Dear friends of the rainforest,
on the 11th of December, the European Parliament will be voting on a free trade agreement between the European Union and two Latin American countries, Peru and Colombia. The objective of the agreement is to ensure priority access to Peruvian and Colombian commodities for European businesses. However, it does not define binding rules on human rights and environmental standards. Yet the ruthless exploitation of natural resources is one of the main reasons for public protest in both countries. Peru is currently the scene of 148 environmental conflicts – last year 16 people were killed during protests against mining projects. In Colombia, 34 trade unionists were killed in 2012 alone.
The excessive exploitation of natural resources by multinational companies in both countries is leading to significant degradation of the environment. Water sources are being undermined and polluted, while rainforests are being cleared for mining, oil drilling and oil palm plantations. A trade agreement that disregards human rights and environmental protection would promote this negative development – as the EU itself concedes in its environmental appraisal of the agreement. “Transnational corporations will be the big winners in this free trade agreement. They operate their mines without regard for the environment and nature,” criticized the Colombian human rights lawyer Maria del Pilar Silva.
The cause of rainforest preservation includes advocating fair and equitable trade relations between the EU and the countries of the global South.
Please call on the members of the European Parliament to vote against the free trade agreement in its present form for social and environmental reasons.
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Thanks for being involved,
David Vollrath
Rainforest Rescue (Rettet den Regenwald e.V.)
info@rainforest-rescue.org
www.rainforest-rescue.org
http://www.facebook.com/rainforest2rescue
https://plus.google.com/115956342933485933979
Rainforest RescueJupiterweg 15, 22391 Hamburg, Germany
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