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Earlier this month, Ecosystem Restoration Associates, a Canadian carbon trading company, announced a REDD-type project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company described the project as, “the first Forest Conservation Concession Contract awarded by the government of the DRC.”
In June 2011, FERN, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Rainforest Foundation UK produced a report which counters some of the misconceptions about the suitability of carbon markets to finance forest protection.
As the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases trees in tropical forests grow faster and more carbon is stored above ground in the increased forest biomass. But a paper recently published in Nature Climate Change suggests that we should take a somewhat less optimistic view of how much carbon might stored in forests as the climate warms.
One of the problems with REDD is that it will not address climate change, for the simple reason that to address climate change we need to reduce the amount of fossil fuel burned. While we need to reduce deforestation, trading carbon stored in forests against fossil fuel emissions will help lock in polluting technology.
Earlier this year, the Matsés indigenous people rejected Australian businessman
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.
The mining industry has obvious reasons for being interested in REDD. The industry is responsible for vast greenhouse gas emissions. While the obvious way of reducing emissions is to reduce the amount of fossil fuels mined (an option that is never on the agenda at UN climate meetings), a more profitable option is to continue mining and “offset” the emissions by buying carbon credits.
Last week, Carbon Trade Watch released two new factsheets: “Key arguments against REDD+”, and “Some Key REDD+ Players”. Be warned: you are in for a rocky ride if you belong to the camp that believes that REDD is the best hope for saving the rainforests, that safeguards will protect indigenous peoples’ rights and that carbon trading is the only way of raising sufficient funding for REDD.
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.
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.
Interview with Andy White, Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative, Washington DC, by email.
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.
Alcoa. ArcelorMittal. Barrick Gold. BG Group. BHP Billiton. BP Foundation. Bunge. Cargill. Chevron. Coca-Cola. De Beers Group. Giti Tire. Goldman Sachs. Kimberly-Clark. Kraft Foods. McDonald’s. Medco Group. Monsanto. MPX Colombia. Newmont Mining Corporation. Northrop Grumman Corporation. Rio Tinto. Shell. Toyota Motor Corporation. United Airlines. Walmart. Wilmar International.
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.
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.” |
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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")
