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

COONAPIP to take out lawsuit to stop REDD in Panama: “REDD cannot continue as it stands”

Posted on 29 May 201329 May 2013

In February 2013, the National Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples in Panama, COONAPIP, withdrew from UN-REDD. In a letter to UN-REDD, COONAPIP explained that, UN-REDD “does not currently offer guarantees for respecting indigenous rights [nor for] the full and effective participation of the Indigenous Peoples of Panama”.

“We thought REDD was going to help us strengthen our rights over our territories because no one looks after the forests like we do,” Betanio Chiquidama, the head of COONAPIP told the Guardian last week. “It sought to do the opposite and we have lost all trust in the UN.”

COONAPIP is now planning to bring a lawsuit against Panamanian National Environmental Authority in an attempt to stop REDD, according to an IPS report that quotes Héctor Huertas of the National Union of Indigenous Lawyers of Panama (UNAIPA), which represents COONAPIP.

The lawsuit will use the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peopes, which includes Indigenous Peoples’ right to free, prior and informed consent. Mongabay reports that a statement issued on behalf of COONAPIP explains that the lawsuit will be,

“the first major test of a key provision of the 2007 UN Declaration, which says indigenous peoples have the right to refuse projects and investments—such as logging and mining operations—that affect the natural resources in their territories.”

In response to COONAPIP’s letter, UN-REDD suspended all new activities in Panama and launched an evaluation of the UN-REDD programme in the country. The evaluation report is due to be completed on 24 June 2013.

Gabriel Labbate is the UN’s regional REDD co-ordinator. He believes COONAPIP’s withdrawal had more to do with demands for more money and internal indigenous politics over who controlled which projects,” the Guardian reported. Labbate told the Guardian that COONAPIP’s withdrawal from UN-REDD,

“fits into the more complex context of the conflicts between the indigenous groups and the government in Panama, which goes much further than just REDD.”

The government environment agency did not respond to the Guardian‘s questions.

Hector González, COONAPIP’s lawyer, points out that REDD is itself part of the problem. “It is a new form of colonisation,” he told the Guardian. “The government has always seen the land solely from a commercial point of view, and the UN doesn’t understand the indigenous issue.”

“When it comes to the forests of Panama, we are not mere stakeholders to be consulted”, says Betanio Chiquidama, COONAPIP’s president.

2013-05-29-125625_354x396_scrot“More than half the country’s forests are on the lands of indigenous people. How can an effective plan to save these forests be negotiated if the indigenous leaders are not at the table?

“The pressure on the forests has never been greater – for food, fuel, fibre and mineral exploration. But we also know that there are other lands that could be used for these purposes; the answer is not to kill our forests.”

Chiquidama is not opposed to REDD, but he is opposed to the way it has been implemented in Panama. In a press release earlier this month, he explained that,

“We are not radicalized against REDD program, but it cannot continue as it stands. Our approach is to redesign, with real indigenous participation mechanisms, in order to be respectful of our culture, and make it stronger, rather than weaken.”

The REDD debacle in Panama is very important, for at least two reasons.

The first reason, as explained by Christine Halvorson, of the Rainforest Foundation US, is that,

“Any plan aimed at reducing climate change should strengthen the rights of the indigenous people to the forests that are central to their lives and livelihoods. Without the participation of those most likely to be impacted, efforts to save the world’s forests likely will fail.”

The second reason, as pointed out by Andrew Davis of the Salvadoran Program for Research on Development and Environment (PRISMA), is that,

“In theory, implementing REDD readiness in Panama should have been easier than most, given the strength of its indigenous peoples and their success in forest management. It should be a red flag that REDD has run into such serious problems related to the participation of indigenous peoples.”


PHOTO Credit: From a poster by COONAPIP, displayed at a meeting with UN-REDD in May 2013. It reads “Without rights, No REDD! Mother Earth has rights!” Alianza Mesoamericana

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

Recent Comments

  • shahid on James Moore sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in the Bar Works scam
  • Kathleen McCroskey on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Delton Chen on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Kathleen McCroskey on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Chris Lang on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl

Recent Posts

  • Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Papua New Guinea Environmental Alliance letter to Pogio Ghate, Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change
  • Ecomapuá Amazon REDD Project, Brazil: Pública investigation reveals Ecomapuá Conservação is selling “illegal” carbon offsets from land it does not own, without transferring the money to local communities
  • Response from Steve Zwick, Verra: “Verra will ask Kanaka Management Systems to cease and desist any actions that may mislead communities into thinking that Verra has not already rejected the project”
  • Response from Kanaka Management Services: “Please do not conduct legal trail or castigate REDD+ project developers on the website by writing text which shows the project developer in bad light”

Recent Comments

  • shahid on James Moore sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in the Bar Works scam
  • Kathleen McCroskey on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Delton Chen on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Kathleen McCroskey on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl
  • Chris Lang on Offsetting is not an option if we are serious about addressing the climate crisis. My response to Hartmut Graßl

Issues and Organisations

30x30 AB 32 Andes Amazon Boiler rooms 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 Green Climate Fund 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 The Nature Conservancy UN-REDD UNFCCC World Bank WRM WWF

Countries

Australia Bolivia Brazil Cambodia Cameroon Canada China Colombia Congo Basin region Costa Rica DR Congo Ecuador El Salvador European Union France Germany Guatemala Guyana Honduras India Indonesia Kenya Laos Madagascar Malaysia Mexico Nicaragua Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Republic of Congo Sierra Leone Sweden Tanzania Thailand Uganda UK Uncategorized United Arab Emirates USA Vietnam West Papua
©2022 REDD-Monitor | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!