ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the knowledge of the expansion of tree plantations (TPs) across the globe, to make global comparisons on the significance of resistance in contemporary “land grabbing.” The covered material includes United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data on TPs, existing academic literature, the extensive writings by the World Rainforest Movement on the topic, many other international, regional and local NGOs’ publications, movement material, official documents, interviews and discussions with specialists, foresters, company directors, officials and activists aware of the recent changes, field research observations from plantation areas, and quite extensive Google searches to locate articles from local and global newspapers, research institutions, and other bodies on the politics and economy of TP expansion. The literature on the topic in English and Brazilian Portuguese was surveyed; also many studies in Finnish and Spanish were covered. Not all the studies read are referenced here, the aim being a central issue enlightening rather than an exhaustive literature review. The limitation of review in four languages signifies that the breadth and depth of expansion and conflicts in many countries is not thoroughly presented here. Indeed, in some parts, the exclusion of evidence in local languages on TP conflicts results in drastic misrepresentation of the state of affairs. For example, India surely has many more ITP protests (according to interviews of the author with activists aware of the Indian situation, for example Ville-Veikko Hirvelä, Helsinki, November 10, 2012) than the existing English-language literature claims (e.g. Gerber 2010). In many contexts resistance acts are not even locally reported; the most accurate depiction of events requires thus extensive field research, ethnography, participant observation and interviews of people in TP expansion (or would-be, projected expansion) areas.
