$INKS -- WHO WINS, WHO LOSES?

Follwing are 10 arguments from members of the Global Forest Coalition and other NGOs and IPOs against the Inclusion of Sinks in the Clean Development Mechanism. A compilation of testimonies on the negative impact of large-scale monoculture tree plantations prepared for the climate talks in The Hague this November can be found here.

The undersigned Indigenous Peoples Organisations and NGOs oppose the
inclusion of Land use Land Use Change and Forestry activities in the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) for the following reasons:

 1. Sinks are neither long term nor short term solution to mitigating climate
change. The lack of verifiable ways of estimating the ability of forests
and other ecosystems to "compensate" for industrial emissions means
that the inclusion of sinks in the CDM would destroy the Kyoto Protocol.

 2. As climate change is the greatest threat to the world's forests and forest
peoples, we strongly reject any attempt by Annex 1 countries to back
away from their obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 3. Including sinks in the CDM would lead to Annex 1 countries receiving
credits for forest conservation, restoration, reforestation and tree
plantation establishment while the rights and interests of indigenous and
other local communities which have been inhabiting and protecting these
forests for centuries are neglected.

 4. Including sinks in the CDM as a way of meeting the commitments of
governments would reinforce existing inequalities. The climate crisis is
due to the industrial societies using more than their fair share of the
world's carbon cycling capacity to gain more than a fair share of the
world's resources. This problem will not be solved by abdicating them a
right to take over other people's lands and seas for so-called carbon
sequestration and storage.

 5. Including sinks in the CDM would reduce the sacred land and territories of
Indigenous Peoples to mere carbon storage units. This is contrary to the
cosmovision and philosophy of life of these Peoples. A forest and its
people cannot be counted solely in terms of carbon content.

 6. Sinks in the CDM would constitute a worldwide strategy for expropriating
Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' lands, seas and territories and
violating their fundamental rights.

 7. Including sinks in the CDM would provide a huge incentive, on top of
existing subsidies, for the establishment of Northern- driven, large scale,
environmentally and socially destructive monoculture tree plantations.
These plantations are already proving disastrous for peoples and their
environments all over the world. Moreover, carbon plantations will result
in little revenue for host countries, provide an obstacle for their present
and future sustainable development while awarding Annex 1 countries
huge sums in terms of carbon credit.

 8. Including sink in the CDM would undermine, by diversion, existing financial
flows supporting community-driven initiatives for restoration and
conservation of forest areas. These flows are a result of the
commitments of the United Nations Commission on Environment and
Development and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC
articles 4.3, 4.4, 4.7) to provide new and additional funds, which can be
seen as a recognition of the ecological debt owed by industralised
countries to non-Annex 1 countries.

 9. Including sinks in the CDM would not address the underlying causes of
forest loss. Nor would it create macro-economic conditions making forest
conservation and restoration possible. Such conditions include debt
reduction, sustainable consumption and production patterns, revision of
Structural Adjustment Programmes, strict regulation of international
private investment flows and ensuring equitable relationships between
North and South.

 10. Taking into account the disastrous impact climate change has and will
continue to have on Indigenous Peoples, small farmers, local communities
and other groups, particularly in Non- Annex 1 countries, we call upon
the Annex 1 parties to the FCCC to take immediate action to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions beyond their commitments in the Kyoto
Protocol. 

Signed as of 15/9/2000. Additional signs are being collected.

Friends of the Earth International
The World Rainforest Movement - Uruguay
FERN-UK, Brussels
Indigenous Research Institute - New Zealand
Climate Action Network South East Asia
Green Forum - Philippines
Forest Action Network- Kenya
FORUM - Norway
Indonesian Climate Action Network- Indonesia
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - UK
Humber Environment Network - Canada
Instituto Socio-Ambiental - Paraguay
Institute for Cultural Affairs - Ghana
Cornerhouse - UK
Sobrevivencia/Friends of the Earth - Paraguay
Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies - Bangladesh
Earthlife Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa
Friends of the Earth - Japan
Friends of the Earth - Ghana
Terra Millenium III- Romania
David Suzuki Foundation, Canada
Greenpeace International
Friends of the Earth - England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Tropical Forest Kyoto - Japan
Japan Tropical Forest Action Network
The Consortium for Community Forest Systems, Indonesia
Siosiomaga Society, Samoa


Contact:
Miguel Lovera
Sobrevivencia/Friends of the Eath Paraguay/FoEI 

http://www.foeeurope.org/dike/news/0920-01.htm