Day 286 - 24 Oct 96 - Page 33
1 blame him for that; he was probably not asked about that,
2 to comment about the Nicoya Peninsula, which we now know is
3 the region that supplied McDonald's. His characterisation
4 of the San Isidro region in terms of forest types does not
5 correspond to the highly detailed scientific map which has
6 been accepted by our experts in court on the natural
7 vegetation zones for that area. It does not really give
8 definitions of his terms. He does say that forest in that
9 area was cleared for cattle ranching, although the wetter
10 forests he says were cleared primarily for grain and rice
11 farming. He then goes on to talk about, basically, that
12 there is a drift to reclaim much of the area that is now
13 under cattle production to return it to other crops, which
14 we would say that reason is because they are more
15 appropriate and not so damaging.
16
17 I just think that it is not a particularly helpful
18 statement in its lack of detail and lack of specifics
19 regarding McDonald's supply sources. We called our expert
20 witness, Dr. Carriere, who is a senior research associate
21 for the Centre for Latin American Research and
22 Documentation in Amsterdam since 1974. That is, 20 years -
23 over 20 years. His main research area is politics and
24 ecological degradation in Latin America, so that is very
25 appropriate to what we are concerned with here in looking
26 at the relation between the beef industry and ecology.
27 Obviously, I will not go into his evidence in any kind of
28 detail because I think a lot of it just speaks for itself.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have asked me to look at that again.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: Yes. One interesting thing about his evidence is
33 he talks about the process of deforestation and the time it
34 takes before deforestation becomes cattle ranching -- so
35 can become cattle ranching -- and I think also he referred
36 to in his evidence the dispossession of people from their
37 land as cattle ranchers expand their area of influence and
38 control. His view was that, if Edie Bensilum was right and
39 they had a ten year policy up to 1988 where land could have
40 been cleared as late as the late '70s for McDonald's use up
41 to around the late '80s, that could have constituted a
42 clear incentive to small farmers to clear forest land in
43 the expectation that it would, at a later stage, be
44 purchased by agents assembling land for established
45 ranches.
46
47 That is point 4 of his statement of December 11th 1993. He
48 explained in his supplementary statement -- I have not got
49 it in front of me -- about the continuing threat that
50 established ranches hold for deforestation. I have not
51 actually got that in front of me. (Pause) The evidence
52 given by Mr. Woolf, although how he knows I am not sure, of
53 the size of ranches supplying McDonald's was that they were
54 between 300 to 2,000 acres and he has worked, I think he is
55 still working, as a supplier to McDonald's, working for one
56 of their suppliers. So, presumably, he would know that
57 kind of information. Although how far back that goes I
58 don't know. But that would certainly contrast with what
59 Mr. Cesca was trying to put over about small, cuddly family
60 farms.
