDAMHO`s work.

E-LAW U.S. thanks the Summit Foundation for supporting this work to build the capacity of local advocates in Belize, Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala to protect the Mesoamerican Reef.

Nuclear Power Plant Halted in South Africa

In January, a South African High Court halted plans to build a mini-nuclear reactor in Koeberg, north of Cape Town. E-LAW U.S. Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik helped grassroots advocates in South Africa challenge this ill-advised project.

This victory is a triumph for public participation because it recognizes that citizens seeking to participate in decisions about a prospective development must be able to obtain information about that development. This is the first case in South Africa where a court stopped a project because the proponents and the regulatory authority failed to provide the public access to critical documents. This important legal precedent will ensure that South Africans can more fully participate in decisions that affect their communities.

E-LAW U.S. congratulates E-LAW advocates Adrian Pole, Angela Andrews, and Eugene Cairncross. Adrian is an environmental attorney practicing in Durban, South Africa. Angela is an attorney with the Legal Resource Centre in Cape Town. She represented Earthlife Africa, which was the applicant in the review case. Eugene is a scientist at Peninsula Technikon.

Inside E-LAW U.S.: 2005 Annual Meeting, Thanks Rep. DeFazio & Sen. Wyden

2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting
February 27 - March 3, 2005
Yachats, Oregon

The 2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting was a tremendous gathering of leading environmental defenders from around the world. Committed advocates from 30 countries came together in Yachats, on the Oregon coast, to collaborate on critical work to protect the environment, public health, and human rights.

This year`s meeting included two special workshops to help environmental leaders build skills to reform international finance and trade, and use science to safeguard public health.

Kay Treakle, Program Officer with the C.S. Mott Foundation, participated in the workshop on international finance and trade. She was joined by David Hunter, an E-LAW U.S. Board Member with extensive experience working with accountability mechanisms for international financial institutions. Participants found the training valuable and are now giving communities a stronger voice in reforming international financial institutions and preventing environmental degradation.

E-LAW U.S. scientists Mark Chernaik and Meche Lu facilitated the science workshop. They were joined by E-LAW U.S. board member Glenn Miller. Glenn is Director of the Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences and Health at the University of Nevada at Reno and has tremendous experience addressing the environmental impacts of mining.

The workshop helped environmental lawyers: 1) protect family health by helping communities participate effectively in the review of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for proposed projects; 2) clean up polluted environments by obtaining data about environmental conditions; and 3) present expert opinions about environmental threats and protecting citizens` health to courts and agencies.

Following the workshop, E-LAW advocates have been applying what they learned. For example, attorneys in Nepal identified deficiencies in the EIA for a proposed medical waste management program that includes an incineration facility in the Kathmandu valley. Medical waste incinerators frequently emit significant amounts of dioxin, which can be particularly hazardous to children and pregnant women. E-LAW U.S. is also helping these attorneys obtain an affidavit from leading groundwater resource experts to educate the Supreme Court of Nepal about the potential harm of unregulated groundwater abstraction in the Kathmandu valley.

Special thanks to the many generous supporters that made the 2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting possible.

Welcome Aidan!

Glenn Gillis and his wife Lisa welcome the arrival of Aidan, born in Eugene on April 21. Glenn is E-LAW U.S. Information Technology Manager. Aidan is Glenn and Lisa`s first child.

Thank you

Congressman DeFazio is photographed with Simon Amaduobogha, a Nigerian attorney who is launching the Community Defence Law Foundation. CDLF will become Nigeria`s only non-profit organization filing lawsuits on behalf of communities against oil companies.

U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore) and District Aid Phillip Hudspeth have been instrumental in helping E-LAW U.S. secure visas for grassroots advocates traveling to Eugene to collaborate with E-LAW U.S. Forty grassroots advocates from 30 countries traveled to Oregon in February to participate in the 2005 E-LAW Annual Meeting. This would not have been possible without Representative DeFazio`s help.

Representative DeFazio also helps in other ways. He has joined U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) and submitted letters of support on behalf of E-LAW U.S. for funding proposals submitted to the U.S. State Department`s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Thank you Congressman DeFazio and Senator Wyden!