Skip to content
Menu
REDD-Monitor
  • Start here
  • About REDD-Monitor
  • REDD: An introduction
  • Contact
REDD-Monitor

“Stop California REDD Now!” Sign Indigenous Environmental Network’s petition

Posted on 30 April 20137 May 2013
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email

say-no-redd-to-the-world-296x300

The controversy continues over the inclusion of REDD in California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). In January 2013, the REDD+ Offset Working Group (ROW) released its draft recommendations on how the states of Acre in Brazil and Chiapas in Mexico could generate REDD credits for California’s cap and trade scheme.

The REDD+ Offset Working Group is a stitch-up. It includes representatives of The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Conservation International, all of which actively promote REDD as a carbon trading mechanism. But while NGOs supporting carbon trading are included, none of the members of the ROW are from organisations working with communities affected by pollution in California.

Predictably enough, given the composition of the Working Group, the recommendations are all about how to include REDD credits in California’s AB 32, not whether REDD credits should be included. Nevertheless, when the recommendations were released, Michelle Passero of The Nature Conservancy (and one of only two women in the 11 member ROW) described the ROW’s report as the start of a “dialogue”:

“The release of these recommendations launches an important dialogue and provides an opportunity for California and the rest of the world to keep moving forward on climate change solutions. The report presents a global option for California to demonstrate how a market-based program can leverage GHG reductions from tropical forests, a major source of emissions, while reducing costs to California consumers and businesses.”

The deadline for public comments on the draft recommendations has been extended until 7 May 2013.

Organisations and activists from Acre and Chiapas have sent letters to California’s Governor, Jerry Brown. Meanwhile, the Indigenous Environmental Network has set up a petition: “Stop California REDD Now!”

In a note about the petition, Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, explains why this is important:

Dear Friends,

IEN has been part of the struggle against REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), a market-based, land grabbing false solution to climate change, since its conception because it threatens the very existence of our Indigenous Peoples, forest-dependent communities, and peasant farmers.

Please sign this petition immediately to reject the inclusion of REDD in the State of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, AB32. This is a crucial moment in a worldwide battle for climate justice, human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Please stand with us now!

Please share widely.

With gratitude,
Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Executive Director
Indigenous Environmental Network

Click the button below to sign on to the petition to be sent to Jerry Brown, California’s Governor and Mary Nichols, of the California Air Resources Board.

Dear Honorable Jerry Brown, Governor of California
Dear Mary Nichols, Chairman, California Air Resources Board

I urge you to reject the inclusion of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) in the State of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, AB32.

The four main reasons for rejecting California REDD are:

  • REDD is a false solution to climate change, which makes global warming worse.
  • REDD lets climate criminals like Shell and Chevron off the hook because it allows polluters to use forests as supposed sponges for their greenhouse gas and toxic pollution, instead of reducing pollution at source.
  • REDD lets polluters keep polluting and sickening Californians with asthma and cancer.
  • REDD has no guarantees to prevent human rights abuses. REDD is already causing social conflict and land grabs in Chiapas, Mexico, and violating Indigenous Peoples’ rights including the right to free, prior and informed consent.

California must not let climate criminals like Shell and Chevron off the hook, sicken its citizens, nor contribute to human rights violations. California must reject REDD now. Mother Earth depends on it.

CC:
Ashley Conrad-Saydah, Assistant Secretary for Climate Policy,
California Environmental Protection Agency
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95812

Arsenio Mataka, Subsecretary for Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs,
California Environmental Protection Agency
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95812

Ronda Bowen, Ombudsman,
California Environmental Protection Agency
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95812

Jason A. Gray
Staff Counsel, California Air Resources Board
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95812

Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

SUBSCRIBE!

Enter your email address to receive notification of new posts.

Recent themes
Natural Climate Solutions
WWF's conservation scandals
Aviation and offsetting
Conservation Watch

REDDisms

“Making money will always trump the ecological benefits of forests in a capitalistic economic system. It’s simplistic to say everyone wins with REDD. There is nothing win-win under capitalism. It’s all about winners and losers. Capitalism is inherently unecological. We’re trying to rig the system to make it work for the green economy. It’s a sham.”

— Bram Büscher, International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University, Netherlands, June 2011

Recent Posts

  • Coalition for Rainforest Nations announces sale of 6,106 REDD credits from Papua New Guinea to Blackstone Energy Services
  • Carbonballs: Nigel Farage, carbon offset lobbyist
  • Kevin Conrad signs REDD deal with Papua New Guinea
  • Court of Appeal upholds conviction of Paul Moore, Michael Moore, and Haydon Driscoll, the men behind the Burbank of London carbon credit investment scam
  • Court of Appeal upholds conviction of carbon conman Sami Raja. In his 2019 trial, Raja’s legal representatives withdrew because “they were professionally embarrassed”

Recent Comments

  • Abel Ateu on The return of the carbon cowboys: How NIHT Inc failed to get free, prior and informed consent for REDD in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
  • Sander van den Ende on Kevin Conrad signs REDD deal with Papua New Guinea
  • Eyedeal on “Returns up to 895%” and other misleading statements from Property Frontiers about investments in EcoPlanet Bamboo and Silva Tree
  • Chris Lang on Carbonballs: Nigel Farage, carbon offset lobbyist
  • Steve Zwick on Carbonballs: Nigel Farage, carbon offset lobbyist

Issues and Organisations

AB 32 Boiler rooms Bonn California Can REDD save ... ? Carbon accounting Carbon Credits Carbon Offsets CDM Conservation-Watch Conservation International COP21 Paris Deforestation FCPF FERN Financing REDD Forest definition Fossil fuels FPP Friends of the Earth FSC Greenpeace Guest post ICAO Illegal logging Indigenous Peoples Natural Climate Solutions NGO statements Plantations Poznan R-M interview REDD and rights REDD in the news Risk RSPO-Watch Safeguards Sengwer Sustainable Forest Management The Nature Conservancy Ulu Masen UN-REDD UNFCCC World Bank WRM WWF

Countries

Australia Bolivia Brazil Cambodia Cameroon Canada China Colombia Congo Basin region DR Congo Ecuador El Salvador European Union France Germany Guatemala Guyana Honduras India Indonesia Kenya Laos Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Mexico Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Republic of Congo Sweden Tanzania Thailand Uganda UK Uncategorized United Arab Emirates USA Vietnam West Papua
©2021 REDD-Monitor | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!