"Rich nations are not living up to their obligations to assist developing country adaptation efforts to survive climate change impacts. It has been 16 years since these commitments were made, and substantial steps were expected in Poznan,“ said Meena Raman, Honorary Secretary of Friends of the Earth Malaysia.
“We are outraged that Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada deleted language on the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in a key decision on deforestation. This risks the violation of rights and displacement of millions of Indigenous and forest-dwelling peoples who are the guardians of forests and among the worst affected by climate change,” she added.
Some 1.6 billion people rely on forests, including 60 million Indigenous people, who are entirely dependent upon forests for their livelihoods, food, medicines and building materials.
Friends of the Earth International remains critical of the undue influence of the private sector in the UN climate negotiations, which must remain the domain of governments and civil society. Governments have the responsibility to ensure that people and the planet are protected from climate change, which includes reigning excessive corporate interests over people's livelihoods.
+ Industrialised countries failed to demonstrate its commitment and leadership to reducing emissions: Industrialised (Annex I) countries did not advance talks in this area at all from one year ago. The identical text from the 2007 Bali talks conclusions has been inserted in the Poznan text.
+ Industrialised countries need to commit to emissions reduction targets of at least 40% on 1990 levels by 2020. Yet, these countries have shamefully wasted an entire year of inaction.
+ The industrialised countries are continuing to dodge their adaptation, financial and technology transfer obligations to developing countries. It has been 16 years since these commitments were made and substantial steps were expected in Poznan. Developing countries tabled many positive proposals most of which were ignored by industrialised countries.
+ Parties agreed on text in the negotiations on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Developing Countries that did not exclude plantations from the definitions of forests. Monoculture tree plantations store only a fraction of the carbon – and the biodiversity - stored by forests.
+ Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada stripped out language on the
recognition of rights of Indigenous Peoples in REDD negotiations.
+ Parties failed to explicitly reject proposals for carbon trading mechanisms for forest conservation and instead support community based-forest governance that upholds the rights of Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities.
+ Industrialised countries failed to remedy woefully inadequate level of financing support for adaptation in the 'Adaptation Fund' under the Kyoto Protocol, a fund created explicitly to meet the financial cost of adaptation in developing countries.
+ Industrialised countries are still considering buying their way out of emission reduction obligations through damaging initiatives such as 'carbon offsetting' in developing countries. Friends of the Earth International rejects offsetting as it wards off real measures to tackle climate change.
Parties failed to explicitly reject false solutions such as carbon capture and storage, large dams, nuclear energy and agrofuels.
Meena Raman, Honorary Secretary of Friends of the Earth Malaysia:
+ 60 12 43 00 042 (Malaysian mobile number)
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator:
+ 48 698 327 785 (Polish mobile number)
MEDIA OFFICER LINE:
+48 662 964 285 (until 13 December 2008) or + 31-6-5100 5630 (Dutch number until 13 December 2008).
"We believe it is urgent to take serious action on climate change and want our governments not to disappoint us, but to inspire us by taking the lead in these negotiations - we as youth, contrary to many parties here, have no vested interest in these negotiations other than our future."
So far the EU has dramatically failed to show leadership at the UN talks which are a milestone to an agreement in Copenhagen next year. Ministers arriving for the final two days of the meeting must provide some much needed ambition to agree on the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009.
Only by agreeing strong domestic action, in the form of drastic emission cuts, can the EU really claim to be a leader internationally. But new legislation due to be agreed by Heads of State this week is nowhere near ambitious enough and will allow two thirds of emissions reductions to be achieved through the purchase of ‘offset credits’ from developing countries.
Antje von Broock, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth Germany
(BUND) said:
"The European Union is causing a standstill – it's trying to play down the importance of these talks and by doing so it is playing with people’s lives. Europe can only be a genuine leader if it commits to at least 40 per cent missions cuts in Europe by 2020 and to repay its climate debts by helping developing countries."
Bette Harms of Young Friends of the Earth Europe at:
bette.harms@gmail.com, Tel: 0031 644 788583
Antje von Broock, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth Germany/BUND, antje.vonbroock@bund.net, Tel. 0049 173 6071601
Francesca Gater, Communications Officer for Friends of the Earth,
francesca.gater@foeeurope.org, Tel: 0032 485 930515
1. Names of Ministers attending the event:
Jacqueline Cramer – the Netherlands;
Ed Miliband – United Kingdom;
Sigmar Gabriel – Germany;
Maciej Nowicki – Poland;
Erik Solheim –Norway.
Others to be confirmed.
Also attending: Jean Pascal van Ypersele – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
2) Young Friends of the Earth Europe is a grassroots network that brings together young people and youth organisations from all over Europe to work together on pressing environmental issues such as climate change in a European context. It aims to give politicians, businesses and the general public a refreshing youth perspective on environmental issues.
“The world's most impoverished people are the most affected by climate change yet did not contribute to it – it flies in the face of their human rights that industrialized countries are still failing to make immediate, steep reductions in their carbon emissions."
"The UN climate talks standstill is squarely to blame on the governments of industrialized countries in the European Union as well as Japan, Australia, Canada and the US - they are dragging their feet instead of fulfilling their legal obligations to mitigate climate change,” she added.
The 194 nations which signed on to the UN climate convention have the legal obligation to protect human rights through mitigation of climate change, but greenhouse gas emissions keep on rising across industrialized nations despite their obligations to cut their emissions.
Industrialized countries have grown rich emitting greenhouse gases and causing climate change and have a historical responsibility for the increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels.
Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, industrialized countries must make the most cuts and finance the transition of developing countries to low-carbon economies.
So far, industrialized countries have not fulfilled their obligations and are shifting the blame for lack of progress in the talks on to major developing countries. An international agreement in which industrialized countries would shift burden on to developing countries would be unjust and inequitable.
Meena Raman, Honorary Secretary of Friends of the Earth Malaysia: + 60 12
43 00 042 (Malaysian mobile number)
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator: +
48 698 327 785 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Friends of the Earth International media line: +48 662 964 285 (valid only
until 13 December 2008); or +44 7921 039636
The World Bank Group is positioning itself to take significant control of climate change financing. The joint statement issued today calls instead for climate funds and their utilisation to be fully accountable to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The G-77 and China bloc of developing countries (representing 133 developing countries at the UN climate talks) also favour climate funds under the UNFCCC.
The three main criticisms of the World Bank are:
Friends of the Earth US International Finance Campaigner Karen Orenstein said:
“The World Bank is not a credible institution to play any role in addressing the climate crisis. Its Climate Investment Funds are irreparably flawed and should be shut down. Developing countries urgently need billions of dollars - to cope with the increase of storms, droughts, famines and floods that they face due to climate change, and to build low carbon economies. But these funds must come through financial mechanisms controlled by the UN climate convention, in which all parties have equal say.”
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network said:
“The World Bank is not a credible institution to play any role in addressing the climate crisis. Its Climate Investment Funds are irreparably flawed and should be shut down. Developing countries urgently need billions of dollars - to cope with the increase of storms, droughts, famines and floods that they face due to climate change, and to build low carbon economies. But these funds must come through financial mechanisms controlled by the UN climate convention, in which all parties have equal say.”
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt
and Development, said:
“It is simply outrageous for climate financing to be given to southern countries in the form of loans. Peoples of the South are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of poverty and lack of government programs and resources, which is in no small part due to the debt they are forced to pay to northern countries. Now the World Bank and northern governments, who bear overwhelming responsibility for the climate crisis, want our people to assume the cost of dealing with its impacts and add to our debt burdens. This is unjust on many levels. Further, it is sheer hypocrisy for the World Bank to claim any role in supposedly assisting the South in addressing the climate crisis when it continues to finance environmentally destructive projects and policies.”
The full joint statement from the 142 organizations can be read here.
Karen Orenstein, International Finance Campaign Coordinator at Friends of
the Earth US: + 1 202 64 08 679
Friends of the Earth International media line: +48 662 964 285 (valid only
until 13 December 2008); or +44 7921 039636
Around the world, a wide spectrum of organisations and movements, ranging from youth and women groups to Indigenous Peoples, trade unions, and environmentalists will participate in rallies and a series of activities to urge governments negotiating at the United Nations to take real action now.
In Poznan, Friends of the Earth Poland is coordinating a bike rally under the slogan 'Bikes for Climate' to promote bicycle use instead of car transportation whenever possible.
Fifty youths from 'Young Friends of the Earth Europe' are in Poznan to demand that governments 'Wrap Up' the international negotiations on climate change, and 'Act Now'. Later in the week they will hand over to ministers a banner made by young people from 30 European countries who have painted their demands on more than 1000 squares of fabric.
Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Campaigner Juana Camacho said:
“United Nations climate change negotiations are deciding the fate of millions of people and of our planet. World leaders must listen to the demands to address climate change now and deliver climate justice.”
The most impoverished people in developing countries are the worst affected by climate change, and have made little or no contribution to current levels of greenhouse gases.
Rising sea levels are already causing major problems for people living on low-lying island and on river deltas where people depend on subsistence farming and fishing to survive.
Industrialised countries owe a ‘climate debt’ to developing countries. Industrialised countries governments must take the lead in radically reducing their emissions and meet their obligations for financial transfers to developing countries.
Friends of the Earth El Salvador President Ricardo Navarro said:
“For us in Central America adapting to climate changes is essentially a struggle for survival. The lack of action by governments prompted people in Latin America to start movements of climate change victims and affected people to resist harmful projects, such as logging, mining and large coal and hydro projects.”
Global Climate Campaign - www.globalclimatecampaign.org
Climate Now! - www.koalicjaklimatyczna.org/index.php?id=aktualnosci&lang=en
Ricardo Navarro, President of Friends of the Earth El Salvador:
Tel: +48 785401102 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec 12 only)
Juana Camacho, Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Coordinator:
Tel: + 48 698 33 31 31 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec11 only)
Joseph Zacune Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Coordinator:
Tel + 48 785401116 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec13 only)
"The international climate agreement is finely balanced to meet the ultimate objectives of stabilising the climate and ensuring sustainable development. But in Poznan major developed countries - the US, the EU, Japan, Australia - appear to want to change and revise the Convention instead of addressing their failure to take historical and current responsibility to implement the obligations of the Convention.
“To conquer climate change, rich industrialised countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 – and provide finance and technology to enable poorer countries to develop low carbon sustainable economies.
“Developing countries are reminding the richer countries that they have so far not supported them in low carbon development, and have also failed to take strong action themselves on climate change. The developing countries are calling this the 'implementation failure' of the convention.
“It is a stark reminder of the impacts of climate change to hear small island states call for deep emissions cuts by industrialised countries of 40 per cent by 2020 – these countries are literally at risk of sinking into the sea and rich countries must listen to this wake-up call.”
The most vulnerable nations – including small island states - are calling for ambitious targets of returning greenhouse gas emissions concentrations to 350 parts per million by mid-century and to keep global temperature increase to less than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Current greenhouse gas emissions have billowed to over 380 parts per million of greenhouse gas emissions.
The 'Group of 77' developing nations bloc and China are holding strong with their demands which put the onus upon rich, industrialised countries that have reaped the benefit from over 150 years of carbon-intensive industrial development.
The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing global climate change and the lag time of emissions in the atmosphere means that we will be experiencing the consequence of today's emissions for the next 50 years.
Friends of the Earth International will assess the Poznan negotiations and outcome based on the following points:
- Will the industrialised world demonstrate its commitment and leadership to reducing emissions? Industrialised (Annex I) countries must commit to emissions reduction targets of at least 40% reductions on 1990 levels by 2020.
- Will industrialised countries commit to this target without buying their way out of emission reduction obligations through damaging initiatives such as 'carbon offsetting'? Friends of the Earth International rejects offsetting as it wards off real measures to tackle climate change. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has well-documented devastating social, environmental and human rights impacts in the South.
- Will Parties in Poznan commit to a timetable of work that will ensure a strong post 2012 agreement finalised in Copenhagen in December 2009?
- Will Parties in Poznan agree to develop a suite of financial mechanisms that will provide reliable and consistent funds through means other than carbon offsetting? These funds are needed for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries as incentive to move away from a carbon-dependent development model (used by industrialised nations) towards low carbon economies.
- Will Parties focus on clean renewable energy and energy efficiency, and reject false solutions such as carbon capture and storage, large dams, nuclear energy and agrofuels?
- Will Parties reject proposals for carbon trading mechanisms for forest conservation and instead support community based-forest governance that upholds the rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Friends of the Earth US International Climate Campaigner Kate Horner:
+1 360 319 9444 (US mobile number)
Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator,
Tel: +44 79 67 87 75 93 (UK mobile number) or + 48 785401116 (Polish
mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator:
Tel: +48 698 327 785 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Friends of the Earth International media line: +48 662 964285 (Polish
mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only) or +31-51005630 (Dutch mobile
number valid until Dec. 13 only).
land rights
Giving forests a market value is likely to lead to an increase in state and corporate control of forests. Because there is currently little global and national recognition of customary and territory rights, this will make Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities vulnerable to losing their land. Injecting money through the same channels that are currently responsible for illegal deforestation could reinforce corruption.
offsetting
Forest carbon trading is inherently flawed because it does not mitigate emissions. Emissions theoretically saved by reducing deforestation would simply be used to sanction the use of fossil fuels elsewhere. This carbon offsetting will undermine current and future emissions reductions agreed by industrialised countries.
plantations
Under the current proposals, plantations could be defined as forests - so REDD funding could be used to replace forests with large monoculture plantations. At best plantations only store 20 per cent of the carbon of intact forests. Replacing forests with plantations has devastating environmental consequences as well as social and economic impacts on forest-communities.
Deforestation is driven by a massive demand for timber, meat, soy and palm
oil mostly in industrialised countries combined with poor governance in rainforest countries. Friends of the Earth International is calling for these drivers to be tackled through policy changes – for example through investment in public transport so we do not need agrofuels; and stopping industrial trade in timber that has been illegally logged.
Meanwhile, deforestation can also be tackled directly through funding schemes that conserve forests by devolving power to local people.
Friends of the Earth US International Climate Campaigner Kate Horner said:
“Around 20 per cent of emissions come from deforestation so we must protect the world’s forests to avoid dangerous climate change. But placing forests in carbon markets isn’t the answer – allowing rich countries to buy chunks of forests while still polluting won’t solve climate change, and it will trigger a land grab that will leave millions of people worse off.”
“Demand for meat, timber and agrofuels in industrialised countries is driving deforestation, so we need to tackle this head on, while also investing in local and national schemes that conserve forests while standing up for the rights of people living in forests. If money earmarked for forest conservation is used to fund monoculture tree plantations, an environmental, social and economic disaster will unfold on a global scale,” she added.
Read the executive summary of the report here -
Read the full report -
Friends of the Earth US International Climate Campaigner Kate Horner:
+1 360 319 9444 (US mobile number)
Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator,
Tel: +44 79 67 87 75 93 (UK mobile number) or + 48 785401116 (Polish
mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator:
Tel: +48 698 327 785 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Friends of the Earth International media line: +48 662 964285 (Polish
mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only) or +31-51005630 (Dutch mobile
number valid until Dec. 13 only).
Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Coordinator Joseph Zacune said:
"During the climate talks, we will be demanding that forests are kept out of carbon markets, that plantations are entirely excluded and land rights are enforced as the basis of any forest policy.
"If governments are serious about tackling climate change, deforestation must be stopped once and for all. To do this we need to tackle the consumption of agrofuels, meat and timber products which is driving deforestation and support good governance of forest resources."
Deforestation and forest degradation are significant causes of climate change, accounting for as much as twenty percent of greenhouse gas emissions every year. Accelerating deforestation also threatens the world’s biodiversity, imperils the 60 million Indigenous People who are entirely dependent upon forests and disadvantages some 1.6 billion people who are heavily reliant on forests.
Friends of the Earth US climate campaigner Kate Horner said:
"It is alarming that such dangerous forest carbon trading proposals are getting traction at the UN talks while so many critical questions are left unanswered. We fear that this could be disastrous for biodiversity, the rights of forest-dependent communities around the world and even our climate. If forest carbon trading proposals are accepted, it would create the climate regime’s largest loophole by allowing rich countries to buy their way out of emission reductions."
Read the executive summary of the report here -
Read the full report -
Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator,
Tel: +44 79 67 87 75 93 (UK mobile number)
Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth US Climate Campaigner
Tel: +1 36 03 19 94 44 (US mobile number)
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator:
Tel: +48 698 327 785 (Polish mobile number valid until Dec. 13 only)
Friends of the Earth International media line :
Tel: +31 6 5100 5630 (Dutch mobile number)
Friends of the Earth International will assess the Poznan outcome and the actions taken there based on the following points:
Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator Stephanie Long said:
"Industrialised countries have committed under the UN climate convention to finance the just transition to low carbon economies and climate change adaptation programmes in developing countries. We expect them to act on their promises. In addition, industrialised countries must live up to their historical and current responsibilities and commit to steep, immediate binding emission reduction targets without deflecting attention on to major developing countries."
Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator Joseph Zacune added:
"Friends of the Earth International is working with social movements, local communities, and other organisations to strengthen a diverse, effective and global climate justice movement. At these talks, there is particular concern about new, dangerous forest carbon trading proposals that could create the climate regime's greatest loophole, sanction the replacement of natural forests with plantations and trigger a land grab that would imperil Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities."
60 million Indigenous Peoples are entirely dependent upon forests and some 1.6 billion people are heavily reliant on forests and other trees. Global deforestation is responsible for roughly 20 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. The root causes of deforestation are our consumption of biofuels, meat and timber products.
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator,
tel: + 61 414 136 461 (Australian mobile number)
Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate Coordinator,
tel: +44 79 67877593 (UK mobile number)
Friends of the Earth International media line : +31-6-5100 5630 (Dutch mobile number)
A complete list of spokespeople and their mobile numbers will be circulated closer to the talks.
Follow the developments at Poznan go to http://www.foei.org/en/campaigns/climate
The report
argues that the World Bank's track record disqualifies it from managing
clean technology transfer and climate adaptation funds. Instead, the
groups argue, such funds should be established under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, in order to ensure they are used
equitably and effectively, in accordance with the principle of common
but differentiated responsibility, and that nations receiving financing
are thoroughly involved in funds' design and implementation.
"The World Bank has a very troubling track record on climate change. It
has repeatedly invested in dirty projects and called them 'clean,'" said
Janet Redman of the Institute for Policy Studies and the lead author of
the report. "It is beyond ridiculous for the World Bank to continue to
claim that projects such as the Tata coal plant in India—expected to be
one of the world’s top 50 global warming polluters—are part of the
solution to the climate crisis. The World Bank cannot be trusted to
oversee climate change funding."
The groups’ analysis shows that World Bank Group lending to coal, oil
and gas in 2008 increased 94 percent from 2007, reaching over $3
billion. Coal lending alone increased an astonishing 256 percent.
The World Bank claimed major increases in fiscal year 2008 in its
renewable energy and energy efficiency lending, but the vast majority of
that comes from environmentally and socially destructive large
hydropower projects and energy efficiency. Lending for “new”
renewables—wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower projects
that produce up to 10 MW per facility—only increased from $421 million
to $476 million from last fiscal year, representing a 13 percent
increase, not the 87 percent that the World Bank claims.
“The World Bank provided political and financial support to Exxon and
the Chadian government for the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline. Precisely as
we warned the World Bank years ago, its support for this pipeline
established a new petrol dictatorship in Africa. The World Bank is now
withdrawing from the project, but who is left to deal with the monster
that it created? Our people are worse off and the local environment is
ravaged. We are outraged by the suggestion that this same World Bank is
now planning to administer climate change funds,” said Samuel Nguiffo of
Friends of the Earth Cameroon.
Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to which the U.S.
is a party, industrialized countries most responsible for global warming
are obligated to finance clean technology and adaptation to climate
impacts in developing countries.
"Developing countries have clearly articulated at multiple UN climate
negotiations that financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation
should be fully accountable to the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change. It is simply wrong for the World Bank—an undemocratic,
unaccountable institution—to have any role in controlling climate
financing,” said Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth-U.S.
The groups are:
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL
INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES
OIL CHANGE INTERNATIONAL
CAMPAGNA PER LA RIFORMA DELLA BANCA MONDIALE
ACTION AID USA
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
in WASHINGTON:
Nick Berning, Friends of the Earth US, Tel: +1-202-222-0748
Janet Redman, Institute for Policy Studies, Tel: +1-508-340-0464
Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change, Tel: +1-202-497-1033
MORE INFORMATION:
Two page factsheet on World Bank's "Climate Investment Funds":
http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/#770
New "Dirty is the New Clean" report on World Bank's climate framework:
www.ips-dc.org/reports-list.php#780
Two-page World Bank and Climate factsheet:
http://www.foe.org/Climate_Investment_Funds/WorldBank-ClimateOverview.pdf
The executive summary of the report is online here
The full text of the report is online here
"This report exposes the misleading claim of the Malaysian palm oil lobby that its palm oil is sustainable. Earlier this year the British advertising watchdog ruled that Malaysian palm oil ads claiming that the oil is sustainable were misleading the public. It is high time for Europe to limit its demand for palm oil products and halt the use of edible oils for energy use," said Paul de Clerck, Friends of the Earth International Corporates Campaigner.
Sarawak plans to more than double its 2007 levels of oil palm acreage by 2010, taking it to a total of 1.3 million hectares.
"An acceptance of Malaysia's palm oil claims will legitimise further tropical deforestation, human rights violations against indigenous peoples and the suppression of public participation in government decision making," said Friends of the Earth International chair Meena Raman. Meena Raman, who is also SAM / Friends of the Earth Malaysia Honorary Secretary, has been barred from entering Sarawak since 1994.
The main findings of the report include:
1. Oil palm plantations are being expanded at the expense of tropical forests, contrary to claims by the Malaysian palm oil lobby.
2. The 'carbon debt' of palm oil is huge when the plantation is developed on peat soils and/or at the expense of forests.
3. In Sarawak plantation companies regularly practice open burning to clear land for planting, even on peat soils, contributing to regional air pollution (haze) and to the faster release of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere.
4. Virgin forests promised to the Penan indigenous communities of Sarawak have never materialised, contrary to the claims of the Malaysian palm oil
lobby.
Further information
EUROPE:
Paul de Clerck, Corporates Campaigner for Friends of the Earth International: Tel: +32-494-38 09 59 (Belgian mobile)
Anne van Schaik, Globalisation campaigner, Friends of the Earth Netherlands / Milieudefensie: Tel: +31-6-29 59 38 77 (Dutch mobile)
Kenneth Richter, Biofuels Campaigner, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland: Tel: + 44-20-75 66 16 71 (UK office number)
PENANG, MALAYSIA
Meena Raman, Friends of the Earth International chair and SAM/Friends of the Earth Malaysia Director: Tel: +60-12 43 00 042 (Malaysian mobile)
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"Tree plantations are not forests. A plantation is a highly uniform agricultural system that replaces natural ecosystems and their rich biodiversity. The trees planted are geared to the production of a single raw material, whether it is timber, pulp, rubber, palm oil or others. Nevertheless, international institutions like the FAO and the World Bank, as well as government agencies in countries like New Zealand, incorrectly define plantations as forests, despite abundant documentation which proves that the only thing they have in common is the presence of trees. By calling them forests, these institutions and governments help to impose and perpetuate an unsustainable monoculture plantation production model."
"Plantations form part of an industrial model for the production of abundant and cheap raw material that serves as an input for the economic growth of the industrialized countries. What the producer countries get are environmental degradation and rising poverty, which are the ‘externalized costs’ of this cheap raw material," stressed Simone Lovera of the Global Forest Coalition.
"On the lands currently occupied by plantations, there used to be or could be agricultural crops that would help ensure the people’s food sovereignty, managed by peasant communities. Or these communities and indigenous peoples could use the land for sustainable activities that would improve their quality of life, such as community forest management," added Isaac Rojas of Friends of the Earth International. (2)
The struggle waged by local communities against tree monocultures has become a part of daily life in countries around the world. It is a struggle that none of these communities asked for, but one that has been imposed on them. In Asia and the Pacific, local communities in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are fighting against oil palm plantations. In Africa, there are struggles against plantations that produce rubber, palm oil and wood pulp in Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Swaziland and South Africa. And in Latin America, countries like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay are suffering the impacts of “green deserts” of pine and eucalyptus trees, while Colombia is now facing the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations for agrofuel production, as are Venezuela and the countries of Central America.
To make matters worse, large-scale tree plantations are being promoted – falsely – as a solution for climate change. On the one hand, the European Parliament and other institutions are promoting the so-called second generation of biofuels (3) produced from wood, which would lead to the rapid and wide expansion of tree monocultures, including transgenic trees. (4) On the other hand, some southern countries view a potential fund under the Framework Convention on Climate Change as a possible source of financing for large tree plantations as carbon sinks to compensate for the loss of forests. As a result, mechanisms like REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries) could be turned into a massive subsidy scheme for plantations.
"All ‘international days’ refer to problems of global importance that need the world’s attention. The expansion of large-scale tree monoculture plantations is one of these problems. That is why this 21 September will give greater visibility to the great many struggles being waged around the world and demonstrate the negative impacts of this model, and the world will have the opportunity to join in this struggle," explains Ricardo Carrere of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM).
"21 September is also the International Day of Peace, and this is what the people waging this struggle are fighting for: Peace, so that the communities affected can recover their way of life in harmony with Nature and with other people." he added.
"This 21 September, we will also celebrate the fertile resistance that is growing in so many communities every day of the year, in pursuit of a world with justice and without these destructive plantations."
(1) All of these impacts have been documented in many publications, case studies and declarations made by the communities themselves. For more information see the World Rainforest Movement website: www.wrm.org.uy
(2) Community forest management has been documented as a sustainable livelihood initiative by Friends of the Earth International. For more information see their website: www.foei.org
(3) For a more thorough analysis of the problems associated with agrofuel plantations see the Global Forest Coalition website at: www.globalforestcoalition.org
(4) More information on transgenic trees is available at www.wrm.org.uy, www.foei.org, www.globalforestcoalition.org
Ricardo Carrere, World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay: (+598) 2 413 2989 rcarrere@wrm.org.uy
Simone Lovera, Global Forest Coalition, Paraguay: (+595) 21 663654 / (+595) 981 407375 simonelovera@yahoo.com
Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International, Costa Rica: (+506) 8338 3204, gavitza@racsa.co.cr
Download the report [pdf]
The report states that increasing the amount of land destined to grow crops for agrofuels means increasing deforestation and wildlife destruction, increased land conflicts, eviction of rural people, poor working conditions and environmental pollution.
Paul de Clerck, Corporates Campaigner for Friends of the Earth International, said: “Growing agrofuels on a large scale in Latin America is totally unsustainable and it is not helping ordinary people or the environment. More agrofuels means that agribusiness companies, financial speculators and big landowners will make vast profits at the expense of people and the environment.”
Lucia Ortiz, Coordinator of Friends of the Earth Brazil added: "Social conflict and environmental problems would be exacerbated by mandatory EU targets for agrofuels use. The expansion of large scale plantations of biofuel crops is not sustainable. Increasing European demand for agrofuels is not a solution to the climate and energy crises: the solution should focus on decreasing consumption and saving energy."
The report highlights that:
Virtually all developments are leading to vast intensively-grown monocultures of crops that are highly dependent on chemical pesticides and fertilisers as well as high amounts of water. These plantations often push other agriculture activities into more sensitive areas such as rainforests and savannahs, and they lead to widespread deforestation and are threatening biodiversity.
Working conditions are often very poor, akin to modern day slavery, and the use of child labour in some countries is common place. Land speculation is also forcing up land prices and there is evidence that agrofuel production is replacing food supplies for local populations.
Rural communities are being displaced to make way for the plantations, with conflicts over land rights increasing in all countries. Agrofuel developments are largely taking place in a culture of little transparency and democracy, virtually no land use planning, weak governance and in some cases the use of violence and the involvement of paramilitary groups.
Close links between business and politics result in governments introducing extremely attractive policies for agribusiness - such as tax breaks, land rights and the relevant infrastructure. These close links also mean conflicts of interest, corruption and governments closing their eyes to illegal activities of landowners and producers.
Big producers, traders and investors are increasing profits through expanding sales of commodities, agricultural inputs and financial gains from land speculation. International companies are becoming increasingly involved in all Southern and Central American countries examined in this report.
Paul de Clerck continued: “Agrofuel production is expanding mostly because of ill thought-out demand for crops to fuel cars in Europe and North America. Agrofuels are no solution to our climate or energy problems but, as this report shows, agrofuels are increasing pre-existing social, environmental and human rights problems in developing countries.”
MORE INFORMATION:
EUROPE:
Adrian Bebb, Agrofuels Campaign Coordinator for Friends of the Earth
Europe: Tel: +49 160 94 90 11 63 (German mobile)
Paul de Clerck, Corporates Campaigner for Friends of the Earth
International: Tel: +32 494-38 09 59 (Belgian mobile)
LATIN AMERICA:
Lucia Ortiz, Friends of the Earth Brazil in Porto Alegre: Tel: +55 51 91
15 03 34 (Brazilian mobile)
Carlos Santos, Friends of the Earth Uruguay in Montevideo: Tel: +59 898
88 94 98 (Uruguayan mobile)
Silvia Quiroa, Friends of the Earth El Salvador/CESTA in San Salvador (In Spanish):
Tel: +503 77 69 13 41 (Salvadorean mobile)
]]>The inclusion of forests in carbon markets would allow rich countries to
buy their way out of greenhouse gas emission reductions and threaten
local communities who could be expelled from their forests.
Friends of the Earth US International Climate Campaigner Kate Horner said:
"It has been very worrying to see these negotiations speed along in a
dangerous direction without any genuine participation from those
communities who will be most directly affected if their forests are put
into carbon markets. Local communities want their land rights to be
respected, and not to have their forests sold to allow rich countries to
continue polluting as usual. Reading between the lines, there is a major
push toward financing plantations which would be disastrous for the
world's last remaining forests."
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT IN ACCRA:
Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth US: Tel: +1 360 319 9444 (US mobile)
George Awudi, Friends of the Earth Ghana: Tel: +233 27 7432 014
(Ghanaian mobile)]]>
Further, any proposal that increases the value of forests may trigger a rapid increase in land rights’ abuses due to a rapid expansion of state and / or corporate control over forests without regard to the customary or territorial rights of Indigenous Peoples and other forest-dependent communities.
Campaigners believe that the negotiations are focusing excessively on finance and not on the root causes of deforestation, such as our consumption of biofuels, meat and timber products.
Belmond Tchoumba, Friends of the Earth International coordinator of the Forest and Biodiversity Programme said: ”If the value of their forests increases, local communities may face governments and corporations willing to go to extreme lengths to wrest their forests away from them. Delegates are focusing primarily on finance but to stop deforestation, land rights must be centre stage. Yet these UN climate talks shamefully continue to take place without any meaningful participation by Indigenous Peoples.”
Despite the fact that Indigenous Peoples and other forest-dependent communities have been protecting forests for millennia, they often have no formal land title. Many have been forcibly and even violently evicted from their territories.
60 million Indigenous Peoples are dependent on forests for their livelihoods, food and medicines. These people have already been severely impacted by deforestation, in particular to grow crops and agrofuels for export.
Friends of the Earth International is strongly opposing the inclusion of forests in carbon trading initiatives as this “offsetting” promotes business-as-usual pollution in industrialised countries and diverts attention from real measures to tackle climate change.
Kate Horner, International Climate Campaigner, Friends of the Earth US said: ”Any agreement on forests must tackle the root causes of deforestation, including halting agrofuels targets, timber products, meat consumption and expanding agricultural production. Northern countries must radically reduce unsustainable consumption instead of trying to buy their way out of emission reduction obligations through offsetting.”
Forests are a key component of the earth’s carbon and hydrological cycles and are now recognised as being fundamental to our efforts to stop runaway climate change. Some 18% of the world’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from what is referred to as the “land use change and forestry” sector (IPCC, 2007).Yet forests themselves are being impacted by climate change and may be losing their ability to regulate the planet’s climate. Critically, if global temperatures increase more than 2 degrees centigrade, tropical forests could switch from acting as carbon sinks, to being net sources of carbon emissions.
Campaigners are demanding that Northern governments take the lead in radically reducing their emissions and meet their obligations for financial transfers to the South, based on climate debt, for mitigationand adaptation that are independent from and additional to emission reduction obligations.
This would include finance and technology that would support developing
countries’ just transitions towards low carbon economies.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT IN ACCRA, GHANA:
Belmond Tchoumba, Friends of the Earth International coordinator of the Forest and Biodiversity Programme: +233 27 1214504 (Ghana mobile valid until 27 August)
Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth US : +1 360 319 9444 (US mobile)
Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Coordinator: +44 7967877593 (UK Mobile)
George Awudi, Friends of the Earth Ghana: +233 27 7432 014 (Ghana mobile)
]]>