Day 242 - 29 Apr 96 - Page 11

     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is right.  That is the first page.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  That is the first document.  If we turn over, we
     4        will come to that point in a minute.
     5        (To the witness): The next page, yes?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   Shows some statements.  I am going to point in a minute to
     9        where they emanate from.  They seem to come from the
    10        documents which I served this morning, but this was the
    11        advice Mr. Cesca received about Costa Rica.
    12
    13        The first point, to see if you would agree with these
    14        statements:  "Deforestation in 1978, 60,000 to 70,000
    15        hectares per year".  Do you agree with that?
    16        A.  Roughly.
    17
    18   Q.   Yes.  That was more than one per cent of the country or
    19        four per cent of the forest remaining in 1977; is that
    20        correct?
         A.  That was the highest rate of deforestation ----
    22
    23   Q.   Right.
    24        A.  -- over several decades.
    25
    26   Q.   "By 1977, the country's natural forest had been reduced to
    27        31 per cent of the land, approximately"?
    28        A.  Probably a bit lower than that.
    29
    30   Q.   Right and, "More than 50 per cent of the deforestation had
    31        been done since 1950"?
    32        A.  At least.
    33
    34   Q.   Yes.  In point (G), if we just look at where that direct
    35        quote comes from, it comes from the document -- in fact,
    36        I think, believe it or not, I forgot to photocopy that
    37        page, sorry about this.  The statement in (G) about the
    38        complex of causes -- can I show Mr. Rampton because
    39        I forgot to photocopy this page.  It is directly taken from
    40        this document which I served this morning, but I forgot to
         photocopy this page, but it included an extra point after
    42        "economic incentives", after that quote, and it says, "...
    43        and strong foreign influence over the national economy".
    44        Do you have any comment about "strong foreign influence
    45        over the national economy"?
    46        A.  Well, there are many.
    47
    48   Q.   With regard to deforestation?
    49        A.  It depends how long you want me to go on.
    50 
    51   Q.   Brief, just briefly? 
    52        A.  But in relation applying it to the matters which 
    53        concern us here, the original promotion of cattle expansion
    54        in Costa Rica on a large scale took place in the late
    55        1950s/early 1960s under pressure mainly from international
    56        organisations and, particularly, the World Bank, the
    57        Inter-American Regional Bank and other institutions who
    58        were looking for ways of promoting new sources of Costa
    59        Rican exports, and in fact the World Bank made a whole
    60        series of loans to develop the infra structure abattoirs