UPM’s new megaproject will contribute to environmental degradation. This megaproject will promote the expansion of monoculture tree plantations. UPM estimates that 180.000 – 220.000 hectares of plantations are already established and that an additional 60.000 – 90.000 will be required for a sustainable supply of wood for the mill. Most of these plantations were and will be established in Uruguay’s natural grasslands [1]. Eucalyptus plantations are less efficient as carbon sequestration than natural pastures and native forests which they displace [2]. These tree plantations also have a negative impact on biodiversity, in particular reducing native grasslands, birds, and fish varieties in the natural prairie ecosystem and facilitating the reproduction of alien invasive species like wild boars. The worst environmental impact will be to an already compromised water system, since this type of plantation, which depends on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides like glyphosate, erodes soils and contaminates rivers [3]. These impacts on water and soil characteristics compromise Uruguay’s future capacity to cultivate food. UPM2 will also impact water availability. Water source reduction due to industrial eucalyptus plantations has been documented in Uruguay since 1999 [4]. The new pulp mill’s water intake and flow demands are equivalent, to give a simple image, to the daily water consumption of more than 53 million people, more than 15 times the population of Uruguay. The pulp mill will also affect water quality through its effluents adding to already high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus.
UPM’s new megaproject will further economic inequality. The company will invest 2.4 billion dollars, while Uruguay will spend an estimated 4 billion dollars in upgrading infrastructure to satisfy the company’s requirements. UPM will be exempt from paying several taxes, will be located in a free zone, and will sell its excess energy to Uruguay, which is obliged to buy it even if it is not needed. The company will use an estimated 137 million liters of water per day without paying for its use, while returning 107 million contaminated liters per day to the river that will require special monitoring from the Uruguayan state. The transnational company makes big profits by extracting natural goods, labor, and causing environmental damages at low costs, while the local community is left with the effects of a contaminated and eutrophic river and the impacts of the influx of a few thousand temporary workers. The jobs created during the construction process reproduce the sexual division of labor as well and do not provide a long-term unemployment solution to the communities where the plant is located. Construction jobs for men who tend to come from other parts of the country increase sexual labor and trafficking for local women. The jobs generated by the plant outside the two years of construction do not compensate for the jobs lost as a result of mechanized industrial tree plantations that displace small shopkeepers, rural producers and artisanal fishing and tourism workers in the territory.
UPM’s new megaproject weakens community participation. This project does not have social license. The agreement between UPM and Uruguay was not approved by parliament, and citizens access to information and participation in the decision-making process were not respected. Several social organizations, local citizens’ groups, and stakeholders have expressed their concerns about the ways in which the megaproject will affect their lives and their concerns have not been properly addressed by the public consultation process. The project will disrupt people’s lives, with a diesel cargo train transporting highly toxic substances, dividing cities and towns in the countryside, and fragmenting working-class neighborhoods in the country’s capital. Furthermore, the contract includes requirements for reduction of labor rights and influences in educational policy. The latest version of the contract allows UPM to withdraw by only giving only a one-year notice and without providing justification and without material consequences.
There is no planet B, we cannot afford to continue promoting economic projects and practices that consider environmental impacts, social justice, and human rights as secondary issues. We support collaborations among countries that result in good quality equitable jobs that serve to regenerate and protect our environment.
Collective
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