Press Release - 14 December 2007

Bali Forest Outcomes Trample Indigenous Peoples' & Local Communities' Rights
False "Solutions" to Climate Change Condemned at the UNFCCC

Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia-As the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ends, Global Forest Coalition [1] expresses great concern that market-based mechanisms promoted here do not give enough guarantees to indigenous peoples and forest dependent peoples to ensure their rights.

Global Forest Coalition's Managing Coordinator, Simone Lovera stated, "The outcomes of the forest negotiations here in Bali do not include any guarantee that the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities regarding their forests, which have been enshrined in the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, will be respected. Instead, this entire process is dominated by the corporate interests of logging, soy and palmoil companies that have started to demand compensation for every tree they don't cut down. Carbon offset projects financing such compensation schemes do not contribute anything to mitigating climate change, they are no more than a convenient lie to subsidize some of the most destructive industries on earth. Considering the crisis we are in, carbon offsets are unacceptable: We desperately need both forest conservation AND policies that cut emissions at source."

"Indigenous peoples and women are the traditional caretakers of the forest," said Anne Petermann, Co-director of Global Justice Ecology Project. [2] "The fact that they are being ignored and excluded in this process is typifying for the way in which we are moving in the wrong direction."

The International Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change, expressed their profound concern in a statement read inside the UNFCCC about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) [3]:

"REDD will not benefit Indigenous Peoples, but in fact, will result in more violations of Indigenous Peoples' Rights. It will increase the violation of our Human Rights, our rights to our lands, territories and resources, steal our land, cause forced evictions, prevent access and threaten indigenous agriculture practices, destroy biodiversity and culture diversity and cause social conflicts. Under REDD, States and Carbon Traders will take more control over our forests."

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues added, "It is countries in the North that have caused the climate problem and now they are promoting projects like agrofuels [4] to supposedly address this problem, the impacts of which will be shouldered by the countries and indigenous peoples of the South."

"To worsen matters, World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced their latest scheme called the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility,"[5] stated Dr. Miguel Lovera, Chairperson for the Global Forest Coalition. "They are going to use the failed model of carbon trading to supposedly protect forests, but just like agrofuels, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility is going to exacerbate deforestation at a faster rate, worsen human rights abuses and do nothing for the climate but make it less inhabitable," he said.

Contacts:

Dr. Miguel Lovera (Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian) +595-21-663654
Hubertus Samangun (Bahasa and English) +62 813 10778918
Anne Petermann (English) +62 813 38918437

Notes:

[1] The Global Forest Coalition is a worldwide network of non-governmental organizations and Indigenous Peoples Organizations that promotes effective rights-based forest conservation policies. See http://www.globalforestcoalition.org for more information.

[2] Global Justice Ecology Project takes action to address the common root causes of social injustice, economic domination and environmental destruction. GJEP is the North American Focal Point of the Global Forest Coalition. See http://globaljusticeecology.org/

[3] The term 'agrofuels' is a more accurate label for the production of fuel from industrially produced agricultural crops (and is also used by the FAO). The term 'biofuels' gives a false impression that these fuels are environmentally friendly, when they are in fact environmentally and socially destructive.

In a 4 December press conference, Global Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project [released the advance copy of a major new report that reveals the social and ecological impacts of large-scale production of agrofuels. The True Cost of Agrofuels: Food, Forests and the Climate [specifically details the threats on forests and forest-dependent people that are resulting or are predicted to result from the production of agrofuels from food, oil and cellulose crops. The report is available online (English version)
http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/Therealcostofagrofuels.pdf
and (Spanish) http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/Spanish
/Elverdadocostodelosagrocombustibles.pdf

[4] Statement from the International Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change (IFIPCC) at the 13th Session of Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC--SBSTA 27, concerning agenda item 5/REDD. See http:www.globalforestcoalition.org

[5] The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility is the World Bank folding the carbon storage potential of forests into their carbon trading scheme as another way to avoid emissions reductions from polluter countries.