By Chris Lang
On 18 June 2021, the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) wrote to Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) warning about a “strange operation on REDD+ and possible deception that is being carried out on Amazonian Indigenous communities”.
AIDESEP posted the letter on the organisation’s Facebook page. The following is a translation using DeepL:
After greeting you, we request your urgent intervention regarding a strange operation on REDD+ and possible deception that is being carried out on Amazonian Indigenous communities, by certain companies, offering carbon funds. MINAM must intervene as it promotes REDD+ in Peru, as well as to comply with DS 013-MINAM-2019 on this public policy; and ILO Convention 169, to prevent deception and abuse of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
It is about Peruvian operators (Alejandro D’Elia and others) of the companies Hub Capital and Hope Cities Singularity Solutions (Holland) and Fundacion Luciernaga (Argentina) who say that they “represent the UN”, to “support with UN carbon bond funds”, to the communities, for which they ask for a copy of the title and a list of their needs for physical and productive works, to gather signatures for thousands of hectares, negotiate carbon funds abroad, and make this “direct distribution” of bonds outside the state and global norm.
As happened years ago with the “carbon pirates”, they are now reappearing without accreditation from MINAM, falsifying representations and degenerating the REDD+ issue. We demand that MINAM intervene immediately, investigate these operators, contact the affected indigenous organisations, clarify this process and stop the possible deception, fraud and manipulation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and communities. We also request the intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office, UN Resident, so that the UN representation is not unduly manipulated.
