2010 media archive http://www.foei.org daily 1 2010-09-22T21:00:20Z Cancun package merely prevents collapse and leaves kyoto protocol on life support http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/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. Nnnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International said: “The agreement reached here is wholly inadequate and could lead to catastrophic climate change. The rich countries that are primarily responsible for climate change, lead by the US, with Russia and Japan, are to blame for the lack of desperately needed greater ambition. This is a slap in the face of those who already suffer from climate change. But in the end all of us will be affected by the lack of ambition and political will of a small group of countries”

To prevent catastrophic climate change, an agreement is needed that includes science-based, aggregate targets for developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol, whereby rich countries reduce emissions by at least 40 percent with no role for carbon markets, offsets and loopholes. Carbon markets are not the solution for climate change but just a means for rich countries to continue business as usual.

Despite the lack of advancement on key issues, some progress has been made in other areas. The establishment of a Global Climate Fund is a step forward to build on. The 100 billion dollars put on the table for this fund, however, is not commensurate with equity and need. Rich countries must live up to their obligations to provide sufficient public funds to developing countries so they can grow cleanly and adept to the impacts of climate change they already suffer from.  Progress has also been achieved in adaptation to help poor countries address the impacts of climate change. The World Bank having a role in climate finance is not acceptable.

Lucia Ortiz of Friends of the Earth Brazil said:

 

"Mechanisms to stop deforestation are not supposed to allow rich countries to continue emitting carbon. Forests are not just stocks of carbon and they should not be commercialized. Money to protect forests must come from the developed
countries.”

Nnimmo Bassey said:

 

"The UN remains key to humanity’s collective response to this crisis and we see that the multilateral process is moving forward. However, the UN is only as strong as the countries that compose it. We could not achieve the progress that is needed in Cancun because the rich countries that are primarily responsible for climate pollution have prevented it. Rich countries tried to assassinate the Kyoto Protocol and it is now on life support, we have to redouble our efforts in the coming year to revive it.”

Lucia Ortiz of Friends of the Earth Brazil, said:

 

"We applaud the principled and courageous position of Bolivia, which has consistently called for and worked for ambitious action. Bolivia came here with a mandate from the Cochabamba agreement and listened to the thousands of people in Cancun. All over the world people are taking to the streets and demanding real solutions to the climate crisis. The movement is growing, as we have seen here in Cancun, and Friends of the Earth International will continue to pressure governments to reach a global agreement the world needs, next year in Durban.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-Meena Raman, +52 (1) 9982036601 (Mexican mobile), meenaco@pd.jaring.my
-Nnimmo Bassey    +52 (1) 998 137 74 93 (Mexican mobile), nimmo@eraction.org

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate biodiversity finance 2010-12-11T13:52:35Z News Item governments urged not to rush into redd deal and focus on effective forest conservation http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/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. The texts are poised to allow wealthy countries to use forest carbon credits to escape their emissions reductions obligations. Friends of the Earth International calls on governments in Cancún to agree on a mechanism that protects forests and ensures social and environmental safeguards. In its current form REDD cannot be agreed to here.

 

Some countries at the talks in Cancún, like Tuvalu and Bolivia, advocate real solutions to protect the world’s forests and denounce a REDD that would not safeguard the rights of forest dependant peoples or include carbon markets. Friends of the Earth supports these countries and urges others to follow their lead.

 

Isaac Rojas, International Programme Coordinator Forests and Biodiversity of Friends of the Earth International said: “Trading in forests has no part to play in a just international agreement to tackle climate change. Forests are not just sticks of carbon. Including forests in carbon offsetting initiatives does not work, it diverts attention from real measures to reduce emissions and prevent deforestation, and it threatens Indigenous Peoples and local communities who depend on forests. We call for action to stop deforestation by placing the conservation and management of forests in the hands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Nature cannot be commercialised.”

 

Ahfi Wahyu Hidayat, Friends of the Earth Indonesia said:

"1.6 Billion people in this world rely on forests, including 60 million Indigenous Peoples who depend entirely upon forests for their livelihoods, food, medicines and building materials. Including forests in carbon markets is likely to trigger a land grab - leaving these communities struggling to survive. In Cancún, governments must not choose for this pathway to disaster. Any initiative to tackle deforestation must ensure the Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and the enforcement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ territorial and customary land rights."

 

Nnnimo Bassey, Friends of the Earth Nigera and chair Friends of the Earth

International: 

 

"Developed countries need to stop spending so much time trying to secure cheap forest carbon credits and focus on reducing their emissions at home. We need mechanisms to stop deforestation and not merely ones designed to allow developed countries to continue polluting and emitting carbon. We need real solutions to protect our forests, and we need developed countries to solve the climate problem they created by making drastic emissions cuts at home instead of offsetting them elsewhere. Rich countries should also commit to provide public money to stop deforestation, as a repayment of their climate debt."

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-Isaac Rojas, + (1) 998 108 0339 (Mexican mobile) isaac@coecoceiba.org

-Nnimmo Bassey. + (1) 998 137 74 93 (Mexican  mobile) nnimmo@eraction.org

-Ahfi Wahyu Hidayat + (1) 998 108 03 67 (Mexican mobile)

 ahfiwahyuhidayat@gmail.com

-Media contact Friends of the Earth International in Cancún:

 media@foei.org

 

NOTE TO EDITORS

For case studies on the negative effects of projects being readied in

expectation of an agreement on "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in

Developing Countries", download the new Friends of the Earth International

report "REDD: the Realities in Black and White":

 

www.foei.org/redd-realities (English)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-fr (French)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-sp (Spanish)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-pt (Portuguese)

 

For more background information on the threats from the talks on Reducing

Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries, please see our REDD

Myths Report: www.foei.org/publications/redd-myths

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate biodiversity 2010-12-10T09:25:00Z News Item World Bank should stay out of carbon markets and climate finance http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/world-bank-should-stay-out-of-carbon-markets-and-climate-finance CANCUN, MEXICO, 8 December 2010 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick is coming to the climate negotiations in Cancun today to announce the establishment of a multi-million dollar fund to promote the creation of carbon markets in developing countries. Friends of the Earth International strongly opposes carbon markets and the perverse role of the World Bank in climate change and carbon trading. Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth US, said:

 

"Carbon markets are an irreparably flawed means of addressing climate change. They are unreliable and subject to fraud, and they open the door to offset loopholes that undermine environmental integrity. They further entrench the economic arrangements that facilitate the North's over-consumption and have landed us in this climate crisis in the first place."

Siziwe Khanyile, Friends of the Earth South Africa, said:

 

"The World Bank is a major climate polluter through its funding of oil, coal and gas projects in the global south and has wreaked havoc on the planet’s forests and trampled on human and environmental rights throughout the developing world. It is past time for the World Bank to get out of climate finance and to once and for all stop filling its coffers by investing in false solutions like carbon trading."

Friends of the Earth International believes that developing countries are not helped by the creation of their own carbon markets. Examples in developed countries have clearly shown that offsetting is not a solution to climate change. Carbon offsetting only benefits carbon traders, like the World Bank, who profit enormously from the expansion of carbon markets. The only way to tackle climate change is to radically reduce our consumption, emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, particularly in developed countries.

A global climate fund under the full authority of the UNFCCC must be established in Cancun with no role whatsoever for the World Bank and other multilateral development banks. Public finance commensurate with what justice and equity demand must be deposited by developed countries into this fund.

Friends of the Earth International is today joining social movements and civil society from around the world to demand that the World Bank stay out of climate finance, and signed on to an open letter to the governments now meeting in Cancun, calling on them to ensure that new and additional public resources for climate finance are made available and that a Global Climate Fund under the authority of the UNFCCC will be set up, with no role for the World Bank.

 

http://www.worldbankoutofclimate.org/?p=29

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-Karen Orenstein, + 52 (1) 998  1431414 (Mexican mobile), KOrenstein@foe.org
-Siziwe Khanyile, +52 (1) 998 108 03 42 (Mexican mobile),
siziwe@groundwork.org
-Media contact Friends of the Earth International in Cancún: media@foei.org

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate finance 2010-12-09T09:34:04Z News Item cancun week 2: friends of the earth international analysis http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/cancun-week-2-friends-of-the-earth-international-analysis CANCUN, MEXICO, 6 December 2010 - For the second week of UN climate negotiations in Cancún, the biggest challenge is to keep the Kyoto Protocol in place as the mechanism for aggregate science and equity based developed country targets - established without markets or offset loopholes - and to prevent it from being pushed aside by developed countries to make way for a voluntary pledge-based paradigm. Friends of the Earth International demands an open and transparent process in Cancun, with no 'green rooms', to achieve this goal. Last week, rich countries attempted to lay the groundwork for the eventual dissolution of the Kyoto Protocol. They want to operationalize key aspects of the US-backed Copenhagen Accord, especially by 'inscription' of the Accord's weak mitigation pledges into the Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) track, avoiding the Kyoto Protocol's process for establishing legally binding science-based, aggregate emissions targets for developed countries. In addition, extended carbon markets are showing up in many places in the negotiating texts.

The new negotiating text released this weekend on the Kyoto Protocol doesn't include aggregate targets for developed countries, and substantial loopholes in Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) were added. Friends of the Earth International urges parties negotiating in this track to begin working to set such targets, without loopholes. In the new text under the other track, the LCA, important proposals from developing countries were removed, including references to reducing temperature increases to safer limits.

Manuel Graf of Friends of the Earth Germany said:

 

"We can still prevent catastrophic climate change. But rich countries, who are responsible for the problem, must stop blocking the strong, just policies that are needed. We must set an aggregate target under the Kyoto Protocol whereby rich countries reduce emissions by at least 40 percent with no role for carbon markets, offsets and loopholes."

Kate Horner of Friends of the Earth US said:

 

"The United States must stop attempting to bully other countries into accepting a pledge-based system where emission reductions can be set without regard to science or justice. We've seen where this would get us - to as much as five degrees (Celsius) of warming [1]. That is unacceptable."

Lucia Ortiz of Friends of the Earth Brazil said:

 

"So called 'green rooms', in which negotiators and ministers in Cancún are selectively invited by 'green men' to provide their inputs to negotiation texts, do not provide the transparency needed in this complex and vital process to save the world from a slow death from climate change. The pressure made by developing countries last week to shift this process to a more transparent one was very important and we would like to see the same happening this week."

Tomorrow, Friends of the Earth International joins the thousands of people around the world and in Cancun who are mobilizing under the banner of climate justice. They will demand steep, binding emission reduction targets from developed countries and an open process, and will hold the Mexican Presidency accountable to its public pledges to provide such a process.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-Lucia Ortiz, + 52 (1) 998 205 89 25, lucia@natbrasil.org
-Manuel Graf, +52 (1) 998 108 03 64, manuel.graf@bund.net
-Meena Raman, +52 (1) 9982036601, meenaco@pd.jaring.my
-Kate Horner, +52 (1) 998 137 31 KHorner@foe.org

NOTE TO EDITORS

[1] According to research released by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) on November 23

Media contact Friends of the Earth International in Cancun: media@foei.org

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate 2010-12-07T09:44:57Z News Item nnimmo bassey to receive 'alternative nobel prize' http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/nnimmo-bassey-to-receive-alternative-nobel-prize STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN/CANCUN,MEXICO, December 3, 2010 – This Monday, Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey will be one of the five recipients of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award. This award is often referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'. Nnimmo Bassey, who is also Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, was nominated "for revealing the full ecological and human horrors of oil production and for his inspired work to strengthen the environmental movement in Nigeria and globally."

 

Bassey, who is currently in Cancun for the UN climate talks, said: "Climate change is a systemic problem that is an unavoidable outcome of a fossil fuel driven mode of civilisation. Unless the root problems of the crisis are tackled, the usefulness of the climate change conferences will not go beyond being arena for carbon trading while the planet is being devastated and people are being pushed into early graves. This award is a validation of our position  as Friends of the Earth that the way to a transformed world will come only through solidarity and cooperative actions through mass movements for the recovery of the sovereignty of the peoples of the world."

 

Press Conference / Award Ceremony

A press conference with the laureates will take place on Monday December 6 at 9.30 AM (CET) at the International Press Centre of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fredsgatan 4-6, in Stockholm. Media will need a press card to attend this conference.

 

The awards will be presented at the Swedish Parliament the same day at 6PM (CET). Please contact Right Livelihood Awards foundation for media accreditation.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Marlijn Dingshoff, Friends of the Earth International media coordinator,

Tel: +31-20-622 13 69 or +31-6-51 00 56 30 (Dutch mobile number valid

September 30 and Oct.1 only) or email media@foei.org

 

Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Tel: + 46 8 70 20 339 (Swedish office

number) or +49 170 24 49 348 (German mobile number) or email

press@rightlivelihood.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

Nnimmo Bassey’s biography, and a selection of high-resolution, free to use

photo portraits, along with images of oil pollution in Nigeria are

available at:http://www.foei.org/en/media/photos/nnimmo-bassey-photos/

 

For more information about the 'Right Livelihood Award' please visit:

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/

 

]]> No publisher PhilLee corporate power 2010-12-05T19:46:11Z News Item the people’s voices: mobilizations in cancun http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/the-people2019s-voices-mobilizations-in-cancun CANCUN, MEXICO, 4 December 2010 - To make sure the people's voices and demands are heard during the UN climate negotiations currently taking place in Cancun, Friends of the Earth International is engaged in several popular mobilizations. Domingo Lechon from Friends of the Earth Mexico, one of the organizers of the mobilizations, said: “It is important that the parties who spend every day at the official negotiations also listen to the people on the streets who suffer from climate change in their daily lives. We want to provide a counter-balance to negative proposals and the unequal power relations due to corporate power in the negotiations. That is why we have arranged for thousands to come to Cancun, and we will make sure that their voices are heard.”

 

In Cancun, Friends of the Earth International works together with strategic allies and like-minded organizations. This week, Friends of the Earth members from all over the world engaged in the discussions at the South-South Summit on Climate Justice and Finance, organized by Jubilee South, the Pan Africa Justice Alliance (PACJA) and Friends of the Earth groups from Latin America, that will end on December 5.

 

As of yesterday, caravans from all over the world are arriving to Cancun with thousands of people who will engage in the mobilizations and stay at the Peasant and Indigenous camp in Cancun, hosted by La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International.

 

Several activities are planned in Cancun for the upcoming days in which Friends of the Earth International will be engaged:

 

  • The Global Forum for Life and Environmental Justice, organized by La Via Campesina, the National Assembly of People Affected by the Environment, the Movement of National Liberation, the Mexican Union of Electricians and supported by Friends of the Earth International, 5-10 December. Opening ceremony: Saturday December 4, 9 AM

  • March for Life and Climate Justice, organized by La Via Campesina, Sunday December 5, 10 AM, from La Via Campesina Camp to Plaza de la Reforma (Tulum Av.), downtown Cancún. Friends of the Earth International joins this march of Indigenous Peoples and communities affected by climate change who will show the people in Cancún why they are here and what they will be doing the coming days.

  • The International Climate Justice Forum - People’s Dialogue, organized by Climate dialogue – Mexican Space, 5-10 December. Opening ceremony: Sunday 5 December, 9 AM

  • Thousands of Cancuns, a joint mobilisation called by La Via Campesina, the World March of Women and Friends of the Earth International, will take place on the streets of Cancun on Tuesday December 7, and in countries all over the world. The aim of this call is to amplify the climate justice movement by organizing thousands of protests and actions to reject false solutions.

  • Global day of action against the World Bank, Wednesday December 8

 

Friends of the Earth International supports the inclusion in the climate negotiating texts of proposals introduced by Bolivia, as a result of the Cochabamba Accord. The demands for a rejection of carbon trading and in support of community rights (climate justice tribunals and referenda) must be supported by all parties as a legitimate and progressive development in the UN negotiations.

 

LOCATIONS

La Vía Campesina Peasant and Indigenous camp: Unidad Deportiva “Jacinto Canek,” crossing Tulum Av. with Chichen Itza Av., downtown Cancún.

 

Global Forum for Life and Environmental Justice: Unidad Deportiva “Jacinto Canek,” crossing Tulum Av. with Chichen Itza Av., downtown Cancún

 

International Climate Justice Forum - People’s Dialogue: In and around Casa de Cultura, SM21, downtown Cancún

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Marlijn Dingshoff, Friends of the Earth International media coordinator, media@foei.org, +52 (+1 for outside Mexico) 998 108 03 78  or +31651005630 (Dutch mobile)

 

Hector de Prado, Friends of the Earth International coordinator Cancún mobilizations: hector@motherearth.org  +52 (+1 for outside Mexico)

9981080199

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate 2010-12-05T19:21:39Z News Item rich countries must reject any secret text that puts in place process that could kill kyoto http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/rich-countries-must-reject-any-secret-text-that-puts-in-place-process-that-could-kill-kyoto CANCUN, MEXICO, 3 December 2010 – A new, secret text from the Mexica presidency, which would effectively begin replacing the Kyoto Protocol with the Copenhagen Accord, might be on the table this weekend at the climate talks in Cancun. Ministerial level officials are said to arrive early, before the start of the High-Level Segment next week, and may be presented with it this weekend. Friends of the Earth International is concerned by this rumor and urges countries not to accept any such proposals should they be put forward. Entrenching the Copenhagen Accord could lead to as much as 5 degrees warming, according to research released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on November 23.

 

Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International and director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria said: “Replacing the Kyoto Protocol with a system that is pledge-based would sideline 20 years of multilateral negotiation and devastate the climate and the world’s people. It would be unjust and unacceptable.”

 

Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth U.S. said: “Displacing the legitimate negotiation process under the auspices of the UN would mean that developing countries would pay the price. The Mexican Presidency must not cater to the U.S., and delegates here in Cancun should not let the U.S. get its way.

 

Domingo Lechon, Friends of the Earth Mexico said: “Our concerns on a non-transparent process are becoming reality and it seems that the Mexican government will become responsible for killing the Kyoto Protocol. This is not what the Mexicans want, and it is not what the world wants. We need real solutions. Mexico must not follow Denmark's bad example and avoid by all means an exclusive, un-transparent and undemocratic process that leads to lock-in of dangerous climate change, of which we will all suffer.”

 

Susann Scherbarth, Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Rich countries that are most responsible for climate change must fulfill their historical responsibility, and that means they must take on science-based and legally binding emissions obligations. The best way to ensure this happens is to continue the Kyoto Protocol. Europe has a crucial role to play in these negotiations. It must take its role seriously. This is no time for the EU to wait and hide. We call on the EU to stay strong and agree to the next Kyoto Protocol phase.”

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-Nnimmo Bassey, + 52 998 137 74 93  (Mexican mobile), 2348037274395

(Nigerian mobile), nnimmo@eraction.org

 

-Kate Horner, + 52 998 137 31 44  (Mexican mobile), khorner@foe.org

 

-Domingo Lechon, + 52 998 212 28 52 (Mexican mobile),

domingolechon@otrosmundoschiapas.org

 

-Susann Scherbarth, +52 998 108 03 60 (Mexican mobile),

susann.scherbarth@foeeurope.org

 

-Media contact Friends of the Earth International in Cancun: media@foei.org

 

 

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate 2010-12-03T19:10:00Z News Item Japan threatens progress at climate talks in Cancun http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/japan-threatens-progress-at-climate-talks-in-cancun CANCUN, MEXICO December 1, 2010 – Japan’s recent announcement to abandon the Kyoto Protocol is a threat to vital progress needed at the UN climate talks in Cancun, warned Friends of the Earth International. At the opening of the UN climate talks in Cancun, that started Monday and will end Friday 10 December, Japan announced to abandon the only treaty that could tackle growing greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries; the Kyoto Protocol. This historic treaty was, ironically, agreed to in Japan, which chaired the third Conference of the Parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997.

 

Yuri Onodera, Friends of the Earth Japan: “Japan's move to drop out of the Kyoto treaty shows a severe lack of recognition of its own historical and moral responsibility. With this position, Japan isolates itself from the rest of the world. Even worse, this step undermines the ongoing talks and is a serious threat to the progress needed here in Cancun.”

 

The UN climate talks in Cancun are seen as a critical test in which the credibility of the multilateral process of the climate talks and trust of developing countries can be reestablished. It is developing countries that already suffer from the impacts of climate change caused by developed countries like Japan. Nevertheless Japan made its intentions more than clear during the first two days in Cancun: it says it will not join the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol in any circumstances, a position confirmed by the Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo.

 

Friends of the Earth International urgently demands that Japan reconsider its position and stop stalling climate talks which have hardly even started. All rich countries, including Japan, should agree on cutting their emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, without resorting to carbon offsetting, and commit to this under a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

 

Press Conference in Cancun

Friends of the Earth will be hosting a civil society press conference on Japan's controversial Kyoto stance at the climate talks in Cancun today, 1.30 pm Mexican time at press conference Room Luna in the Azteca Building of the Moon Palace hotel, with speakers from Christian Aid, Stockholm Environment Institute and Friends of the Earth Japan.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Marlijn Dingshoff, Friends of the Earth International Media Coordinator, +52 9981080378 (Mexican mobile) or +31 651005630(Dutch mobile)

media@foei.org

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate 2010-12-01T20:12:35Z News Item Forest deals set to harm the environment and reward corporate investors http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/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. The Friends of the Earth report - "REDD: the Realities in Black and White" - reveals that new projects being readied in expectation of an agreement on "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries" (REDD) are set to do more harm than good.

 

The case studies from Friends of the Earth member groups around the world clearly show that indigenous peoples and local communities are being marginalised in the development of these schemes. Meanwhile corporations and major investors are intent on reaping huge financial rewards at the cost of local communities. Large transnational corporations including BP, Shell and energy companies are honing in on REDD as a new business opportunity.

 

Many of the projects on the ground and most of the proposals in the UN talks link REDD to carbon markets. This would also allow the privatisation of forests to generate carbon credits so that rich industrialised countries could buy the right to pollute.

 

Furthermore, these pilot projects and a weak UN definition of forests could allow continued logging and the replacement of old growth natural forests with industrial tree plantations.

 

Friends of the Earth International Climate Justice Program Coordinator Joseph Zacune said:

 

"Governments are promoting dangerous proposals on forests through the UN climate talks which would imperil communities and the environment.  These case studies show that a race is underway by corporate investors to profit from forestry schemes which will do nothing to reduce emissions and would harm local communities."

 

-ends-


NOTES

1. The Friends of the Earth International report launch coincides with the first day of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be meeting in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010.

 

2. Friends of the Earth International's "REDD: the Realities in Black and White" is available in various language versions at:

 

www.foei.org/redd-realities (English)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-fr (French)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-sp (Spanish)

www.foei.org/redd-realities-pt (Portuguese)

 

3. For more background information on the threats from the talks on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries, please see our REDD Myths report: www.foei.org/publications/redd-myths

 

4. For interviews please contact:


Joseph Zacune + 44 7967877593 (UK mobile)


Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International Forest and Biodiversity

program coordinator + 52 1 998 108 0339 (Mexican mobile)

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate biodiversity 2010-11-30T09:40:00Z News Item Governments urged to turn away from carbon trading at climate talks http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/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. Carbon trading does not lead to real emissions reductions. It is a dangerous distraction from real action to address the structural causes of climate change. Developed countries should radically cut their carbon emissions through real change at home, not by buying offsets from other countries.

 

Carbon offsetting has no benefits for the climate or for developing countries – it only benefits private investors and major polluters and allows rich countries to avoid their emission reduction commitments.

 

Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey said:

 

"We have so little time to make the radical societal changes necessary to tackle climate change and safeguard our planet. Carbon trading should be immediately swept aside by governments and made history so that we can have a future. We are calling on rich industrialized countries to set us on a just, rapid transition towards decarbonization. Cancún will fail if they do not commit to steep domestic cuts with no offsets, and appropriate public finance which excludes the World Bank."

 

Proposals related to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) are progressing rapidly, but there is a major risk that they will be linked to carbon markets. This would lead to developed countries paying for forest offset projects that essentially privatize developing country forests in order to buy the right to pollute. Forest carbon offset schemes risk taking forest ownership out of the hands of local communities and prevent real action from rich industrialized countries to make their necessary emission cuts at home.

 

Climate finance – developed countries' financial contributions to developing countries that suffer from climate change – also risks being linked to carbon markets.  Friends of the Earth International calls on governments in Cancún to agree on the establishment of a global climate fund under the authority of the UNFCCC, with no role whatsoever for the World Bank.

 

Note to editors

1. The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be meeting in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 to 10 December 2010.

 

2. At the talks, Friends of the Earth International is calling for rich countries to cut their emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020, without resorting to carbon offsetting, and for them to commit to this under a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol – the internationally agreed mechanism for legally-binding emissions reduction targets.

 

Friends of the Earth International is also calling for public money to be made available for developing countries to grow sustainably and adapt to the effects of climate change already causing damage to their people’s livelihoods and families.

 

The international campaigning federation is calling for this money to come from public sources, not carbon markets.

 

Friends of the Earth International believes that, because the price of carbon is notoriously unpredictable, this approach would do nothing to supply developing countries with the reliable sources of finance they need. Likewise, carbon trading does nothing to actually reduce emissions.

 

In addition, Friends of the Earth International believes the World Bank should play no part in providing, managing or distributing this money – its role in tackling climate change has already been discredited because it is one of the largest lenders for fossil fuel projects in the world.

 

Finally, the international, grassroots federation is also calling on Governments to not resort to finance for monoculture tree plantations and to end existing forest carbon trading proposals. An approach to deforestation must safeguard and enforce community rights.

 

Friends of the Earth International will be present at the United Nations climate talks in Cancún (COP 16) with a delegation of observers from member groups all over the world.

For more information please contact

Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International chair and Head of the Friends of the Earth International Cancún delegation, Tel: +234 80 37 27 43 95 (Nigerian mobile number) or email nnimmo@eraction.org.

 

Marlijn Dingshoff, Friends of the Earth media coordinator in Cancún, Tel +31-6-51 00 56 30 (Dutch mobile number) or + 521 998 108 02 78 29 (Mexican mobile number) or email media@foei.org

 

If you want to receive our press releases, a copy of our national spokespeople contact details in Cancún (from November 28-December 12, 2010), our Cancún Media Briefing or our Cancún Events Calendar, please send a request to media@foei.org.

 

Friends of the Earth International is the world's largest grassroots environmental federation with 76 national member groups and more than 2 million individual members and supporters.

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate biodiversity 2010-11-26T13:40:00Z News Item EUROPE'S BIOFUELS PLANS DRIVING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/europes-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. The new research analyses for the first time biofuel use planned by the EU’s member states in their renewable energy plans [2], concluding that:
-Europe is set to increase significantly biofuel use by 2020 when biofuels will provide 9.5% of transport fuel – more than 90% of which will come from food crops.
-When indirect land use change is taken into account, biofuels will emit an extra 27 to 56 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year – the equivalent to an extra 12 to 26 million cars on Europe’s roads by 2020.
-Unless EU policy changes, the extra biofuels that Europe will use over the next decade will be on average 81 to 167% worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
 
Under the plans, five countries will be responsible for over two thirds of the increase in emissions. The UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and France are projected to produce the most extra greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels – with up to 13.3, 9.5, 8.6, 5.3 and 3.9 extra million tonnes of CO2 per year respectively.

Adrian Bebb from Friends of the Earth Europe said: "The scale of the damage that European countries will cause with their biofuels plans is now clear – forests and nature will be destroyed on a shocking scale to fuel our cars. The resulting release of climate-damaging greenhouse gases will make biofuels a worse polluter than fossil fuels. The EU needs to urgently review the sustainability of using biofuels and ensure their use does not lead to more climate change or environmental destruction."

Laura Sullivan from ActionAid: "Biofuels are not a climate-friendly solution to our energy needs. The EU plans effectively give companies a blank cheque to continue grabbing land from the world’s poor to grow biofuels to fill our tanks rather than food to fill their stomachs. Europe’s energy policies are putting millions of people in danger, threatening Africa’s fragile food security."

The research, commissioned by a coalition of environmental and development organisations [3], includes indirect land use change impacts caused by biofuels, making it the most realistic assessment so far of the real world impacts of EU biofuels targets. It comes at a key time for EU biofuel policy, with the European Commission due to report on how to address and minimise these emissions by the end of the year.

The groups are calling on EU governments and the European Commission to review urgently the real impacts of biofuels on climate change and food security, and to prioritise energy efficiency in transport. New legislation must take account of the full carbon footprint of biofuels by introducing indirect land use change ‘factors’.

Nusa Urbancic of Transport & Environment said: "This research shows that EU biofuels targets are putting climate policy for transport in reverse gear. Until indirect land use change is fully taken into account, Europe will continue to subsidise an alternative energy that is no better than the fossil fuels it is designed to replace."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

* Francesca Gater, Communications Officer, Friends of the Earth Europe. +32 2 893 1010, francesca.gater@foeeurope.org
* Chris Coxon, Media and Communications Officer, ActionAid. +32 4 88 87 8381, chris.coxon@actionaid.org
* Alessia Pautasso, Communication & Media Officer, BirdLife International. +32 2 541 0781, alessia.pautasso@birdlife.org
* Katherine Sladden, Communications Officer, ClientEarth. +44 203 0305954, ksladden@clientearth.org
* Faustine Defossez, Agriculture and Bioenergy Policy Officer, European Environmental Bureau (EEB). +32 2 790 8814, faustine.defossez@eeb.org
* Veerle Dossche, EU Forest Campaigner, FERN. +32 2 894 4696, veerle@fern.org
* Mark Breddy, Communications Manager, Greenpeace European Unit. +32 2 274 1903, mark.breddy@greenpeace.org
* Dudley Curtis, Communications Manager, Transport & Environment. +32 2 893 0845, dudley.curtis@transportenvironment.org
* Alex Kaat, Manager Communications and Advocacy, Wetlands International. +31 6 50 60 1917, Alex.Kaat@wetlands.org


A media briefing, 'Driving to destruction', is available at: www.foeeurope.org/agrofuels/ILUC_briefing_November2010.pdf

The report, 'Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels in the EU' is at: www.foeeurope.org/agrofuels/ILUC_report_November2010.pdf
 
Notes for editors:

[1] Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).  November 2010. ‘Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels in the EU: An Analysis of Member State Performance’. Author: Catherine Bowyer, Senior Policy Analyst. http://www.ieep.eu

[2] The study analyses the 23 plans that had been submitted by October 2010 (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK). http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm. This forms part of the EU Renewable Energy Directive.

[3] The organisations are: ActionAid, BirdLife International, ClientEarth, European Environmental Bureau, FERN, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, Transport & Environment, Wetlands International.

]]> No publisher Marlijn Dingshoff agrofuels energy biodiversity economics 2010-11-08T11:00:00Z News Item GLOBAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF KEN SARO-WIWA'S MURDER http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/global-day-of-remembrance-15th-anniversary-of-ken-saro-wiwas-murder NOVEMBER 10, 2010 – Today, on the 15th anniversary of the murder of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, remembrance activities are being organized all over the world by Friends of the Earth International and others. They continue his legacy of defending territories, resisting corporate rule and state repression and seeking justice for communities who suffer from the practices of companies like Shell. Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders were sentenced to death on 10 November 1995 for speaking out against the impact of Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta.

 

Nnimmo Bassey, the Nigerian chair of Friends of the Earth International, said: 

 

"The world’s addiction to fossil fuels put the hangman’s noose around the neck of Ken Saro-Wiwa. His words, though spoken fifteen years ago, still ring true in our ears today. Today we all stand before history. We stand in front of a backdrop of injustices, oppression and ecological genocide - not just historical but current. It is the threat of its progressing into the future that we must fight."

 

A new report exposing a grave example of this threat was published yesterday by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. In the report, oil expert Richard Steiner, biologist and former professor at Alaska University, exposed that Shell is still violating international environmental standards on a large scale in the Niger Delta, which results in 250 oil leakages every year.

 

 

Romel de Vera, coordinator of Friends of the Earth International's Resisting Mining Oil and Gas program, said: “Fifteen years after the death of Ken Saro Wiwa and his comrades, the corporate hunger for oil and minerals that led to their hanging is now more present, pervasive and prevalent globally than it ever was. Contradicting the extractive corporations' social development propaganda is the underlying viciousness of the industry that has led to the killings of many more community rights defenders all over the world. The growing number of local anti-mining activists is a testament to this fact.”

 

In Nigeria, today, there will be events to mark the Global Day of Remembrance in Benin City, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa and Lagos. Other African countries , including South Africa and Mozambique, will have commemoration events as well. In the Philippines there will be five parallel remembrance activities in different parts of the country, including a prayer vigil in Manila. In the Netherlands, a coalition of eight environmental and human rights organizations including Friends of the Earth Netherlands, will organize a public event and commemoration to honor the legacy of Ken Saro Wiwa in The Hague, where Shell currently stands trial for oil pollution in Nigeria. Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey will join the event.

 

Bassey said: “Standing on the shoulders of history we see clearly the beginnings of the trials that are bound to expose those who have waged ecological wars against the peoples of the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world. The labors of our heroes past must not be in vain. We demand environmental justice and an end to fossil fuel addiction: be it crude oil, tar sands or coal.”

 

For information on the Global Day of Remembrance, go to www.rememberesist.org

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International chair and director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria: nnimmo@eraction.org, +234 803 727 4395 (Nigerian mobile)

 

Romel de Vera, coordinator of Friends of the Earth International's Resisting Mining Oil and Gas program, meldevera@gmail.com, +6329281372 (Phillippines)

]]> No publisher PhilLee mining oil corporate power gas-flaring energy gas communities 2010-11-10T09:43:14Z News Item UN ADVISORY GROUP ON CLIMATE FINANCE REPORT FALLS FLAT http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/un-advisory-group-on-climate-finance-report-falls-flat NOVEMBER 5, 2010 - A new report on climate change financing options released today by a U.N. Advisory Group unwisely emphasizes carbon markets and other private finance options, while irresponsibly advocating an increased role for multilateral development banks (MDBs). Despite concluding that public sources of climate finance are available and promising, the report's findings downplay the role that public finance can and must play in helping developing countries deal with climate change. The U.N. Secretary General's High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF) issued its report today ahead of the annual U.N. climate summit in Cancún that begins November 29. The report outlines a number of public and private options to raise money to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The AGF recommendations are unfortunately based on unduly optimistic econometric projections and a blind faith in the capacity of highly volatile and unreliable carbon price signals to induce long-term investments in low carbon energy production and manufacturing," said Steve Suppan of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "A better start on climate finance would be for developed countries to make good on their $30 billion pledge for immediate funding to allow developing countries to adapt agricultural production and water management systems to the imminent ravages of climate change."

"It was inappropriate for the AGF Report to make reference to the role of multilateral development banks. MDBs are not a source of climate finance, but are used as a channel. And they are not acceptable even as a channel. MDBs are a part of the climate problem, not the solution. The World Bank and other MDBs are far, far more adept at causing climate pollution than in helping countries to mitigate or adapt to it. Using MDBs as a channel would also mean climate finance in the form of loans or other debt-creating instruments," said Lidy Nacpill of Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development.

"Adaptation funding, in particular, is compensation for damages done by developed countries and should only be given in grants. It is untenable that the AGF suggests otherwise. The enormous costs of dealing with climate change must not add to the already heavy debt burdens experienced by many developing countries," added Nacpil.

"The AGF report-as limited in scope and conservative in its estimates as it is-still shows that there are numerous viable options to generate public finance for climate change," said Ilana Solomon of ActionAid USA. "Developed countries have no excuse for inaction. The options are there. They must work through the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change to
come to agreement on a combination of public sources to generate the desperately needed resources to help developing countries confront climate change."

"The AGF acknowledges that meeting the needs of developing countries will take a 'systemic approach' to financing climate adaptation and mitigation," noted Janet Redman, co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network at the Institute for Policy Studies. "Options like a financial transaction tax meet the mark: stabilizing the economy by curbing dangerous speculation and raising hundreds of billions of dollars each year for global public goods like combating climate change. The AGF is undercutting its own mission by underestimating the revenue generated by a feasible and popular source of public finance."

The groups expressed concern that the AGF was guided by a pledge developed countries made in Copenhagen to mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 in public and private finance-a pledge which falls short of reasonable estimates of climate financing.

"$100 billion is an arbitrary, political figure that is based neither on need nor on equity. If the U.S. government rapidly mobilized trillions to bail out Wall Street, why cannot at least equal effort be put toward bailing out the planet from a climate crisis that rich countries caused?" said Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S.

In October, at the global climate talks in Tianjin, more than 25 civil society organizations sent a letter to the co-chairs of the AGF outlining their recommendations for climate finance, which can be read here: www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=107723

Friends of the Earth International, ActionAid USA, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Institute for Policy Studies, Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development.


FOR MORE INFORMATION
Ben Lilliston, IATP, 1-612-870-3416, ben@iatp.org
Janet Redman, Institute for Policy Studies, 1-508-430-0464
Ilana Solomon, ActionAid USA, 1-202-370-9927
Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth U.S., 1-202-222-0717

]]> No publisher Marlijn Dingshoff finance 2010-11-06T10:15:04Z News Item high level advisory group on climate change must avoid pitfalls http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/high-level-advisory-group-on-climate-change-must-avoid-pitfalls LONDON, November 4, 2010 - Speaking in advance of the anticipated release of the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, tomorrow, convened by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon in the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference last year, Friends of the Earth's Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman said: "The recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Group could boost the chances of progress at the upcoming climate negotiations in Cancun - but they must avoid the pitfalls which will slow negotiations down to a crawl.

 

"It's totally inappropriate for the countries who have mortgaged our planet's future to lend money to developing countries to tackle climate change - and then leave them saddled with financial and environmental catastrophe.

 

"New money from the rich to the developing world must be in the form of grants, not loans.

 

"Recommendations for a global carbon market would risk a speculative trading bubble and a double whammy of financial and climatic disaster.

 

"There are a range of options already on the table which can generate, fairly and effectively, the $200 billion which is the minimum required annually for developing countries to tackle climate change.

 

"These should include a 'Robin Hood tax' on international financial transactions, a levy on international flights and ending fossil fuel subsidies.

 

"This new money should form part of a Global Climate Fund under the control of the UN, which would provide money for developing countries in a transparent and democratic way.”

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For Friends of the Earth's Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman in London, contact press officer Henry Rummins, +44 (0) 20 7566 1649

 

Friends of the Earth International media coordinator Marlijn Dingshoff in Amsterdam: +31(0) 20 6221369

 

For further information on the Robin Hood tax, visit www.robinhoodtax.org.uk

]]> No publisher PhilLee climate talks climate neoliberalism 2010-11-04T16:22:05Z News Item Market mechanisms are a false solution to biodiversity loss http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/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. “It is urgent that the world ministers meeting in Nagoya 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. The failure to meet the 2010 goals and targets that have been agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity is unacceptable. But market based mechanisms now being discussed in Nagoya will not address the root problems of biodiversity loss,” said Isaac Rojas, the coordinator for Friends of the Earth International’s Forest and Biodiversity Program.

 

More than 100 representatives of environmental non profit organizations and local communities met in Penang, Malaysia from October 14 to 17 for a conference on Forest, Biodiversity, Community Rights and Indigenous Peoples, organized by Friends of the Earth. They came up with a statement for governments and corporations, asking them to stop the promotion of destructive projects and start taking real action to tackle biodiversity loss. The most important issues addressed in this statement are the commodification of biodiversity and the rights of communities and indigenous peoples.

 

One of the false solutions on the agenda for discussion in Nagoya is the Green Development Mechanism (GDM), modeled after the destructive Climate Development Mechanism, developed within the climate change negotiations. This market based scheme would create tradable biodiversity credits and make it possible to offset biodiversity and ecological loss instead of preventing it.

 

“We cannot and should not rely on market mechanisms to do the job that governments should be doing. Commodification and privatization of nature and biodiversity are false solutions. Biodiversity is not for sale. Existing financial incentives usually harm biodiversity conservation rather than supporting it, and often violate the rights of local communities,” said Isaac Rojas.

 

For a copy of the statement, please contact Marlijn Dingshoff, media coordinator Friends of the Earth International at media@foei.org

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Isaac Rojas, coordinator of the Friends of the Earth International Forests and Biodiversity Program: isaac@coecoceiba.org or tel: + 506 22686039 and mobile +506 83383204

]]> No publisher Marlijn Dingshoff biodiversity finance impacted communities affected peoples forests ecological Convention Meeting 2010-10-28T15:20:00Z News Item