tailieunhanh - Women raise their voices against tree plantations - The role of the European Union in disempowering women in the South

Palm oil production in Cameroon is expected to rise by about 6% per annum from 1980 to 1985 to 138 000 t and consumption by per annum over the same period to 106 000 t , leaving 32 000 t available for export. By 1985 CAMDEV should be producing about 26 000 t. Future consumption in Cameroon is expected to grow at about per annum and given the present per caput consumption of about 10 kg per annum, this growth must continue well into the future before the saturation level of about 30 kg. | Women raise their voices against tree plantations The role of the European Union in disempowering women in the South March 2009 Forests and Biodiversity Program - Friends of the Earth International World Rainforest Movement Women raise their voices against tree plantations Introduction The European Union has signed a number of treaties and conventions and developed a major body of legislation aimed at achieving gender For the European Union EU Equality between women and men is a fundamental right a common value of the EU and a necessary condition for the achievement of the EU objectives of growth employment and social cohesion. While inequalities between men and women still persist in EU member states at least some conditions have been created to advance towards making gender equality a reality. However the issue of the equality of rights between men and women seems to lose -in practice- its importance for the EU outside its borders2. As the concrete cases analyzed in this document show European Union consumption levels policies and corporations are playing a major role in disempowering women in countries of the South. This is being done through the conversion of local ecosystems and farmlands used to grow food crops into monoculture plantations of different species of trees such as eucalyptus oil palm and rubber trees. High levels of consumption among inhabitants of the EU are based on a range of raw materials supplied largely by Southern countries oil minerals pulp for paper making palm oil rubber meat grains fruit shrimp wood flowers etc. . The extraction of these raw materials is done by corporations and carries an extremely high social and environmental cost especially for the populations of the countries of the South. In order for these raw materials and the products made from them to be produced and made available to the European public a series of trade policies are formulated to promote the development of different corporations in the South. .