How the Language of Domination Drives Deforestation
The contradictions between the ideals of concepts that originate from within international policy arenas and their implications for forests and forest peoples are clearly evident.
Concepts that Kill Forests | Bulletin 247 – December 2019
This Bulletin articles are written by the following organizations and individuals: Missão Tabita, Mozambique; activists and researchers from India; Research Nucleus on Work, Territory and Politics in Amazonia, Brazil; The Cornerhouse, UK; and members of the WRM international secretariat.
OUR VIEWPOINT
CONCEPTS THAT KILL FORESTS
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An (incomplete) List of Concepts that Kill Forests
Language is never neutral. Certain concepts have historically been used to dominate people and territories. This article highlights concepts that are usually presented in a positive light but that actually serve economic interests that harm forests and communities.
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“The National Interest”: Neofascism in the Amazon Rainforest
While it was easy to see the smoke from the forest fires in Brazil, it was much harder to see what was behind the Brazilian government’s smokescreen: actions that will lead the rainforest to a swift death, destroying territories, livelihoods and the diverse cultures.
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Portucel in Mozambique: The Reality Behind the Discourse of “Sustainable Plantations”
The company, Portucel, considers its thousands of hectares of plantations in Mozambique to be “sustainable,” despite serious problems and conflicts with and among local communities.
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India: Women, Commons and Patriarchy
A feminist view on Commons reveals that accumulation opposes the basic principles of sharing and sustaining: receiving from nature’s abundance is done by ensuring that needs (and not wants or greed) define the extent of extraction.
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Blockchain and Smart Contracts: Capital’s Latest Attempts to Seize Life on Earth
The control of genetic resources (non-human living organisms that humans can make use of) through property rights has caused a massive theft of forest peoples’ knowledge. A project called the Earth Bank of Codes aims for a global seizure of life for capital accumulation.
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Climatology / Ideology
Climatology’s understanding of climate is extremely biased and exclusionary, and is only one particular view. Building better alliances around climate action means recognizing that there are ongoing conflicts and tensions among different conceptions of what climate is.
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New name for old distraction: Nature-Based Solutions is the new REDD
The UN and conservation industry discourse and propaganda over REDD+ changed to a new forest conservation fad at the UN climate negotiations in December: Nature-Based-Solutions. Another false solution that distracts from the urgent task to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
RECOMMENDED
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The Development Dictionary
This 1992 book, edited by Wolfgang Sachs, compiles more than 15 key concepts that served as a basis for, and a way to expand, destructive discourse about “development.” Each of (Read More)
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Traps, Dilemmas and Contradictions of the Rights Discourse in the Forests
Another reflection around a key concept for forests and forest-dependant people is the WRM’s Bulletin 234, from November 2017, which reflects on the concept of Rights. What can we learn (Read More)
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Nature-Based Solutions: Whose interests are behind?
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 (Read More)
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FSC: Rebranding logging as a “sustainable” activity
ARTE, the European TV channel, broadcasted a documentary about FSC entitled: “The exploitation of primary forests: Can an ecolabel stop the forest industry?” Journalists traveled to several countries to investigate (Read More)
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Regulated Destruction: How Biodiversity Offsetting enables environmental destruction
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 (Read More)
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Statement from Indigenous Mapuche and others in Chile: No to market-based schemes!
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 (Read More)