Position Paper | download as RTF here |

$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