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Indigenous people demand greater say in using forests to fight global warming mongabay.com October 8, 2008
Speaking to reporters at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Tony James, president of the Amerindian Peoples Association, told AFP that forest people should play a key role in determining how forests should be included in international climate negotiations. "We have been hearing more and more about the carbon trade, but indigenous people are not being included in the discussions," he said. "We want to know: who will own the carbon, and what will be the impact on us?" "We need to solve the topic of property and the issue of autonomy," added Jorge Furagaro of the Witoto people in Colombia. Indigenous leaders "have no real authority to negotiate, so too often we lose out."
Chief among their concerns is the potential for a "land grab" whereby governments, carbon traders, and speculators secure rights of the ecosystem services provided by forests without the consent of the people who live within the forests. In places where indigenous land rights are poorly defined, such claims could be used to evict forest people from lands upon which they have been living for generations. Therefore the development of policy mechanisms like REDD will involve thorny issues like traditional land rights as well as broader questions on how compensation will be structured and what measures will effectively conserve forests without driving more people into poverty. In the end, there is little doubt that support from forest people will be critical in making "avoided deforestation" schemes a reality. "We are the ones best placed to protect the world's most vulnerable tropical forests," Juan Carlos Juntiach, a Shuar leader from Ecuador and leader of the Amazon Alliance, was quoted as saying by AFP. "But this will not happen by following the old path of negotiations between governments and conservation agencies."
Tags: activism Amazon People amazon avoided deforestation carbon conservation carbon finance carbon offsets carbon sequestration carbon trading climate change politics conservation finance conservation deforestation environmental politics featured forestry forests global warming mitigation indigenous people politics poverty alleviation rainforest conservation rainforest people rainforests redd saving rainforests sustainable development tribal groups green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
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