Global South Expresses Concern about REDD
Photo by Sara Stratton
REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is a plan for curtailing greenhouse gas emissions by preserving the world’s forests. KAIROS has examined REDD in the 2010 briefing paper Decisive Action Vital at Cancún Climate Talks. This initiative will be debated at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Durban, South Africa from Nov. 28th to Dec. 9th in Durban, South Africa. REDD would put a price on the carbon stored in trees and include an offset program allowing companies in industrial countries to claim greenhouse gas reduction credits by paying to avoid deforestation in the South.
However, many Indigenous and Southern civil society organizations warn that forest protection projects have already displaced many Indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities from their traditional lands, violating the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
KAIROS’ Ecuadoran partner Accion Ecologica has sent us the following Open Letter of Concern to the International Donor Community about the Diversion of Existing Forest Conservation and Development Funding to REDD.
