NEWS

Billion dollar jungle

Stopping tropical deforestation is part of the struggle against climate change. Developing countries expect rich nations to help pay for it. But will human rights be respected when megabucks are on offer?

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(06/03/2009 / )

Written by Gustavo Faleiros

You reach the Juma reserve, a 589-hectare piece of land covered with thick raincountries.  Countries which have ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, meeting in the Polish city of Poznan in December 2008, agreed the broad rules governing how REDD will work.  They are now negotiating how to include these rules in the new climate agreement due to be concluded at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in late 2009.

The project in Juma has been running for only six months and its financial support comes from big private groups interested in offsetting their carbon footprints.  The international hotel chain Marriott, for example, besides donating US$2m to the Juma reserve, also argues that reducing carbon emissions justifies it in collecting a dollar a night from its guests to increase funding for the forest dwellers.  Using complex future projections, the state government says the money donated to the Juma project by all donors, including large banking companies and food retailers, will by 2050 have prevented the deforestation of 62 per cent of the reserve, saving 210,000 tons of carbon.

< to halt tropical deforestation.

For years governments and NGOS have been discussing how nations can act together to stop the destruction of the planet's remaining forests.  The debate moved up several notches after forests were recognised as a key factor in the struggle against man-made climate change.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has now said that deforestation is responsible for 18 per cent of total global emissions of carbon dioxide.

Funding from hotel giant

The Juma scheme is expected to become the model for a global strategy to protect native forests.  This strategy is called REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries.  Countries which have ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, meeting in the Polish city of Poznan in December 2008, agreed the broad rules governing how REDD will work.  They are now negotiating how to include these rules in the new climate agreement due to be concluded at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in late 2009.

The project in Juma has been running for only six months and its financial support comes from big private groups interested in offsetting their carbon footprints.  The international hotel chain Marriott, for example, besides donating US$2m to the Juma reserve, also argues that reducing carbon emissions justifies it in collecting a dollar a night from its guests to increase funding for the forest dwellers.  Using complex future projections, the state government says the money donated to the Juma project by all donors, including large banking companies and food retailers, will by 2050 have prevented the deforestation of 62 per cent of the reserve, saving 210,000 tons of carbon.

Carbon offsetting

Virgilio Viana is the man who thought up the Juma programme.  He is the former Amazonas Envirooney, REDD is a big challenge," Alley points out.

Citizens of Boa Frente Community that belongs to the Juma Reserve (By Antonio Lima)

Risk of aiding corruption

Global Witness has been documenting cases of misuse of forest resources in developing countries for 15 years.  Alley remembers cases of 'sustainable' forest management that were enthusiastically sold as eco-friendly solutions for communities in central Africa and south-east Asia.  In fact, he says, they were examples of policies that can easily aid and abet corruption.  "In Cameroon or Cambodia, what we have seen is massive industrial logging being allowed by governments without any benefit for local communities."

The risk of these hidden threats from REDD waseral director of FAS, Virgilio Viana, at Boa Frente, located in the Sustainable Development Reserve of Juma (By Antonio Lima)

Opportunity - or curse?

A recent report by a group of UK experts, led by businessman Johan Eliash, says that if REDD becomes a reality it may create an annual flow of US$20-30bn from developed countries to tropical developing countries.  The Eliash Report insists this is actually the amount of money needed to stop emissions from deforestation.

Patrick Alley, the founder of the environmental campaigning group Global Witness, thinks REDD may be the opportunity conservationists have been awaiting for years.  But first, he says, it is crucial to guarantee that once the forest acquires value on the climate market, REDD money is not going to become a curse.  "Some of the countries who are negotiating REDD are some of the poorest and most corrupted in the world.  Like everything that involves a lot of money, REDD is a big challenge," Alley points out.

Citizens of Boa Frente Community that belongs to the Juma Reserve (By Antonio Lima)

Risk of aiding corruption

Global Witness has been documenting cases of misuse of forest resources in developing countries for 15 years.  Alley remembers cases of 'sustainable' forest management that were enthusiastically sold as eco-friendly solutions for cotropical countries, was not even seen as a problem.  "People's rights are simply not on the table", said Iola Leal from FERN.