The "variations of truth in plantation forestry" is a study on the Teakwood investment program. Teakwood offered the general public in The Netherlands the opportunity to directly invest in a teak plantation in Costa Rica. The program was pioneered in 1989 and truly gained momentum when it was joined by the world's largest environmental organization WWF and an insurance and banking company called OHRA in 1993. Thousands of people invested, many millions of Guilders were transferred and about a dozen teak investment programs in The Netherlands alone followed in its wake. Teakwood offered 'green gold' (OHRA, Summer 1993), it was heralded as 'modern development work' and it attracted broad media attention. The strong proposition of Teakwood attracted the involvement of the Government of The Netherlands (Romeijn, April 18, 1996). From November 1995 onward, the Teakwood investment program increasingly met with opposition. OHRA terminated its Teakwood investment program in the autumn of 1996.The Teakwood investment program was introduced to the market as being based on solid and conservative assumptions on timber yield and financial return. The present study presents a description of the erosion of the credibility of these assumptions by following key statements over time. These statements, or "variations of truth" come from the Teakwood contract partners themselves and from organizations and individuals which the Teakwood contract partners have recognized as authoritative, including the Rainforest Alliance and the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC. The Rainforest Alliance is based in the USA and it certified the Flor y Fauna forest operation as 'well managed' in 1995. The FSC is an organization which is based in Mexico. The FSC accredits forest certification organizations worldwide and it endorsed the Rainforest Alliance certificate for the Flor y Fauna plantation management in January 1998. However, the Flor y Fauna plantations management were found to show no evidence of complying with a several FSC Principles and ...