GM and other big corporations are going to keep polluting regardless of REDD. At least they are putting there money somewhere that minorly mitigates their damage. If your problem is their pollution, then lobby for climate change laws, but again, REDD is not an either/or to stopping emissions.

Moreover, REDD CAN creates the opportunities for forest communities to benefit from the sustainable lifestyles they lead. While the TNC project clearly has issues, it is not without advantages to the communities. They directly employ 45 local people.They have supported the establishment of local honey businesses, organic banana growers, ecotourism operations, and women-run t-shirt and handicraft cooperatives. Besides creating local jobs and income, the project also supported the construction of an Environmental Education Center, which has already served to inform more than 8,000 visitors about the importance of Atlantic Forest Conservation and carbon removal. Maybe this is not enough, but it is worth mentioning. AND the organizations are not just handing over useless $$$ as has been suggested.

REDD has real potential and to demonize it because of improper implementation is (in my opinion) narrow-minded, unrealistic and counterproductive. There is no one solution to climate change. So instead of pushing REDD projects and organizations away, lets build coalitions and act as a check to ensure that REDD programs are being implemented in a way that advantages to local communities AND the environment.

To stop people from the south from degrading their forests to get timber for their houses and canoes, and firewood. The north can subsidise solar power kits, wind mills, steel for building houses that will not need to be replaced for a long time.

Numerous studies have shown that people in the south do not know how to deal with money, apart from fulfilling their immediate needs, what is a villager going to do with the proposed millions $$$ from carbon financing? – more money leads to social problems, drunkenness, domestic violence, increased robberies, prostitution, STD and HIV. Let the north provide the ammunition (money) and let the south kill themselves and we can save the forests.

When REDD arrives in places where the poor have few enforceable claims to land and little political voice, we should not be surprised that it exacerbates poverty and marginalization. More worrisome is that REDD may drive the retraction of forest rights in places where the poor have long struggled to have them recognized.