Day 286 - 24 Oct 96 - Page 32
1 pounds. That is in the context of production is increasing
2 but local consumption is decreasing.
3
4 And this is the point we are making; not only are
5 multi-national corporations involved in the process of
6 deforestation and expansion of cattle ranching, but it is
7 not leading to increased consumption by the populations of
8 those countries, hunger for land or hunger for food. Can I
9 point out that we have not had a break?
10
11 MR JUSTICE BELL: We will have one, which will help you.
12
13 (Short Adjournment)
14
15 MR. MORRIS: Just looking at a couple of witnesses -- well, we
16 have the statement of Dr. Janssen of McDonald's, which is
17 conspicuous by its absence of detail about McDonald's
18 supply areas; and one would have thought that if McDonald's
19 were seriously trying to respond to the evidence put
20 forward by the defence, they would have tried to counter
21 it. So what has happened with Dr. Janssen, despite him
22 being called by the Plaintiffs, no doubt they could have
23 given him the full benefit of details which we have
24 gradually eked out of them. He does not really deal with
25 the problem, except for in the most vague terms; and I
26 suspect that it was safer not to give him full information
27 because, otherwise, he may have made conclusions that were
28 damaging to the Plaintiffs. But even he, on behalf of the
29 Plaintiffs, recognised that in that paragraph that by 1950
30 about half of Costa Rica had been cleared for agricultural
31 (including cattle ranching) purposes and an additional 25
32 percent, i.e. half of the rest of the land, was cleared
33 from the late '50s to the present time. The acceleration
34 of clearing from the last 40 years relates to the ability
35 to clear land faster, and the opening of world markets for
36 Costa Rica and agricultural products, including cattle
37 ranching -- we would say primarily cattle ranching, which
38 is what the document advising Ray Cesca was saying -- the
39 rainforest has been destroyed principally to be used in
40 cattle raising, according to point G of that document
41 behind Cesca's statement. In point C, on that second page,
42 more than 50 percent of the deforestation has been done
43 since 1950 -- more than 50 percent of the deforestation.
44 That is in the documents behind Mr. Cesca's statement.
45 When the Cesca document advice document says the rainforest
46 has been destroyed principally to be used in cattle
47 raising, then it is absurd to construct that rainforest as
48 used by the advisers to Mr. Cesca means inaccessible
49 pre-montain or montain land, which one would think would be
50 the most unsuitable for cattle raising. Clearly, they are
51 referring to the moist forest areas of Costa Rica.
52
53 So, going back to Dr. Janssen, he says in his paragraph 8
54 that there has been no deforestation of any significance in
55 Guanacaste since the middle '70s, which means that there
56 was deforestation of significance up to the mid '70s in the
57 Guanacaste area, by his admission; and the deforestation
58 map shows deforestation in some parts of Guanacaste
59 continuing, and certainly in the Nicoya Peninsula. Dr.
60 Janssen does not mention the Nicoya Peninsula, but I do not
