Last week saw a meeting in Weilburg, Germany to discuss “Social Inclusion in REDD+ Processes”. The meeting, organised by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, also discussed the “Status and Achievements of 10 years’ REDD+ Preparation and Implementation”.
Germany
There are 21 posts filed in Germany (this is page 1 of 2).
Environmental organisations call on Democratic Republic of Congo not to open up its rainforest to loggers
Last week, José Ilanga the Director General in charge of forests at the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced that plans were underway to lift the country’s 16-year-old moratorium on new logging concessions. Today, more than 50 environmental and human rights organisations have written to key donor governments and agencies, including Norway, UK, France, USA, and the World Bank, calling on them to suspend funding immediately to the DRC government for forestry and forest conservation.
Opening up 4.6 million hectares to mining in Brazil is the “biggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years”. So why do Norway and Germany still describe REDD in Brazil as a “success”?
“Norway remains a proud partner to Brazil on reducing deforestation, and considers this partnership a great success.”
“Around half of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions are caused by changes in land use and deforestation. In order to reduce global emissions, the UN climate finance model REDD+ was developed. The Brazilian Amazon Fund is considered a successful example of how this model can be implemented.”
Mohsin Salya has been jailed. Aadiel Salya faces jail for fraud
On 27 April 2016, REDD-Monitor wrote about three carbon credit fraud suspects who were wanted in Germany for tax evasion and money laundering. Two of the men, Ashraf Muhammad and Mobeen Iqbal, are from Pakistan and the third, Mohsin Salya, is British.
Mohsin Salya is no longer wanted by the German authorities. Peter Singh Virdee, alias “Batman”, faces extradition to Germany
A British man, Mohsin Usmangani Salya, has been sentenced to three years and three months in jail. Carbon Pulse reports that a court in Germany found Salya guilty of carbon credit VAT fraud.
Response from Salya Group: “Please could you kindly remove this link … with the upmost urgency”
Three weeks ago, REDD-Monitor wrote a post about three carbon credit fraud suspects who are wanted in Germany for tax evasion and money laundering. On Sunday, I received an email from “AS” at Salya Group accusing me of having “wrongfully written your blog” and requesting that the post is removed.
Three carbon credit fraud suspects wanted in Germany for tax evasion and money laundering
Last week Carbon Pulse reported that the Public Prosecutor‘s Office in Frankfurt am Main and the German Federal Criminal Police have issued a “wanted poster” for three men suspected of being involved money laundering and tax evasion relating to the EU Emissions Trading System.
An email trail of a carbon credit scam. Featuring Carbon-ex, 360 Invest Group, Carbon-Expert, and Colemans-CTTS
This is a story about how a pensioner was scammed into buying carbon credits as an investment. Miriam contacted REDD-Monitor in August 2014, to ask whether her 4,000 carbon credits were worth anything. She told me that 360 Invest Group had persuaded her to buy the carbon credits and that she’d paid the money to a firm of solicitors, Colemans-CTTS LLP, in Kingston upon Thames.
Global Woods’ plantations in Uganda: Trees versus food
A German company called Global Woods is planting more than 8,000 hectares of pine plantations in the Kikonda Forest Reserve, Uganda. The company claims that its monoculture plantations produce “sustainable timber”. But the project is controversial. Farmers had to move to make way for the plantations, and have an ever smaller area to grow their food.
Threats of violence against Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) in Acre, Brazil
Over the past few weeks, staff at the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) in the state of Acre have faced a series of threats and intimidation. The office has been broken into twice, the room ransacked, a computer taken, files burned, and internet wiring destroyed.
AIDESEP and Rainforest Foundation Norway warn that Peru must improve policy on forests and indigenous peoples
On 23 September 2014, Peru and Norway signed an agreement to reduce deforestation. AIDESEP, the main organization for the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, and Rainforest Foundation Norway welcome the deal, but warn that Peru must improve its “policy and practices on forests and indigenous peoples’ rights”.
FE Wealth Management is running a carbon credit recovery room scam
A company called FE Wealth Management is currently cold calling people offering to sell their carbon credits – for an advance fee, of course. And if it is not a recovery room scam, then I’m the Queen of Sheba.
Harapan Rainforest Project: A response from Germany’s International Climate Initiative
On 18 March 2013, representatives of the Suku Anak Dalam Batin Sembilan wrote a letter to Germany’s International Climate Initiative and KfW German Development Bank, respecitively a funder and implementing agency of the Harapan Rainforest Project in Indonesia. REDD-Monitor posted the letter on 18 April 2013.
Two contrasting views of the Harapan Rainforest Project, Sumatra, Indonesia
“Dieter Hoffmann of Harapan Rainforest knows what a reporter likes to see,” writes Klaus Esterluss of the German TV broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Esterluss visited the Harapan Rainforest Project last year for a report for DW. And what he wanted to see were tiger footprints.
Response from Germany’s International Climate Initiative: The mediation and consultation process at Harapan “has been rejected by the groups claiming affiliation to SPI”
On its website, the German Environmental Ministry’s International Climate Initiative has an image of a smiling blonde girl holding a globe. It all looks so simple and clean. But the reality at Harapan Rainforest Project, one of the projects funded by the International Climate Initiative is neither simple nor clean.