Forests and biodiversity
UN Biodiversity Talks Favor False Solutions to Biodiversity Crisis
HYDERABAD, INDIA, October 19, 2012 - After two weeks of talks, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference [1] comes to a close here today with Friends of the Earth International criticizing negotiators for focusing on false solutions to biodiversity loss and favoring corporate polluters over people and the planet.
New report: world's first big ‘REDD’ project violating indigenous people rights
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, 6 December, 2011 – While the governments of countries such as Australia are busy with forest projects that promote false solutions such as carbon offsetting, the UN climate talks in Durban are failing to address the urgent problem of deforestation, said Friends of the Earth International today.
TREE PLANTATIONS ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION
COSTA RICA, 21 September 2011 – Today, Friends of the Earth International, together with many social movements around the world, are celebrating the International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations. This annual event aims to expose the negative impacts caused by large-scale tree plantations on local communities and the environment. [1]
Cancun package merely prevents collapse and leaves kyoto protocol on life support
CANCUN, MEXICO, 11 December 2010 – The agreement adopted at the UN climate talks in Cancun has failed to make progress on the most essential part: steep, binding emissions cuts for developed countries. Friends of the Earth International warns that this agreement provides a platform for abandoning the Kyoto Protocol, replacing it with a weak pledge and review system as a legacy of the Copenhagen Accord, that would lead to a devastating five degree Celsius warming.
governments urged not to rush into redd deal and focus on effective forest conservation
CANCUN, MEXICO, 9 December 2010 – Draft texts on REDD (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation) currently on the table don’t ensure forest conservation and look at forests only as carbon storage. They do not safeguard the rights of Indigenous People nor do they ensure the protection of natural forests.
Forest deals set to harm the environment and reward corporate investors
Cancun, 29 November 2010 - Dangerous forest projects are being established in tropical rainforest countries, in anticipation of agreement on reducing deforestation at the UN climate talks, a new Friends of the Earth International report shows today. The report comes on the first day of the UN climate talks.
Governments urged to turn away from carbon trading at climate talks
November 26, 2010 - Ahead of the United Nations climate talks in Cancún that start on Monday, November 29, Friends of the Earth International calls on governments to reject the role of carbon markets in international climate agreements.
EUROPE'S BIOFUELS PLANS DRIVING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, NOVEMBER 8, 2010 - Plans to increase the use of biofuels in Europe over the next ten years will require up to 69 000 square kilometres of new land worldwide and make climate change worse, a new study reveals today [1]. The report finds that an area over twice the size of Belgium will need to be converted into fields and plantations – putting forests, natural ecosystems and poor communities in danger, if European countries do not change their plans for getting petrol and diesel from food crops by 2020.
Market mechanisms are a false solution to biodiversity loss
NAGOYA, JAPAN, 28 October, 2010 – With only one day of negotiations left at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s summit in Nagoya, Japan, Friends of the Earth International urgently calls on governments to reject false solutions to halt biodiversity loss, such as trading biodiversity credits and other market-based mechanisms.
HEADS OF STATE MUST TAKE FIRM STEPS TO HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS
NEW YORK, USA, September 22, 2010 – Heads of State discussing ways to save biodiversity today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York must commit to taking firm and immediate steps to halt the alarming biodiversity loss worldwide, said Friends of the Earth International.
eu-brazil biofuels deal: "land-grabbing charter"
Brussels/Maputo, Mozambique, July 14 – Friends of the Earth Europe has strongly criticised an agreement expected to be announced today by EU and Brazilian leaders to expand biofuels in Mozambique. The agreement to promote biofuels in Africa to power European cars is described as "immoral and perverse."
biodiversity lost at unprecedented rate
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND– On May 22, the Day of Biological Diversity, during the International Year of Biodiversity, 2010, Friends of the Earth International will warn that biodiversity continues to be lost at an unprecedented rate and that forest-dependent peoples, fishing communities and the poor are suffering the consequences the most.
world bank accused of promoting land grabbing
WASHINGTON, US, April 27, 2010 – Friends of the Earth International warned today that voluntary principles on land acquisitions announced by the World Bank and supported by the UN will legitimize and promote land grabbing in Asia, Africa and Latin America. [1]
2010 BIODIVERSITY YEAR: URGENT ACTION NEEDED
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, January 11, 2010 – Commenting on today’s announcement by the United Nations that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and that “the world is invited to take action to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity”, Friends of the Earth International’s coordinator of the Forest and Biodiversity Programme Isaac Rojas said: “It is urgent to take immediate action to preserve biodiversity. Nearly half of the world’s forests and around one-third of its species have been lost in the past three decades. We especially need to protect our forests, which host more than 70% of terrestrial biodiversity. "
'CERTIFIED' PALM OIL NOT A SOLUTION
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA November 3, 2009 -- Certifying palm oil is not a solution to the environmental damage and human rights violations caused by oil palm plantations, said Friends of the Earth International today during the meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Malaysia.
climate talks regress
BANGKOK, THAILAND, 9 October 2009 -- At the close of the Bangkok UN climate change negotiations tensions between the world’s rich nations and developing countries were at an all-time high, according to Friends of the Earth International campaigners observing the talks to demand climate justice.
'Sustainable Palm Oil' advert false, says watchdog
BRUSSELS, 10 September 2009 – Friends of the Earth has welcomed a ruling yesterday by the UK advertising watchdog that describing palm oil as “sustainably produced” is false advertising.
Environmentalists Welcome World Bank President's Halt to Palm Oil Investments
Jakarta, Indonesia, September 11, 2009 -- Friends of the Earth International welcomed today's announcement by the IFC, the World Bank's private sector arm, that it will stop all palm oil investments.
Carbon Offsetting Exposed as Con
BONN (GERMANY) / LONDON (UK), June 2, 2009 – The push by industrialised countries to offset their carbon emissions is undermining the fight against climate change, warned Friends of the Earth International at the start of key UN climate talks taking place in Bonn June 1-12.
World Forests Rapidly Disappearing
ROME, ITALY, MARCH 16 -- In a reaction to the alarming data released today in the 2009 State of the World’s Forests report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Friends of the Earth International and the Global Forest Coalition, two leading networks of environmental and Indigenous Peoples' Organisations, called on world governments to take immediate action to halt deforestation and forest degradation.
