Free Trade With Peru May Endanger the Amazon Rainforest

The Bush administration is pushing for a free trade agreement with Peru. This may have drastic consequences for the Amazon Rainforest. This may enable multi-national companies to aggresively take the natural assets from the rainforest at an accelerated pace.

Greenwatch Today Reports:

But because the basin is also rich in timber, oil and other valuable resources, powerful multinational corporations are extracting these commodities at an increasingly destructive pace. A key example is mahogany, an endangered species central to the rainforest ecosystem. Rainforest mahogany is currently being imported into the U.S. in clear violation of international agreements.

The administration's proposed Peru Free Trade Agreement fails to halt this illegal trade. Further, as with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Peru deal gives industries such as logging, oil and gas the right to challenge environmental and public health laws by alleging that such protections undermine their ability to make a profit.

Such investment rules accord rights to foreign companies that are considerably broader than what the Supreme Court has mandated in the U.S. And, corporations have wasted no time in capitalizing on this opening: more than 40 lawsuits have already been brought to NAFTA's tribunals, which have repeatedly ruled in favor of the companies.

For more information see http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000319.php

It would truly be a travesty if the short term gain for corporations destroyed one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.

Tags: amazon rainforest, rainforest, rainforest destruction, peru, free trade, environment

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