REDD-Monitor explores the contradictions and controversy behind the harebrained scheme to allow continued greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels by offsetting these emissions against “avoided deforestation” in the Global South.
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What is REDD-Monitor?
REDD-Monitor was set up in October 2008 in response to discussions between environmental and social organisations and movements in the North and South. The website is run by Chris Lang (you can contact me here: reddmonitor@gmail.com).
If you’re looking for more detail about why trading the carbon stored in forests against fossil fuel emissions is a bad idea, please read this post: “Forests, Carbon Markets and Hot Air: Why the Carbon Stored in Forests Should not be Traded”.
There are now over 1,600 posts and more than 8,000 comments on REDD-Monitor. Here’s a guide to help you find your way around.
Once a week, “REDD in the News” brings a round-up of the week’s news on REDD, keeping you up-to-date on the latest developments. During the week, REDD-Monitor provides opinions and analysis of the latest developments in the world of REDD. REDD-Monitor also carries out longer interviews with REDD actors, and has posted a series of Guest Posts.
REDD-Monitor has also helped expose a series of boiler room operations selling carbon credits to retail investors. The carbon credits were massively overpriced, and as there is no secondary market they are worthless. The scam runs into hundreds of millions of pounds. Many of the scams have been closed down, but all too often the victims have lost their life-savings while the scammers have walked away scot-free.
Posts on REDD-Monitor are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
What is REDD-Monitor’s position on climate change?
The climate is changing as a result of greenhouse gases emissions – largely caused by burning fossil fuels. If we are to stand a chance of preventing runaway climate change we need to stop burning fossil fuels. We also need to protect forests, but trading REDD carbon credits would allow continued burning of fossil fuels, thus locking in polluting technology and postponing meaningful action. The risks of the forests going up in smoke in a rapidly warming climate are real.
What is REDD-Monitor’s comments policy?
REDD-Monitor’s comments policy is simple: be polite, reasonable, and don’t make things up. Please avoid comments that:
- are abusive or threatening;
- contain personal attacks;
- are off-topic;
- promote hate, violence, racism, sexism, or homophobia;
- are spam;
- are in breach of copyright;
- are defamatory or libellous.
I have no obligation to monitor any comments and no liability whatsoever for comments. You are responsible for your posts. REDD-Monitor does not own your comments, you do.
By posting on REDD-Monitor you agree that you retain ownership rights and that you relieve me and REDD-Monitor from any and all liability that may result from these postings.
If a comment does not comply with this comments policy I may delete it (or delete part of it).
How is REDD-Monitor funded?
REDD-Monitor’s funding comes largely from social and environmental NGOs, mainly working on forest issues. The following organisations have supported REDD-Monitor in the past: FERN, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK, The Corner House, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald und Artenschutz.
None of the organisations that fund REDD-Monitor has any editorial control over what’s written on REDD-Monitor and what’s written on REDD-Monitor does not necessarily reflect their positions on REDD (or anything else, for that matter). None of these organisations are in any way responsible for anything written on REDD-Monitor. And of course REDD-Monitor has no affiliation with any of the organisations that have provided funding.
In 2010, REDD-Monitor was (indirectly) funded with support from the European Commission. REDD-Monitor reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
In 2011-2012, REDD-Monitor worked on a project funded by ICCO (Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-operation). The project consists of a series of interviews with REDD actors in Indonesia. Links to the interviews are posted here: “REDD actors in Indonesia: Ten interviews”.
In December 2012, I travelled to Aceh province in Indonesia to investigate the current status of the Ulu Masen REDD project. Funding for this trip came from the Samdhana Institute and World Rainforest Movement. The results of the trip are posted here.
In 2015, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V. funded a series of posts and interviews about REDD in Brazil.
In 2017, Friends of the Earth US funded a series of posts and interviews about California’s cap-and-trade scheme.
REDD-Monitor has received a very small amount of money through flattr (the balance in May 2017 stands at $25.08).
What is REDD-Monitor’s policy on anonymous posts?
Fewer than 1% of posts on REDD-Monitor are anonymous. These articles were sent to REDD-Monitor with the request that they be posted anonymously. Often these posts generate a discussion about the anonymity of the person writing the post, which is a pity, because the decision to publish the post was taken in order to encourage discussion about the issues raised in the post. If you have a post that you would like to be published anonymously on REDD-Monitor, please send it to reddmonitor@gmail.com. If it’s any good, REDD-Monitor will post it, but that decision rests with me.