Turning Point: What future for forest peoples and resources in the emerging world order?

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Turning Point: What future for forest peoples and resources in the emerging world order?

Reports about REDD tend to focus on the forests. It’s unusual for a report about REDD to start with an analysis of the economic crisis in Europe and the way in which the world is changing. Yesterday, the Rights and Resources Initiative released a new report that does precisely that.

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Can REDD save the forests of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan, Indonesia?

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Can REDD save the forests of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan, Indonesia?

The Dayak Benuaq Indigenous People of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan are defending their last remaining area of forest against two palm oil companies. “This is the last remaining forests that we have and the only land we have to survive. If my forests are gone, our lives will end,” says Pak Singko, a leader of the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae.

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Conservation International turns a blind eye to illegal logging in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

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Conservation International turns a blind eye to illegal logging in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

Last month, the Phnom Penh Post published a shocking article about the illegal logging of rosewood in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest in Cambodia. According to the article, the illegal logging is abetted by military personnel, while Conservation International, which is working with the Cambodian government to manage the protected area, denies that the trade is taking place.

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Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry amends moratorium map and excludes oil palm concession issued in breach of moratorium

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Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry amends moratorium map and excludes oil palm concession issued in breach of moratorium

In August 2011, Irwandi Yusuf, governor of Aceh, signed a permit for a palm oil concession in the Tripa Peat Swamp, apparently in breach of the moratorium on new forest concessions under the Indonesia-Norway US$1 billion REDD deal.

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India’s first REDD project in the East Khasi Hills: A response from Mark Poffenberger, Community Forestry International

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India's first REDD project in the East Khasi Hills: A response from Mark Poffenberger, Community Forestry International

On 29 November 2011, REDD-Monitor posted a critique of a watershed conservation project in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya in northeast India. The project is run by Community Forestry International in association with local communities and organisations.

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India’s first REDD project in the East Khasi Hills: “When you say that I need permission to cut my own tree, I have lost my right to my land!”

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India's first REDD project in the East Khasi Hills: When you say that I need permission to cut my own tree, I have lost my right to my land!

A watershed conservation project in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya in northeast India is set to become the country’s first REDD project. The project is discussed at length in an article by Soumitra Ghosh in the most recent issue of Mausam, an Indian climate justice publication.

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Irwandi Yusuf, Indonesia’s “green governor”, accused of issuing illegal palm oil concession

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Irwandi Yusuf, Indonesia's green governor, accused of issuing illegal palm oil concession

In August 2011, Irwandi Yusuf, governor of Aceh, signed a permit for a palm oil concession in the Tripa Peat Swamp, part of the Leuser Ecosystem, that Wetlands International describes as “an area of outstanding, world-renowned biodiversity value”. The permit would allow PT Kallista Alam to convert 1,605 hectares of forest.

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Norway: Saving rainforests with one hand, destroying with the other

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Norway: Saving rainforests with one hand, destroying with the other

“It has long been a fact: Norway is saving rainforest with one hand and destroying the rainforest with the other,” wrote Lars Løvold of Rainforest Foundation Norway recently. The problem is that while Norway has promised billions to save the rainforest, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) is investing in companies that are destroying the rainforests.

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“Is Norway paying for ‘hot air’?”: Three articles about Guyana by Janette Bulkan in the Commonwealth Forestry Association newsletter

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Is Norway paying for hot air?: Three articles about Guyana by Janette Bulkan in the Commonwealth Forestry Association newsletter

In this series of articles, published in the newsletter of the Commonwealth Forestry Association, Janette Bulkan looks at the issue of governance and illegal logging in the forest sector in Guyana, in the context of the REDD agreement with Norway.

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Asia Pulp and Paper’s big REDD scam on the Kampar peninsula

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Asia Pulp and Paper's big REDD scam on the Kampar peninsula

How can a company use the fact that it is one of largest forest destroyers in Indonesia to benefit from REDD? Easy. The very fact that the company is so destructive means that any forest in the company’s concessions is automatically threatened. So any patch of forest left standing must, by definition, be avoided deforestation.

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If carbon markets boom, who will benefit? Meet the trillion dollar club

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If carbon markets boom, who will benefit? Meet the trillion dollar club

“Carbon will be the world’s biggest commodity market, and it could become the world’s biggest market over all,” Louis Redshaw, head of environmental markets at Barclays Capital, told the New York Times in July 2007.

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New CIFOR report points out the flaws in Indonesia’s forest moratorium

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New CIFOR report points out the flaws in Indonesia's forest moratorium

There is much to criticise in Indonesia’s moratorium on new forestry concessions. Many of these criticisms have been put forward in previous posts on REDD-Monitor (here, here and here). A recent briefing from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) points out serious flaws with the moratorium and then makes suggestions for improving it.

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Can REDD save Papua New Guinea’s forests?

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Can REDD save the forests of Papua New Guinea?

Earlier this week, Greenpeace activists blockaded a Chinese logging ship, the Fu Tian, that was exporting timber from Papua New Guinea. The ship was docked near the village of West Pomio, where villagers are protesting the operations of Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau and its subsidiary, Gilford Limited.

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Can REDD save the Amazon?

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Can REDD save the Amazon?

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.

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Can REDD save the forests of the Republic of Congo?

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Can REDD save the forests of the Republic of Congo?

An anonymous article in the September 2011 UN-REDD newsletter paints a rosy picture of REDD-readiness in the Republic of Congo. An anonymous response, sent to REDD-Monitor yesterday, argues that the UN-REDD article ignores the on-going destruction of the Republic of Congo’s forests.

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