DEFORESTATION IN VENEZUELA: MISSION TREE OR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001755

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OES/PCI, OES/ETC, OES/EGC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2017
TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV VE
SUBJECT: DEFORESTATION IN VENEZUELA: MISSION TREE OR
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

REF: 2006 CARACAS 01791

Classified By: Economic Counselor Andrew N. Bowen for Reason 1.4 (D)


1. (SBU) Summary: Despite Chavez' pro-environment rhetoric
and support for replanting thousands of trees through his
Mission Tree ("Mision Arbol"),deforestation rates have not
abated. Lack of transparency and enforcement of
environmental laws have undermined BRV progress, and
Venezuela now finds itself on the top ten list of countries
with the largest net forest loss per year. Politicization of
the BRV's technical institutions, Chavez' desire to resettle
Venezuela's interior, and his willingness to launch an
environmentally destructive mega-gas pipeline indicate a
greater appreciation for the value of conservation propaganda
than implementing sustainable environmental policies. While
reforestation projects are a step forward, much of Chavez'
pro-environment rhetoric remains words on paper that have yet
to achieve tangible results. End Summary.

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Venezuela's Forests
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2. (U) With approximately 47.7 million hectares (118 million
acres) of forested land, Venezuelan territory is nearly half
covered by forests. These forests stand out globally for
their biodiversity; Venezuela ranks among the top twenty
countries in the world for the number of indigenous plants,
mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles. In the last forty
years, roughly 80 percent of Venezuela's estimated
deforestation has occurred north of the Orinoco River, where
most of the major population centers are located.
Approximately 80 percent of the remaining Venezuelan forests
are located south of the Orinoco River in the sparsely
populated Guayana region, which includes the Delta Amacuro,
Bolivar, and Amazonas states. Illegal mining and timber
operations, along with mining runoff and small agriculture
land invasions threaten these forests.

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Deforestation Numbers Tell a Different Story
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3. (SBU) Many of Chavez' supporters promote the image of
Chavez as Venezuela's "first green president," vehemently
blaming previous Venezuelan governments for deforestation and
environmental destruction. During his frequent public
addresses, Chavez often rails against the United States and
multinationals for anti-environment policies, while talking
expansively about his pro-environment vision. Americo
Catalan, director of Forest Investigation and Projects at the
Ministry of the Peoples Power for Environment and Resources
(MPPARN),said in a 2006 interview that he believed that
deforestation rates in Venezuela have diminished under
Chavez. However, the numbers tell a different story.


4. (SBU) Between 1982 and 1995, Venezuela suffered an average
annual deforestation rate of over 260,000 hectares (642,473
acres) according to the international conservation NGO,
Global Forest Watch (GFW). Despite BRV claims that the
situation is improving, according to the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO),from 2000 to 2005 Venezuela
lost 287,600 hectares (710,675 acres) per year, an 11 percent
increase in the number of hectares lost. In fact, from
2000-2005 Venezuela joined the ten countries with the largest
net forest loss per year, a list that included: Brazil,
Indonesia, Sudan, Burma, Zambia, Tanzania, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe.

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Mission Tree or Mission Impossible?
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5. (C) To the BRV's credit, Chavez' response to being placed
on the top 10 deforestation list was to initiate Mission Tree
("Mision Arbol"). Begun in May 2006, Mission Tree is a
grassroots reforestation program with a USD 23 million budget
and a five-year goal of replanting 370,000 acres of forest.
As part of this program, the BRV paid peasant farmers and
school children minimum wage (approximately USD 14 per day)
to organize Conservation Committees that design and implement
reforestation projects on their lands. Daniela Vizcaino, the
coordinator of Conservation International in the Guayana
region, told Econoff that she has been impressed with how
Mission Tree actually gave subsidies to illegal miners,
providing them with an alternative form of income. A

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proposed Forest Law also would make stopping the loss of
native forests an environmental priority and incorporate the
Conservation Committees into the Communal Councils. (Note:
Communal Councils refer to grassroots community organizations
that the BRV is pushing to the political forefront. End
Note.)


6. (C) Alejandro Luy from the Venezuelan sustainable
development NGO, Tierra Viva, told Econoff during an August
meeting that although many of the BRV's environmental
programs are well intentioned, they are often poorly
executed. He specifically cited Mission Tree as an example
of this. While Luy agreed with the goals of this mission,
the results on the ground were far more meager than the
government's propaganda, noting that the participants lacked
the technical capacity and methodology to implement this type
of program. Environmental groups have also noted that
Venezuela typically loses twice the amount of forest per year
than the mission plans on replanting.

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Forest Reserves without Forests
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7. (SBU) The BRV has argued that deforestation had been
reduced in Venezuela thanks to Chavez' expansion of the Areas
Under Regulation of the Special Administration (ABRAE)
system, a program initially formed in 1983 to protect and
conserve land and resources in national parks and reserves.
The BRV has claimed that over 46 percent of the total
Venezuelan territory is protected under the ABRAE system and
almost a third of Venezuela's forest. This, if true, would
make it one of the largest extensions of "protected" land in
Latin America.


8. (C) Although these numbers should be encouraging, only 15
percent of these protected areas actually have "rules for
appropriate use." Even one of the columnists from the
Pro-Chavez propaganda website Venezuelaanlysis.com wrote,
"with the lack of regulation, inherent corruption and, the
rules left open to interpretation, it appears that many of
the ABRAE designations are protected only on paper, and it is
easy to see how in Venezuela, there can exist a forest
reserve without a forest." In its 2002 "State of Venezuela's
Forests" report, GFW said that Venezuela has succeeded in
establishing a complex protected area system, but warned that
the overlapping types of protected areas, the uncertainty
regarding protected area boundaries, and the lack of
systematic on-the-ground management undermined the country's
forest conservation efforts. Vizcaino also told Econoff that
despite having been impressed by some of the MPPARN's recent
"rules for appropriate use" proposals, she had yet to observe
any implementation of these plans.

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BRV Forest Policies in Action
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9. (SBU) A glaring example of Bolivarian hypocrisy is its
treatment of the Imataca Forest Reserve. Located in the
Guayana region, the Imataca Forest Reserve is a 3.6 million
hectare (9 million acres) reserve home to no less than 5
different indigenous peoples. It also potentially holds one
of the largest gold reserves (estimated at 21 million ounces)
in Latin America and timber valued at USD 6 billion. In
1997, Venezuela's former President Rafael Caldera signed
decree 1,850 designating roughly 40 percent of the total
surface for logging and mining. This decree was roundly
condemned by environmental groups and politicians including
candidate Chavez who argued, "if we have to cut the forest in
order to get to the gold, then I will stay with the forest."
Due to the popular backlash, decree 1,850 was not implemented
and the Supreme Court nullified the decree. Despite earlier
promises, in 2004 Chavez signed decree 3,110 which designated
12 percent of the surface of the Imataca Forest Reserve for
mixed logging and mining use, and another 60 percent for wood
logging. In total, this decree zoned 72 percent or 2.7
million hectares of this massive reserve for mining and
logging use.

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Trying to Save the Forests without Maps or Data
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10. (SBU) A major obstacle preventing successful conservation
in Venezuela is the lack of government transparency and
reliable data. While northern Venezuela has been relatively

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well surveyed, much of the Guayana region lacks even basic
cartography such as detailed topographic maps and an accurate
hydrology map. Important information on forest cover, the
status of mining concessions, compliance with environmental
permitting, and sanctions against both mining and logging
concessions are either not available or considered
confidential. According to GFW, this lack of data and

SIPDIS
transparency is especially problematic because it precludes
sound planning and informed decision making. Even GFW
Venezuela's requests for basic cartographic date (such as the
official territorial boundary) to conduct an elaborate
independent study of Venezuela's forests have not been
answered to date.

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The Great Gas Pipeline of the South
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11. (SBU) One of Chavez' pet projects that would have
dramatic environmental consequences if implemented would be
the Gas Pipeline of the South (Reftel A). This USD 20
billion project would stretch some 5,000 miles of pipeline
from the Orinoco in Northeast Venezuela south through Bolivar
state into Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Along the way
this pipeline would go through Canaima national park, the
Amazon, and numerous other protected forested areas. Chavez
has said that this project is not motivated by economic
reasons, explaining that he would sell gas to the U.S. if he
were interested in profiting. A Venezuelan environmental
group, Friends of the Great Savannah, has stated that this
project would be "the definitive step for the destruction of
the Amazon, the Venezuela Guayana, and diverse ecosystems of
the Caribbean and Atlantic Coastline." However, as even
Chavez has admitted, the pipeline plan appears to have been
halted due to rumored opposition from Brazil.

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Unopposed Land Invasions
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12. (SBU) Land invasions in national parks have become an
increasingly easy to observe problem in Venezuela. The BRV
has shown little interest or political will for evicting
squatters, whom it views as its natural supporters. In fact,
Chavez has stated publicly his desire to move people from the
over-crowded cities back to the interior of the country, a
policy GFW has noted would rapidly increase the pace of
deforestation.

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Politicizing Technical Institutions
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13. (C) Our NGO contacts unanimously agree that it has become
increasingly difficult to work with the BRV. The consensus
among NGO contacts is that while it is still possible to
cooperate with agencies such as the National Park Institute
(INPARQUES),an autonomous institute that has administrative
control over federally protected land, it has become more
difficult as it has become increasingly politicized. Post
has observed and experienced this as well. In 2006, the then
director of INPARQUES, Renzo Silva had agreed to a
cooperation project with Post where we would provide
INPARQUES with technical on-the-ground forest fire training
for a 2-3 week period. When Econoff followed up with
INPARQUES in February 2007, it became apparent that the whole
INPARQUES team had been changed, and the new director showed
no interest in cooperating with the USG. Rather than
developing new methods for enforcing Venezuelan laws,
INPARQUES' current efforts have been focused on developing a
convoluted proposal on its transformation from a national
park institute to a socialist institution.

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Comment
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14. (C) Although many of Chavez' supporters argue that his
progressive environmental policies and rhetoric are big
improvements over the past, it is difficult to reconcile the
BRV's unwillingness to displace squatters, conduct necessary
surveys, or enforce its current regulations with
conservation. Even though the BRV has some well-intentioned
policies and projects, it has yet to efficiently implement
them. Despite some progress, much of Chavez'
pro-environmental rhetoric remains just that, and has yet to
achieve tangible results.

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DUDDY