At COP16 in Cancun at the end of 2010, parties to the UNFCCC agreed that, “Parties should, in all climate change related actions, fully respect human rights.” Since then, however, there has been no further guidance. And the word “should” rather than “shall” is worrying, to say the least.
The Bonn 2015 decision on REDD safeguards
In December 2013, UN climate negotiators agreed the Warsaw Framework for REDD plus. This included a decision on summary of information on safeguards. At the time I described this decision as staggeringly weak. The decision reached in Bonn earlier this month, manages to make the text even weaker.
Pope Francis rejects carbon credits as a solution to climate change
Pope Francis rejects carbon credits: they “would not help to reduce the global emission of polluting gases”.
Carbon Conflicts and Forest Landscapes in Africa
By Chris Lang “Carbon forestry is privatizing, commodifying and financializing the world’s forests, recasting relations between state and market forest landscapes,” says Jesse Ribot, University of Illinois in a review of a new book.
Who takes the credit? The risks of double-counting in a REDD carbon trading mechanism
“UN finalises forest protection initiative at Bonn climate talks.” That’s the headline of an article by Ed King on the RTCC website. But while the REDD negotiations are now finished, this does not mean that the world’s forests are protected.