World Rainforest Movement
“Environmental Services”, or “Ecosystem Services”, is an invented term developed within the capitalist economy by biologists and economists since the 1970s to indicate that nature provides a series of services important for humankind like water, biodiversity, fertile soils, etc. It is directly linked to the idea of putting a price on nature as the only way to be able to protect it in future against destruction. This would lead to a system of payment of “environmental services” and even trade in these “services”, through transforming them in financial assets, to be sold, traded and negotiated in financial markets, and therefore a further step in the mercantilization of nature. This way of thinking is opposite to the relation established with nature by forest-dependent communities. They protect forests which are their home and cannot be sold or bought, it is priceless.
We won’t be fooled by the false promise of “carbon-neutral growth” of aviation. The plans by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialised UN agency, to greenwash the aviation industry are absurd [1]. They...
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The 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 9th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol will take place from 11 to 22 November. The conference will be...
read moreThe Pandemic in Forests in India: Escalated Attacks on Communities
New name for old distraction: Nature-Based Solutions is the new REDD
Driving “Carbon Neutral”: Shell’s Restoration and Conservation Project in Indonesia
Women, Forests and Extractive Industries: The Case of the Mikea Indigenous Women in Madagascar
Indonesia: Fate of Fishing Villages in the Climate Crisis and the Failure of ‘Blue Carbon’
Dynamics and Processes of Change in the Peruvian Amazon: Learning from the Kechwa-Lamas Peoples
Attempt to Re-Colonize Forests in India The new Draft Amendments to Indian Forest Act
“Forest-Smart Mining”: The World Bank’s Strategy to Greenwash Destruction from Mining in Forests
Trade deals threaten peasant farmer’s stewardship of seed biodiversity
The CBD’s interpretation of “biodiversity” opens the door to new forms of biopiracy
From Biodiversity Offsets to Ecosystem Engineering: New Threats to Communities and Territories
Environmental regulation in the Green Economy: Changed to facilitate destruction
Carbon Offsets and Trading: A logic that violates Indigenous and human rights
World Bank paving the way for a national biodiversity offset strategy in Liberia
Brazil: Forest Carbon Demonstration Project in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve
Biodiversity offsets facilitate continuation of business-as-usual destruction by mining companies
“Climate Smart Agriculture” – The Commodification of soils in the Global South
“Blue Carbon” and “Blue REDD”: Transforming coastal ecosystems into merchandise
Why are women fighting against extractivism and climate change?
One of capitalism’s false solutions to its crisis: strengthening patriarchy
Insisting on REDD is playing a game already lost for the climate and peoples
“Sustainable Forest Landscapes”: A new frontier for the commodification of nature
The invisible resistance of women against the commodification of life
The green economy and labour: Will “green jobs” protect workers’ health and safety?
Open letter against the “green economy” and in favour of life
New crossroads, same actors: The green economy of the powerful, voices of resistance of women
Monoculture tree plantations and trade in environmental services
In confronting the climate crisis, what rights should hold precedence?
How can a price be placed on “environmental services”, and who benefits?
Growing speculation: From the appropriation and commodification to the financialization of nature
Asian movements and organizations reject the “Green Economy”
CDM does not reduce emissions. Leaving fossil fuels in the ground does
Brazil: The case of Plantar – the FSC at the service of the sale of carbon credits
A field report by WRM and Re:Common Also available in Malagasy In recent years mining companies have become actively engaged in promoting ‘biodiversity offsetting’ as a way of ‘greening’ the mining sector. One offset project in...
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REDD: A Collection of Conflicts, Contradictions and Lies presents summaries of reports from 24 REDD projects or programmes with a common characteristic: they all show a number of structural characteristics that undermine forest...
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Text: Jutta Kill Published in September 2014 (previously as an article of the monthly electronic bulletin of WRM of July 2014) Also available in Bahasa In the late 1980s, the FAO and the World Bank launched their first large...
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Also available in Bahasa – Translated by KIARA Text: Winfridus Overbeek Photos: Redmanglar Internacional, Kiara, CPP, Canco Published in September 2014 (previously as an article of the monthly electronic bulletin of WRM of July...
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This new publication looks at the concept of ‘Payment for Environmental Services’ in its current cloths; examines some of the claims made by those who argue that putting a price on Nature is the only way to save Nature
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by Jutta Kill, World Rainforest Movement. Document published in “Leyes, políticas y economía verde al servicio del despojo de los pueblos” (Laws, policies and green economy at the expense of communities dispossession)...
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The main goal of this booklet is to inform communities about the serious problems that a REDD project can cause for the people involved. WRM has visited a number of these communities over the past few years. All of them,...
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Only available in Spanish Por GRAIN, ATALC y el WRM Este libro es un esfuerzo colectivo por entender cuál es el trasfondo de los programas, proyectos, expropiaciones, acaparamientos, especulaciones financieras, que dicen tener una...
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By Belmond Tchoumba This report is based on the fi ndings of research conducted by WRM on the REDD pilot project being undertaken by Conservation International and the Walt Disney Company in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic...
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The forest of the Congo Basin expands over an area of continuous tropical rainforest cover only second to that of the Amazon forest. The region’s forests are found in Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon,...
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Being “carbon neutral” has become fashionable. The World Bank, the Vatican, the World Olympics, the Football World Cup, the Body Shop, the Rolling Stones, and a long list of celebrities proclaim themselves to be totally or partially...
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By Chris Lang and Timothy Byakola “A funny place to store carbon: UWA-FACE Foundation’s tree planting project in Mount Elgon National Park, Uganda”, by Chris Lang and Timothy Byakola, documents human rights abuses at Mount Elgon...
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Impacts of the Dutch FACE-PROFAFOR monoculture tree plantations’ project on indigenous and peasant communities By Patricia Granda. Joint Research of Acción Ecológica and WRM Carbon Sink Plantations in the Ecuadorian...
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The solution to climate change –which is already happening and being suffered by millions of people around the world– is in theory quite simple: to substantially reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon...
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A recent publication unpacks the science behind “net zero” claims and how they are used to obscure climate inaction. It explores the new strategies to expand carbon offset markets, linked with new “net zero” demand for offsets. The...
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Recent calls to action to address critical loss of biodiversity are both long overdue and very welcome, but a parallel debate on the ‘how’ is missing. Yet the ‘how’ is arguably as important as the headline objective. The NGO Green...
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A post from the REDD-Monitor blog opens up the space for a needed debate about the politics surrounding so-called nature-based or natural climate “solutions”. Among others, it makes clear which actors are “loving” this initiative:...
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A recent report by Friends of the Earth International highlights how classic, stringent regulations are being swapped for much more lenient compensation and offsetting schemes. Specific sectors, such as the global food, agriculture and...
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Chile was to be the host of the UN Climate Summit. But in the face of a massive popular uprising against the neoliberal economic model, Chile cancelled the Summit and it was moved to Spain, yet Chile retained the Presidency of the COP. The...
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This report -by Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project- examines events and research publicized between 23 June and 4 July 2019 that discuss the mass-use of trees to enable the unsustainable lifestyles of the...
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The Paris Agreement enshrined the principle of compensation in dealing with the climate crisis. This means that emissions actually do not have to decrease but that emissions and absorption of carbon in vegetation and soil can cancel each...
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Representatives from the world’s most notorious mining companies are meeting at the ‘Responsible Extractives Summit’ in London, England, on 21 and 22 June. The World Rainforest Movement and Re:Common are joining London...
read more On the occasion of the Rio Tinto AGM on 14 April 2016 in London, Re:Common and the World Rainforest Movement, in collaboration with Collectif TANY are releasing the report Rio Tinto’s biodiversity offset in Madagascar. Double landgrab in...
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4th April, Brussels – As member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nations’ specialised aviation agency, gather in Utrecht to discuss ways to ‘offset’ emissions from the airline...
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International Civil Society Statement. This statement is open for sign-ons until the 1st April from organisations. It will be released on the 4th April, when the next meetion of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will...
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By Carbon Trade Watch. After over 20 years of international climate change negotiations, talks continue to move further away from identifying the root causes of the climate crisis. These short, sharp articles highlight years of struggle,...
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Subject: The proposal of the California government to include REDD+ offset credits from the state of Acre, Brazil, and from other states and countries with tropical forests. Montevideo, November 16, 2015 We learned that the California...
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The India Climate Justice collective has published the third issue of the Mausam magazine aiming to facilitate constructive and creative debates on climate issues. It attempts to connect these issues to local struggles over natural...
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Due to the UN climate negotiations -COP20- and the Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change, held in Lima, Peru, in December 2014, over 100 organizations and social movements made a Call to Action to strongly and collectively reject REDD+...
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The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture was launched on September 2014, at the UN Climate Summit in New York. This alliance is the outcome of years of determination by FAO and the World Bank to get the concept of “climate-smart...
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What is nature worth? How much profit can it report? At a time when biodiversity is critically threatened, this documentary reveals how banks and private investors are increasingly converting natural resources into objects of financial...
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The Silence of the Pandas became a German bestseller in 2012. A series of injunctions and court cases launched by WWF delayed publication of the investigative report into English. A revised English edition, renamed Pandaleaks, has...
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By OtrosMundos Chiapas. The so-called “Green Economy” is a new area of business. It is called “Green” not because it is good for the environment, but because its commodity is nature. We are seeing a stage of advanced Capitalism in...
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A case study of the “Fair Forest Carbon compensation” project of French company Pur Projet, in the region of San Martin, Peru, which aims to generate carbon credits destined, initially, for the voluntary carbon market. In Peru...
read more Academic article by R. Muradian and...
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FERN Briefing that describes “how biodiversity offset schemes have fared so far and shows that the picture is far from rosy”. With examples showing how biodiversity offsets are used in the UK and France to undermine local opposition...
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Only available in Spanish. The Alianza Biodiversidad, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) and World Rainforest Movement (WRM) have jointly published a new special edition (in Spanish) of the magazine...
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This press release coincides with the opening of the World Forum on Natural Capital www.naturalcapitalforum.com in Edinburgh. To highlight their concerns about the event, 140 organisations from all over the world are releasing...
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To coincide with the COP19 UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, Greenpeace has released a short briefing explaining why forests cannot offset fossil fuel emissions. By Greenpeace, November 2013 The fossil fuel industry frequently argues that...
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This statement is open for signatures from organizations, groups, networks, associations, collectives! To sign up please send an email to: nobiodiversityoffsets@gmail.com “No to Biodiversity Offsetting!” Around the world, ecosystems...
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The second action is being carried out in Gabon, in response to the recent approval of a decree (Resolution No. 20/2013 on Sustainable Development in the Republic of Gabon) that is aimed at the creation of a national and...
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“REDD plus or REDD “Light”? Biodiversity, communities and forest carbon certification”, a new report in English by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), available...
read more Only available in Portuguese. Forum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social, Comissão Epsicopal Pastoral para o Serviço da Caridade, da Justiça e da Paz, Conselho Indigenista Missionário. Download here the full document in...
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By Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Rurais de Xapuri – Federação do Povo Huni Kui do Acre. What are the real problems of forest peoples in Acre? Why aren’t REDD and environmental services a solution to these problems? What concerns forest...
read more An article that analyzes the law passed in the Brazilian state of Acre in 2010 to create the State System of Incentives for Environmental Services (SISA). The law is considered a model and example for the world; however, it ultimately...
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A leaflet on the Green Economy and the financialization of nature, published by Friends of the Earth France, ATTAC and AITEC. Available...
read more Rather than shifting course, the so-called Green Economy strategy unveiled at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development drives nature further into the global marketplace by defining an economic value on what the Earth...
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In view of the upcoming Rio+20 conference, taking place this June, WRM would like to offer some background information on issues that will undoubtedly be at the top of the agenda of this international event. Among those issues are...
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by Larry Lohmann, Corner House Briefing 24 In July 2001, an international agreement to tackle climate change was reached in Bonn. But its “carbon market” approach is incoherent. No one knows how to value the goods in this market, nor...
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Produced by the World Rainforest Movement Interviews: Winnie Overbeek Camera and Edition: Flavio Pazos. A story of the peoples of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. In Brazil, the Atlantic Forest, which covered the country’s...
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