Saturday, October 11, 2008

Miami Herald Pineapple Article by Dave Sherwood

AGRICULTURE
PINEAPPLE BOOM
– ECOLOGY BUST?
Many environmentalists and residents say the explosive growth
in pineapple production in Costa Rica has outpaced
the government’s ability to regulate it.
BY DAVE SHERWOOD
Special to The Miami Herald

EL CAIRO, Costa Rica — The raucous honking of a cistern truck
carrying potable water rouses residents from their homes here each
morning, clanging plastic bottles and tin pots in hand.‘‘When will it stop,’’ says 64-
year-old Rufina Najera, lugging a yellow 5-gallon pail stained with dirt to the
roadside. ‘‘The pineapple companies tell us the water is clean, but the government won’t
let us drink it.’’ Last year, authorities detected small amounts of Bromacil, a pesticide used to
thwart insects from pineapple plants, in the local aquifer. Since then, the government
has delivered water by truck to nearly 6,000 people. The crisis has spawned an increasingly
volatile movement among residents, who last week blocked the country’s
principal export artery, Route 32, between the capital of San José and the
Caribbean port city of Limón, leaving hundreds of cars and trucks
stranded for hours.
More than 60 prominent Costa Rican university scientists and environmental
groups joined the chorus of protest in July, citing water pollution and extreme erosion
and demanding a moratorium on new pineapple plantations in ‘‘areas of high
biodiversity.’’ Costa Rica bridges the gap between North and South America, and is said to house
5 percent of the Earth’s biodiversity in just .03 percent of its land mass, according to the country’s National Biodiversity Institute. Pineapple companies contend the reports are exaggerated — and that they’ve cleaned up their act, and local aquifers. ‘‘Where there are problems, we’ve worked to solve them,’’ says Abel Chaves, president of the country’s
National Pineapple Producer and Exporter’s Chamber. ‘‘If allegations remain, they
should be investigated, and if a company is found guilty, it should be charged.’’ But many environmentalists and residents say the explosive growth in pineapple production in Costa Rica
has outpaced the government’s ability to regulate it. Legal loopholes, poor enforcement and lacking public health standards, they say, have placed communities, and ecosystems, at risk.
Pineapple plantations, riding a boom that began when Coral Gables-based fruit company Fresh Del Monte introduced the ‘‘Gold’’ pineapple in 1996, have sprawled from nearly 30,000 acres in
2000 to more than 100,000 acres — outpacing coffee, African palms and bananas as
Costa Rica’s fastest-growing export crop, according to the country’s 2007 State of the
Nation report. Three of every four pineapples consumed in the United States — 580,000
metric tons — now originate from Costa Rica, says Alberto Jerardo, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Exports from Costa Rica, meanwhile, have tripled in value with rising demand,
from $159 million in 2002 to $505 million in 2007. But the music stopped in April, when the country’s Environmental Tribunal, Costa Rica’s highest environmental court, called the burgeoning export industry to task, placing 26 plantations under investigation for abuses ranging from the illegal clearing of forest to water contamination and violation of riverine buffer zones.
The revelations prompted a closer look at industry practices. Bernardo Vargas, executive
director of the pineapple chamber, says his growers responded immediately to concerns, issuing a series of ‘‘social-environmental commitments,’’ designed to reduce waste, conserve soil
and water and uphold environmental laws. Many say the nature of large-scale pineapple plantations could make such promises hard to keep. Jorge Lobo, a University of Costa Rica biologist, says the regional trend toward large-scale industrial monoculture is alarming, particularly in an area so rich in rainfall and biodiversity. Along the Caribbean slope, just 18 pineapple producers now manage nearly 40,000 acres. In a nearby province to the north,
roughly the same acreage is divided among more than 1,000 growers, according to
pineapple chamber statistics. ‘‘It’s a different kind of agriculture, much more intensive, and more problematic,’’ says Lobo, who adds that pineapple — unlike coffee, another traditional
export — requires direct sunlight for optimal growth and thus, the absence of trees and
forest cover, which help prevent erosion in areas of heavy rainfall. Locals say they are
already feeling the effects. On a recent rainy afternoon, Mario Vargas, a small farmer from La Perla, a Caribbean town now surrounded by vast green swaths of pineapple fields, pointed out a series of creeks and rivers running the color of chocolate near his home. It’s proof, he believes, that not enough is being done. ‘‘Before the pineapple arrived, these rivers ran clean,’’ he said. ‘‘Why should we be forced to trade our forests and clean water for jobs?’’ La Perla’s aquifer, explains Vargas, is still safely tucked away in cloud-shrouded mountains, watched over by
keel-billed toucans and howler monkeys. But as pineapple plantations continue to expand and move uphill, he and others worry they could be next. Chaves, of the pineapple
chamber, says increasingly paranoid locals have come to blame everything — water
contamination, skin lesions, illnesses — on pineapple plantations. ‘‘The fact is, there are very
few studies that prove these connections,’’ he said. Here, as elsewhere, the pineapple boom caught the country unprepared. Unlike the United States and Europe, Costa Rica has
never had potable water standards for such agrochemicals as Bromacil, said Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila. The Ministry, she said, drafted a decree last month that would set new limits, a critical first step, she said, to solving the problem. ‘‘We’re looking to strike a balance, so that the communities and the pineapple plantations can live in harmony,’’ said Avila, who has met with both sides in recent weeks. Local residents are as quick to blame government
regulators as they are the pineapple growers. As demand for this sweet, vitamin-rich fruit grows in the United States and Europe, many large-scale banana plantations, once the mainstay of the region, have swapped to the more profitable pineapple. But a loophole in the country’s laws exempts most firms operating before 2004 — the majority of bananaturned- pineapple plantations — from submitting environmental impact studies. Gerardo Fuentes, mayor of
the canton of Guacimo, says the recent boom has also attracted a sort of ‘‘gold rush’’ of newcomers, who buy and clear large tracts of land, then plant pineapple
without appropriate permits. The mayor blames sloppy central government oversight.
Case in point, he said, is that of Setena, the national institution charged with environmental permitting. Last year, Setena received an environmental impact study from pineapple grower
TicoVerde, in which the company referenced pelicans and mangroves (coastal species
not found in Guacimo) and squirrel monkeys (a species limited to the central and
southern Pacific coast). Despite such glaring errors, Setena approved the study in June.
Vigilant locals, who have learned to scour government documents, cried foul. The municipality declared a moratorium on new pineapple seeding and filed a lawsuit against Setena, demanding
TicoVerde’s environmental permits be revoked. Setena officials did not reply to repeated phone calls and requests for interviews by press time. Until such issues are clarified, environmentalists say they will insist on a moratorium on new pineapple seeding — and a zero-tolerance policy for agro-chemicals in their water supplies. Lourdes Brenes, director of Foro Emaus, an umbrella
organization for 22 community action groups that has spearheaded the fight, says
the idea is not to shut down the pineapple industry. ‘‘We simply want them to
obey the law, and the government to enforce it,’’ she said.


6C THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 A1 MiamiHerald.com

Pineapple farm with pineapples as far as the eye can see, courtesy of a student at the University of Wisconsin.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pineapple Industry Impacts Workers, Not Just the Environment

This article discusses the problems pineapple farming is bringing to workers. There are more problems than the environment!

farming pic

letter we are sending out

Dear____________

Pineapple, that delicious, tangy, yellow fruit is all too often taken for granted. Few know where it is grown, how land, rivers and aquifers are changed as a result, which pesticides are used and how these affect agricultural workers and communities. And there are many other unknowns involved with planting, harvesting and packaging. As numerous articles and TV programs appearing in Costa Rica, the US and Europe indicate, questions are being raised about the long-term effects of pineapple on its tropical host countries.
As part of this growing international campaign to increase awareness of the crop, we students of University of Wisconsin write to you, with respect, to express a few concerns we have, and to ask you for your advice about how we can collaborate in projects to protect ecosystems and communities dependent on pineapple. We’re also writing to share word that we plan to circulate this letter widely: among international media; students at other universities; conservation leaders, including Nobel-Prize winners; NGOs; supermarkets and other entities. Ultimately, we’re looking to form a group - Global Citizens Concerned about Pineapple.
Our four main concerns, as documented in recent articles, are:
• Contamination of both people and nature: All chemicals used in the production process, such as bromacil, should be evaluated and controlled if scientific data suggests they might be harmful. Additionally, aquifers where pineapple is planted should be rigorously tested for toxicity. Contaminated aquifers in Costa Rica have been found to create serious health problems for local communities.
• Depletion of aquatic systems: Rivers, aquifers, and wetlands – the source of all life – should be evaluated by teams of qualified water experts in areas where heavy irrigation takes place, and where natural springs and flow patterns of rivers have been altered in the course of planting. Experts, together with producers and affected communities, should establish open, scientifically-based dialogue about how proposed changes to aquatic systems will affect biodiversity, and future generations.
• Violation of worker’s rights: Questions raised in numerous articles about worker salaries, workplace conditions, rights to organize, health and other labor issues, need to be fully addressed through public forums involving all stakeholders, and when necessary, research..
• Pineapple farms lack certification through the sustainable agriculture network: The Rainforest Alliance certification program can help verify that pineapple farms meet internationally accepted environmental and social standards, and answer the increasing demand for fruits and foods to come from certified sustainably managed farms.

As we mentioned, we’re also writing to ask for your advice about how we might support projects which protect aquatic systems, land, and communities where pineapple is grown. As consumers of pineapple, we want to continue enjoying this delicious fruit and supporting the creation of jobs in developing countries, but we must be clear in asking that Costa Rican pineapples be produced in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner.
At your earliest convenience, would it be possible for one of our student representatives to speak briefly with you, or with one of your colleagues, about how, indeed, we might support communities and ecosystems where pineapple is grown?
Above all, we are writing to help create compassionate dialogue about the crop at a moment when it is becoming highly visible. We bring to your attention the concerns we’ve listed here, and the questions, after observing how in Costa Rica, conflicts related to pineapple cast a shadow on a country well known worldwide as an example of peace, social justice and conservation of natural resources. Open dialogue and shared visions for the future can avoid divisiveness. As young people, looking to become positive forces in a divided world, we turn to Mahatma Gandhi:

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”


References and Resources
www.rainforest-alliance.org and www.isealalliance.org
http://www.sa-intl.org/
Nacion article http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/septiembre/12/opinion1698461.html
For the Tico Times article by Leland Baxter-Neal, and the Miami Herald article by David Sherwood, these can be found on our blog spot http://pineactivist.blogspot.com/
http://www.iisd.org/trade/commodities/


Recipients
Freshwater Action Network
CIRCLE OF BLUE
United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Water Natural
Resources and Small Island Developing States Branch
President Arias (President of Costa Rica)
La Nacion: Director of Information: Alejandro Urbina
Al Gore
Wangari Maathai
Nature Conservancy-Costa Rica
Nature Conservancy-USA
Freshwater Action Network
Miami Herald
New York Times
La Times
IUCN media relations
Rainforest Alliance
Conservation international
Food and Fairness, pesticide action network UK
Del Monte
Dole
Chiquita
Mario Ugalde
Jorge Araya
Various local grocery stores and co-ops
European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology
IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science
International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM)
International Centre on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHHS)
International Research and Training Centre on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES)
International Research and Training Centre on Urban Drainage (IRTCUD)
Regional Centre on Urban Water Management (RCUWM)
Regional Centre on Urban Water Management for Latin America and the Caribbean
Regional Centre for Shared Aquifer Resources Management (RCSARM)
Regional Centre for Training and Water Studies of Arid and Semi-arid Zones (RCTWS)
Regional Humid Tropics Hydrology and Water Resources Centre for South-East Asia and the Pacific (HTC Kuala Lumpur)

Water Centre for Arid and Semi-arid Zones of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC)
And more....



Correspondence: rkrause@wisc.edu,
http://pineactivist.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Workers Rights

The best source of info regarding workers rights on tropical plantations, besides Rainforest Alliance is Social Accountability International. They manage the SA8000 standard, which was developed for sweatshops and has been extended to plantation agriculture. All the Chiquita and Dole banana farms, are certified to this excellent standard.

http://www.sa-intl.org/

Tico Times Article

Pineapple Debate Turning Toxic
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Pineapples in Costa Rica are getting, well, a little bit prickly.


On the heels of a massive expansion of pineapple farms across the country, concern is growing over just what environmental effects the industry is having.

Critics say the crop has led to deforestation, chemical contamination of groundwater, erosion and pest problems, to name a few.
One Caribbean community, El Cairo, has depended on water trucks for its drinking supply since tests found traces of the herbicide Bromacil in its groundwater more than two years ago (TT, Sept 21, 2007).

In a nation that ranks highest in Central America in its use of agrochemicals per inhabitant, per farm laborer and per cultivated hectare, pineapples require more pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals than any other crop, with the exception of bananas, according to the most recent State of the Nation report.

Meanwhile, pineapple plantations have seen an "explosive expansion" in recent years from 12,500 hectares planted in 2000 to 38,500 hectares in 2006, the report stated.

"Many companies that were banana plantations began planting pineapples because it is more profitable," said Lourdes Brenes of the environmental group Foro Emaus. "This production is very aggressive toward the environment."
Representatives from the industry say many of the claims are exaggerated and, when done properly, pineapple cultivation is a boon for the economy and environmentally benign.

"I can't speak for the industry," said Richard Toman, vice president for pineapple operations at Dole Fresh Fruit, one of the biggest producers in Costa Rica. "But I think that if somebody looks at (Dole's) farms with an objective eye, and looks at the activities that take place and all the work we do, I would believe that we have a benign effect on the environment."
Dole's farms are monitored through a series of certification programs including ISO 14000, the Rainforest Alliance and Global Gap. This year, Dole launched its first organic pineapple farm, has carried out various reforestation campaigns and is working toward making its operations carbon neutral.

According to Toman, Dole expects to export 15 million 12-kilogram boxes of pineapples this year.
But what oversight does the government provide to the vast industry? How many of the 1,200 pineapple producers associated with the Chamber of Pineapple Producers and Exporters (CANAPEP) are following Dole's example?
According to Abel Chaves, president of CANAPEP, the industry is mostly self-regulated, with little government oversight.
"And really, it's not just pineapple, but the entire agricultural sector that is stuck in this problem," Chaves said.
According to Dole's Toman, all agrochemicals used come with labels that specify detailed instructions for their use, according to limits set by Costa Rica's Agriculture Ministry. Following these instructions to the letter, however, is up to the individual companies, he acknowledged.

"I remember the banana industry about 15 years ago going through the same thing the pineapple industry is going through now," said Rudy Amador, Dole's regional director of environmental affairs. "The industry is organizing better and communicating standards better."
The enforcement of the nation's environmental regulations appears to be the missing ingredient. Costa Rica's foundational Environment Law was approved in 1995, but the regulations for how it was to be applied to agriculture didn't come until 2004, said Chaves.
The agency in charge of making sure the agriculture industry – as well as the construction industry and every other industry in the country – is in line with the nation's laws is the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry's (MINAET's) notoriously underequipped National Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA).

In a brief phone interview, Sonia Espinoza, head of SETENA, said her office has permitted only one pineapple plantation in Costa Rica.
The Tico Times requested interviews with other officials at the Environment Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry that specialize in the issue, but received no response by late this week.

Espinoza did acknowledge that many plantations are operating without proper permits and, like any activity that has effects on the environment, pineapple plantations are required to submit environmental impact studies for approval to SETENA.
She added that some companies have submitted reports that are currently being processed, and representatives from the industry have approached her office to discuss bringing companies in line with Costa Rica's environmental laws.

The one farm that has received SETENA's approval, run by a company called Tico Verde, is now at the center of a volatile conflict with members of La Perla, a neighboring community in the midst of pineapple country just inland from the Caribbean coast.
Tico Verde launched its operations without receiving the proper permits four years ago, and after a series of closure orders, it controversially had its environmental impact study approved by SETENA in June.
"The practice has been that a company buys land and begins to plant pineapples. Once it receives pressure from the community, it begins to apply for its permits," said Brenes, whose organization, Foro Emaus, has been monitoring pineapple plantations along the Caribbean slope since 2002.

Opponents have cried foul on Tico Verde, saying it falsified its environmental impact study, evidenced by references in the report to mangroves and pelicans – coastal plant and animal species that do not exist in the region.
"It looks like they were cut from somewhere else and pasted in," Brenes said, noting that Tico Verde received its environmental approval based on this falsified study.

Tico Verde owner Alfonso Sancho was in Europe this week and could not be reached for comment.
Jorge Serendero, the director if SipCom Green Partners, a communications firm hired by Tico Verde in the midst of the growing criticism and conflict with La Perla, confirmed the allegations, however.

Serendero blamed the falsified impact study on the firm that Tico Verde hired initially to put it together.
"Unfortunately, the consultants were not sufficiently professional," he said. "I understand that what was wrong has been objected by SETENA, and the proper changes have been made. The most important thing is the company's disposition to do things right."
Serendero said Tico Verde has followed all of SETENA's instructions, and nearly all the complaints have been rejected by the agency and MINAET.

According to Serendero, the company hired an esteemed hydrology firm that confirmed that the plantation does come close to the local water supply. Of the 180 hectares that Tico Verde owns, he continued, only 80 are used for pineapple and the rest are for conservation.
"This is a farm that we can begin to present to the public as a project that could end up being an exemplary project," he said.
Opponents in La Perla, however, have not been impressed. After a series of protests last month that grew more and more conflictual, Serendero, Sancho and others from Tico Verde agreed to sit down with the protestors to work out an agreement.
"There was an attempt to negotiate with the company. They were asked to change from pineapple to some other type of production," said Brenes, who was at the meeting. "They don't have to change it all at once, but they should begin to do it gradually. We do not want pineapples in our mountains."

Tico Verde rejected the idea, and things got heated, witnesses say. According to Serendero, representatives of Tico Verde were then held against their will and not allowed to leave. Serendero said he was hit by someone in the crowd.
Brenes and others from La Perla say they blocked only the loads of pineapple being hauled out by tractor and allowed the executives to leave if they wanted.

Within weeks of the confrontation, three hectares of pineapple crops, nearing harvest, were hacked to pieces. The company said it was the work of the zealous, anti-pineapple protestors. Night watch security guards, they said, identified the culprits.
Brenes and others from La Perla deny the allegations, and say Tico Verde did it in an attempt to malign the community.
"The week before, people from La Perla had put up signs against the pineapple farm, which then appeared hacked up by machete, just like the pineapples," Brenes said. "They want to bring down what has been a clean and dignified struggle."

lbaxter@ticotimes.net

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Another spanish Pineapple pamphlet

Pineapple Article

Here is another article regarding pineapples, it is in spanish though , just a side note. More articles will be posted as available.

Thursday, October 2, 2008