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A new video by the Global Forest Coalition and the Global Justice Ecology Project is deeply critical of REDD. Much of the criticism focusses on carbon trading, but through interviews with communities in Chiapas, Mexico, the video illustrates the perverse impacts that REDD can have on the ground.
“The Endless Algebra of Climate Markets”, is the title of a recent paper by Larry Lohmann of the UK-based NGO the Corner House. That’s him on the left holding up an “I love emissions trading”, T-shirt that Fortis Bank (now part of BNP Paribas) was handing out at a UN climate conference.
Two additions to the REDD side events. First, there are a series of presentations in the Indonesia Pavilion (link opens Indonesia Pavilion Programme, pdf file, 175 kB) about REDD in Indonesia. REDD-Monitor would love to hear from anyone taking part in these events, to record Ministry of Forestry officials views on REDD.
COP-17, the latest round of UN climate meetings started on Monday in Durban. Here’s a round-up of some of what is happening in Durban (with a focus on REDD, but not exclusively). REDD-Monitor is not there, so if you are, and think there’s something missing here, please put the links in the comments.
CO2 Prospects is a UK-based company that “aims to work closely with corporations, assisting them in realising value from managing their energy and carbon usage (emissions), as well as benefiting from participating in quality REDD offset projects.”
Two pieces of depressing news from the Amazon. First, the price of gold has increased, leading to increased mining and increased deforestation. Second, Brazil is planning to invest US$120 billion in large-scale infrastructure projects in the Amazon region.
The fifth Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Taskforce takes place this week in Central Kalimantan. The organisers anticipated that more than 200 people would take part in the three day meetings. The GCF is a carbon trading REDD deal between 15 states and provinces from Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and the USA covering more than 20% of the world’s forests.
The Guaraqueçaba project, run by the Nature Conservancy and the Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) has been featured in the past on REDD-Monitor, after investigative journalist Mark Schapiro reported from the project area.
A group of Brazilian NGOs has written to the Brazilian delegation for climate change negotiations, opposing offset and market mechanism as a means of financing REDD. The letter is signed by 21 environmental organisations and social movements and is available below in English and Portuguese.
On 24 May 2011, Brazil’s House of Congress approved revisions to the country’s forest code. It now goes to the Senate and, if approved there, requires the approval of Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff. If passed, the new forest code would reduce the area of forest that farmers and ranchers must preserve and would allow clearing forest along rivers and on hilltops.
Interview with Andy White, Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative, Washington DC, by email.
Forests in exhaustion is one of the more absurd proposals to emerge from the UN negotiations on climate change. The proposal came from Brazil during 2008 and it was discussed during the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Poznan in December 2008. It amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for industrial tree plantations.
Last week, REDD-Monitor posted episode one of Keuringsdienst van Waarde’s investigation into carbon offsetting. In case you missed it, here it is: “One cent per square metre: Dutch TV programme finds out the cost of Brazil’s rainforest.” Last week, we saw the Dutch TV consumer programme buying a plot of rainforest in Brazil. This week, the Keuringsdienst team looks deeper into the implications of CO2 offsets.
Keuringsdienst van Waarde is a Dutch TV consumer programme. In a recent two episode series, they looked into offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions caused by viewers of their programme for one year. Their plan was to offset the emissions by buying up a plot of Brazilian rainforest. The results are fascinating, in turns shocking and funny.
In the past few years, the Amazon has faced two “one in a century” droughts. Last year’s drought covered a larger area of the Amazon and was even more severe than the 2005 drought. In both years huge amounts of carbon was released to the atmosphere as trees died. During these severe droughts, the Amazon turned from a carbon sink to a major carbon source. |
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