learn more about forests and climate change

The Problem

United Nations negotiations on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries (REDD) are in fast forward mode, both in the negotiating halls and on the ground. This is partly because of the considerable sums of money being discussed – figures of tens of billions of dollars per year are the norm. Yet many critical questions remain unanswered. Will REDD help to mitigate climate change or actually negate efforts that have been made so far? Who will really benefit from REDD funds? How might trading in forest carbon credits impact on REDD-related policies and projects?

There are many forest carbon trading proposals on the table that, if accepted, would create the climate regime’s largest loophole by allowing rich countries to buy their way out of emission reductions and would imperil Indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities. Furthermore, REDD will hamper much-needed efforts to mitigate climate change so long as it is based on a definition of forests than includes plantations which cause serious environmental, social and economic impacts.

From a climate change point of view, the overall goal is to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of CO2 at as low a level as possible. This can partly be achieved by stopping deforestation, which is responsible for some 18% of carbon emissions to the atmosphere. But REDD is not intended to stop deforestation. Our REDD myths report shows that ‘reducing emissions from deforestation’ is actually a dramatically different approach that could have significant negative impacts on people, on biodiversity and even on our climate.

The solution

In order to stop climate change, we have to stop deforestation now. Friends of the Earth International works with communities around the world to support community-based forest management. Land rights and Indigenous rights are the solution: Any agreement on forests must be developed through a joint process with other relevant forest conventions and human rights instruments and ensure full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Plantations are not forests and must be excluded from any definition of forests. In the absence of a proper definition, a REDD mechanism could be used to fund the expansion of plantations, even though they store, at best, only 20% of the carbon and a fraction of the biodiversity that old growth forests have. Large monoculture tree plantations, particularly genetically modified trees, have significant negative social and environmental impacts.

Forests must be kept out of carbon markets as their inclusion would enable countries with emissions reduction responsibilities to avoid necessary economic transformation. A market REDD mechanism will create the climate regime’s biggest loophole, risking humanity’s ability to tackle climate change.

Tackling the drivers and underlying causes of deforestation is paramount. These include agrofuels
and excessive meat and paper consumption in industrialised and other major importing countries.
We must also stop destructive practices in mining, oil and gas exploration and extraction and
industrial logging.

What we do

We expose and challenge the risks in the current REDD proposals in the UNFCCC and reject all the dangerous World Bank forest carbon trading initiatives at the local, national and international level. We work with local communities and protest for the recognition and enforcement of customary and territorial rights. Friends of the Earth International is calling for new and real decisions to stop deforestation, once and for all. We demand an end to the development, production and trade of agrofuels and for the reduction in the excessive consumption of meat and timber products which drive deforestation.