COMMENT: Argentine activists lose pulp plant battle

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By Jyrki Iivonen
     
      Leaders of two Argentine civic groups came to Helsinki early in the week to explain their views on the construction of a pulp mill that Metsä-Botnia is building in Uruguay. The organisations oppose the mill.
      The leaders wasted their efforts, because the organisations have already lost. The struggle over the factory was decided in the spring when the Argentine government resolved to bring the dispute before the International Court in The Hague.
     
Argentina's motivation is linked with the country's upcoming Presidential election. President Nestor Kirchner hopes to be re-elected, and by opposing the Botnia factory, he can keep his people in an upbeat mood until the election. After his possible re-election it would be in the President's interests for the matter to be handled in The Hague for as long as possible.
      In July the judges in The Hague ruled that there would be no need to stop the construction. A final ruling is expected in three years. By that time the civic organisations will have found other targets for their energy.
      When the ruling eventually comes, the plant in Uruguay will have been churning out pulp for a couple of years. Then people will know on a practical level whether or not the plant is dangerous.
      Leading Argentine politicians have reason to hope that the judgement in The Hague is in Botnia's favour. If the most modern factory in the world is judged to be dangerous for the environment, and is ordered to be shut down, attention will focus on Argentina's own, much older plants. Perhaps they, and at the same time the rest of the world's pulp factories, will also be told to switch off the machines.
     
The Uruguay plant is owned by UPM and the Metsäliitto Group. The plant gets raw material from its own plantations, but timber is also bought from local private forest owners.
      Last week Metsäliitto said that it was selling its Norwegian subsidiary, Moelven, which produces sawn timber. The decision was explained as a reconsideration of strategy, as the cooperative is now primarily focused on refining the wood raw material of its owners.
      The cooperative has 131,000 members. It is not known whether the Uruguayan forest owners have joined Metsäliitto.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.9.2006


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Argentine opponents of Botnia pulp mill bring case to Finland (30.8.2006)

JYRKI IIVONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jyrki.iivonen@hs.fi