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In April 2011, the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) published the Declaration of Iquitos which opposed the proposed forest carbon trading activities of a Hong Kong registered company called Sustainable Carbon Resources Limited.
The Australian-funded Kalimantan Forest and Climate Partnership is in for yet more criticism after Annet Keller, a German journalist, visited the project last month. She found that villagers are sceptical about the benefits of the project and are asking why they should clear up Australia’s environmental pollution.
In a recent article in The Monthly, Guy Pearse questions why so many environmental organisations are cheering the Australian government’s draft Clean Energy Future (CEF) carbon-pricing package. This is an important article, which should encourage some serious debate.
Recently, an Australian businessman, visited Peru and attempted to set up a REDD-type deal with the indigenous Matsés people. The Matsés rejected his approach and AIDESEP (Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon) demanded his expulsion from Peru. REDD-Monitor has (so far) written two posts about this story.
Earlier this year, the Matsés indigenous people rejected Australian businessman
Many of the countries hoping to implement REDD are riddled with corruption, illegal logging and a failure to respect land rights and indigenous peoples’ rights. The forestry ministries in these countries are often among the most corrupt institutions in the government. Pouring money into these countries in the hope that it will help reduce deforestation is like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
In June 2011, REDD-Monitor posted a statement signed by indigenous people in Kapuas District in Central Kalimantan demanding that the Australia-Indonesia Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership be stopped in indigenous peoples’ land. Recently REDD-Monitor received an email from the chairman of the Council of Indigenous Dayak (Dewan Adat Dayak – DAD) in Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan.
June 2011 has seen a wave of criticism of REDD in Central Kalimantan. On 8 June, a group of indigenous people issued a statement demanding a stop to the Australian-funded Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership. On 16 June, EIA and Telapak released a report documenting a Malaysian oil palm company clearing forest in Central Kalimantan apparently in breach of the country’s forestry moratorium.
Members of the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago – Central Kalimantan Chapter (AMAN Kalteng) have issued a statement demaning an “immediate moratorium of all REDD+ processes and investments in Central Kalimantan”, until a series of conditions are met. AMAN Kelteng’s statement can be downloaded here (pdf file 72.1 KB) and is posted in full, below.
When Australia announced the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership, in September 2007, Australia’s then-Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer said that the project, “was an example of practical climate change action that could deliver immediate and tangible benefits”. What he didn’t say was who would get those benefits.
On 24 February 2011, Yayasan Petak Danum, (Water Land Foundation, an NGO in Central Kalimantan), wrote to the Australian Delegation that was then visiting the Australian-funded Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership. Two months later, they received a reply from AusAID, posted in full below in English and in Indonesian.
This week, a Canadian mining company called East Asia Minerals Corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to buy 50% of Carbon Conservation Pty Ltd. East Asia Minerals’ aim is simple: “Through the acquisition of a 50% equity interest in CC, the Company will develop a ‘green’ mining project which will use carbon and biodiversity offsets and the latest in environmentally friendly mining practices.”
On 28 March 2011, Australian TV station Today Tonight Adelaide broadcast a programme about Shift2Neutral and the company’s chairman Brett Goldsworthy. Paul Makin, a journalist with Today Tonight Adelaide interviewed Brett Goldsworthy in his office in a shopping centre in Westleigh, a suburb of Sydney. “Brett Goldsworthy is a one-man band of sorts,” says Makin in the programme. |
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![Carbon cowboy [CENSORED] denounces indigenous chief in Peru](http://www.redd-monitor.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Screenshot-100811-082747-150x150.png "Carbon cowboy [CENSORED] denounces indigenous chief in Peru")
