27 September 2021 / March 2022

STATEMENT

No to Nature-Based Solutions Dispossessions!

Big climate polluters like Shell and Nestlé are peddling a dangerous scam. They say they can bring their greenhouse gas emissions down to zero and keep burning fossil fuels, mine more of the planet, and increase industrial meat and dairy production. They call this reducing emissions to "net-zero". Planting trees, protecting forests and tweaking industrial farming practices, they claim, will store enough extra carbon in plants and the soil to cancel out the greenhouse gas emissions they pump into the atmosphere.

What corporations and big conservation groups call "nature-based solutions" is a dangerous distraction. Their marketing concept is dressed up with unproven and flawed data and the claim that the idea can provide 37 percent of reductions in CO2 by 2030. More and more corporations, from Total to Microsoft to Unilever, are making "nature-based solutions" the core of their climate action plans while the conservation industry taps into corporate “nature-based solutions” funding to expand their control over forests.

From the conservation industry's perspective, the idea is simple: corporations pay them to enclose forests or plant trees on land they claim is "degraded" and which could absorb more carbon if restored. In return, the corporations claim that the climate damage from their ongoing greenhouse gas emissions is being cancelled out. Often, a document referred to as a carbon credit is used to market this offsetting claim.  

When corporations and big conservation groups talk about "nature", they mean enclosed spaces devoid of people. They mean protected areas guarded by armed rangers, tree plantations and large monoculture farms. Their "nature" is incompatible with nature understood as territory, as a life space inseparable from the cultures, food systems and livelihoods of the communities who care for it and who see themselves as intrinsic parts of it. What's more, behind a marketing front of genuine agroecology and natural regeneration initiatives, backers of “nature-based solutions” are preparing to advance yet more harmful practices such as monoculture tree plantations and industrial agriculture.

"Nature-based solutions" are thus not a solution, they are a scam. The purported solutions will result in “nature-based dispossessions” because they will enclose the remaining living spaces of Indigenous Peoples, peasants and other forest-dependent communities and reduce “nature” to a service provider for offsetting corporations’ pollution and to protect the profits of those corporations most responsible for climate chaos. Indigenous Peoples, peasants and other forest-dependent communities whose territories are being enclosed will face more violence, more restrictions on their use of their lands and more outside control over their territories.

"Nature-based solutions" are a repeat of the failed REDD+ tree planting and forest conservation schemes that the same conservation groups have been promoting for the past 15 years. REDD+ has done nothing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions or reign in the big food and agribusiness companies driving deforestation. Its enduring legacy, however, is the loss of lands and forests for peasant and forest-based communities and heavy restrictions on how they can use their land. REDD+ has also birthed an industry of “sustainability and safeguards” consultants and project proponents who profit from declaring REDD+ projects ‘sustainable’, despite the violations of rights that such projects cause. The proponents of “nature-based solutions” are now utilising the same tactics of certification schemes and safeguards to deflect criticism and to obscure their corporate take-over of community lands and forests.

The companies with "nature-based solutions" in their climate action plans intend to increase their production of highly polluting products. In the flawed logic of corporate “nature-based solutions”, more pollution means that corporations will need to claim more land as their carbon storage facility; it will mean more dispossessions and more restrictions on peasant farming and community use of their territories. It will also mean even more corporate control over lands and forests.

The Italian energy company Eni says by 2050 it will still be using fossil fuels to generate 90% of its energy. To offset these emissions, it will have to claim the entire potential of all the forests in Italy to absorb carbon - 8 million hectares for Eni's "net-zero" claim! According to the NGO Oxfam, the net zero targets of just four of the big oil and gas corporations (Shell, BP, Total and Eni) alone could require an area of land twice the size of the UK. That is just a couple of the big energy companies. The "net-zero" plan of world's largest food company, Nestlé, could require 4.4 million hectares of land per year for offsets.  And the plans of Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon are also based on enclosure of similarly large areas of land.

Corporations and the large conservation NGOs are peddling this latest false corporate solution not just in the climate talks; they are also pushing the idea into governmental meetings of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In connection with the Food Systems Summit in September 2021, “Nature positive production” is being used as a similar concept to NBS to further industrialise agriculture and expand corporate control. If these attempts are successful, the result will be more climate chaos and an even quicker loss of biodiversity, while corporations continue to profit from destruction and the burning of fossil carbon.

Governments need to know that there is a growing movement of frontline communities, organisations and activists for climate justice. The signatories of this statement will stand together to resist attempts to grab peoples' territories for nature-based dispossessions and carbon offsetting.

We call on climate, environmental and social justice movements to unequivocally reject “nature-based solutions” and all offset schemes. Such schemes are not designed to address the climate crisis. Their primary function is to buy another decade or two of unrestrained corporate profiteering from fossil carbon extraction and industrial agriculture while increasing outside control over community territories. Climate neutrality amounts to little more than paper reductions, achieved through creative book-keeping and unverifiable claims to have prevented hypothetical emissions. Time has run out for such distractions. Only a rapid, time-bound plan to leaving the remaining coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground and industrial agriculture overhauled will avert catastrophic climate chaos.

Frontline communities opposed to fossil fuel extraction, pipelines, mines, plantations and other extractive industry projects are showing the way. Opposition to “nature-based solutions" and community resistance against the destruction of underground carbon deposits, corporate mining and agroindustry must be understood as part of the same larger struggle to stop the corporate take-over of community territories.

Grassroots communities are also at the forefront of struggles for food sovereignty and agroecology which are necessary to resolving the manifold crisis afflicting the planet. We recognize and support the struggles led by grassroots communities for control over the territories on which they depend, today and in the future.

It is time to stand together! Join us!

Reject nature-based solutions as a new form of corporate land grabbing and greenwashing!

 Say NO to nature-based dispossessions!

Initial signatories

• Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa  (AFSA)
• Alianza Biodiversidad
• Asian Pacific Movement on Debt and Development
• ETC group
• Focus on the Global South
• Global Grassroots Justice Alliance (GGJ)
• GRAIN
• Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
• Indigenous Climate Action (ICA)
• Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
• World March of Women (WMW)
• World Rainforest Movement (WRM)

Movements, regional and international organisations

• ActionAid International
• Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
• European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), Europe
• FIAN International
• Gender Action
• Global Forest Coalition
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
• Land Rights Now
• La Via Campesina
• WoMin African Alliance
• NGO Forum on ADB
• No REDD in Africa Network
• Oilwatch Latin America
• Plataforma Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Justicia Climática
• Society for International Development (SID)
• Stay Grounded
• Third World Network

National organisations

• Asamblea Mercedina por la Agroecologia (AMA), Argentina
• Asamblea Rio Cuarto sin agrotóxicos, Argentina
• Asociación Manekenk, Argentina
• Asociación de Parques Nacionales, Argentina
• BIOS Argentina, Argentina
• Fundación "Dr. Ramón Carrillo" Chaco, Argentina
• Fundación Vertientes de Saldan, Argentina
• Movimiento Nacional de Salud LAICRIMPO, Argentina
• Naturaleza de Derechos, Argentina
• Observatorio del Agua - Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia SJB, Argentina
• Proyecto Producción, circulación y consumo de alimentos y plantas medicinales en situaciones de resistencia y sub-alternidad Secty Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
• Siete Agendas, Argentina
• Tendencia Revolucionaria Peronista Seccion Prensa, Argentina
• Unión de Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad y la Naturaleza de América Latina - UCCSNAL, Argentina
• XR Argentina
• Aid/Watch, Australia
• Climate Justice Programme, Australia
• Sidereal Press Pty Ltd., Australia
• ÖBV-Via Campesina Austria
• Participatory Research Action Network-PRAAN, Bangladesh
• Beaulieu G, Belgium
• CETRI - Centre Tricontinental, Belgium
• Food & Water Action Europe, Belgium
• Green Finance Observatory ASBL, Belgium
• No Deal For Nature, Belgium
• Nature Tropicale, Benin
• Bolivia Libre de Transgenicos, Bolivia
• Centro de Mujeres Candelaria, Bolivia
• Consumidores Conscientes, Bolivia
• Aliança RECOs - Redes de Cooperação Comunitária Sem Fronteiras, Brazil
• Alternativas para Pequena Agricultura no Tocantins/APATO, Brazil
• Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho, Brazil
• Amigos da Terra Brasil, Brazil
• Aqua Lazuli, Brazil
• Articulação Agro é Fogo, Brazil
• Campanha nem um poço a mais, Brazil
• Centro Ecológico, Brazil
• Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI) Regional Amazônia Ocidental, Brazil
• Dossiê Acre, Brazil
• FAMA - Forum Alternativo Mundial da Água, Brazil
• FAOR - Fórum da Amazônia Oriental, Brazil
• FASE -ES, Brazil
• Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Socioambiental, Brazil
• Fundo DEMA, Brazil
• Grupo de Pesquisa "Territorialidades e imaginários na Amazõnia", Brazil
• Instituto de Direitos do Terceiro Setor, Brazil
• Movimento Mulheres pela P@Z!, Brazil
• Núcleo de Pesquisa e Apoio à Agricultura familiar, Brazil
• NUPESDAO-UFAC, Brazil
• Observatório da Mulher, Brazil
• Pastoral Social da Arquidiocese de Santarem – PARA, Brazil Rede Brasileira Ecossocialista, Brazil
• SOF Sempreviva Organização Feminista, Brazil
• Solo Fértil/Base Colaborativa, Brazil
• Propreté Environnement et Santé (PES), Burundi
• Social Action for Community and Development, Cambodia
• Ajemalebu Self Help (AJESH), Cameroon
• Mamour Consulting, Cameroon
• RADD, Cameroon
• Flow Natural Ltd, Canada
• Hunter Honey Kamloops, Canada
• Mapuche Nation support Committee, Edmonton, Canada
• Northern Touch Consulting Corp., Canada
• Shaping Change Collaborative, Canada
• Silva Forest Foundation, Canada
• Union paysanne, Canada
• Villa St. Joseph Ecology & Spirituality Centre, Canada
• Colectivo VientoSur, Chile
• Estero Vivo Quilpué, Chile
• Exige Vivir Sano, Chile
• Yanapanaku, Chile
• Agencia Prensa Rural, Colombia
• agua, semillas de vida, Colombia
• Asociación Memoria Raizal, Colombia
• Censat Agua Viva - Amigos de la Tierra Colombia, Colombia
• Colegio Distrital Carlos Arturo Torres, Colombia
• Comité Ambiental en Defensa de la Vida- Tolima, Colombia
• Defensa Humedal El Cortijo, Colombia
• Fundacion CREACUA, Colombia
• Grupo Semillas, Colombia
• Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar-ICBF, Colombia
• Instituto Latinoamericano para una Sociedad y un Derecho Alternativos – ILSA, Colombia
• Junta de Acción Comunal en Bolivia, Colombia
• Observatorio de Expansión Minero Energética y Re-existencias, Colombia
• Semillero Ciencia de la Información, Sociedad y Cultura, Colombia
• Bloqueverde, Costa Rica
• MARBE, Costa Rica
• Movimiento Conservación Ambiental Fincas 3y4UCR, Costa Rica
• Red de coordinación en Biodiversidad , Costa Rica
• Stibrawpa Asociación indígena, Costa Rica
• APEM, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Biso Peuple, Democratic Republic of Congo
• CERAMES, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Construisons Ensemble Le Monde, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Réseau CREF, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Reseau Ressources Naturelles, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Solidarité Communautaire pour le Développement et la Paix
• (SOCODEP asbl), Democratic Republic of Congo
• VIVAT International, Democratic Republic of Congo
• NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark, Denmark
• Transform!Danmark, Denmark
• Wo-Mi, Denmark
• Acción Ecologica, Ecuador
• Red Agroecológica Loja, Ecuador
• CESTA, Amigos de la Tierra El Salvador, El Salvador
• Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Ethiopia
• ACT4DEM, Finland
• Suomen maanystävät/Friends of the Earth Finland, Finland
• Adéquations, France
• Aitec, France
• Alliance of Mother Nature's Guardians, France
• ATTAC France, France
• Editions Estaimpuis, France
• Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF), France
• ICRA International, France
• Kerouanton, France
• Maiouri Nature Guyane, France
• Planète Amazone, France
• Sciences Citoyennes, France
• Smithers and Kemp, France
• Stop Precarité, France
• TierrAmorOyo, France
• Varan, France
• Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
• Association for Farmers Rights Defense (AFRD), Georgia
• ARA (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald & Artenschutz), Germany
• Bella Terra, Germany
• Colectivo Mawvn, Germany
• denkhausbremen, Germany
• FIAN Germany, Germany
• Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
• Fossil Free Lüneburg, Germany
• Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), Germany
• Lebende Samen Living Seeds e.V., Germany
• Rainforest Rescue (Rettet den Regenwald e.V.), Germany
• SAN Germany / Seeds Action Network, Germany
• ΚΟΙΝΟΒΙΟ -Cooperating Organic Farms, Greece
• Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria en Guatemala REDSAG, Guatemala
• Haiti Survie, Haiti
• ANAFAE, Honduras
• Coalicion de Redes y Organizaciones Ambientales de Honduras, Honduras
• Equipo de Colaboración y Reflexión ECORE, Honduras
• Ofraneh, Honduras
• All India Union of Forest Working People AIUFWP, India
• Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch, India
• Chetana Society, India
• Food Sovereignty Alliance, India
• Himdhara Collective, India
• Indian Social Action Forum, India
• Indigenous Perspectives, India
• Movement for Advancing Understanding on Sustainability And Mutuality (MAUSAM), India
• TISS Mumbai, India
• Top Quark Films, India
• ToxicsWatch Alliance, India
• debtWATCH Indonesia, Indonesia
• Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), Indonesia
• Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (JATAM), Indonesia
• Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak atas air (KRuHA), Indonesia
• KONPHALINDO, Indonesia
• School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
• Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia
• TKPT - Ruang Baca Puan, Indonesia
• Cobh Zero Waste, Ireland
• Elders for Earth, Ireland
• Just Forests, Ireland
• Nexus Research Coop, Ireland
• ReCommon, Italy
• Yasuko Shimizu, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Forest Protection Group in Japan, Japan
• Galken Permaculture, Kenya
• Grail, Kenya
• Consumers' Association of Penang, Malaysia
• Initiative for Agriculture and Rural Development in Mali, Mali
• Aula Verde AC, México
• Centro de Investigación y Recursos para el Desarrollo, México
• Colectivo Encino, México
• Comité Nacional para la Defensa y Conservación de Los Chimalapas, México
• Editorial ALIDRA, México
• Investigacion y Acción Biocultural, Anima Mundi, A.C., México
• Lab-ETA (ENES-UNAM, Morelia), México
• Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC, México
• Mujeres y maíz, México
• Observatorio Universitario de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional del Estado de Guanajuato, México
• ojoVoz.net, México
• Otros Mundos Chiapas- Amigos de la Tierra México, México
• Red de Agricultura Urbana y Periurbana de la Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara, México
• Regeneración Social MX, México
• Semillas de Nuestra Tierra, AC, México
• Unidad de l Fuerza Indígena y Campesina, México
• Inra, Morocco
• ALTERNACTIVA - Acção Pela Emancipação Social, Mozambique
• JA! Justica Ambiental, Mozambique
• Missao Tabita, Mozambique
• Plataforma nacional da mulher e Rapariga Cooperativistas/AMPCM, Mozambique
• South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), Nepal
• Atelier CCG, The Netherlands
• globalinfo.nl, The Netherlands
• Landelijk Netwerk Bossen- en Bomenbescherming, The Netherlands
• Stichting Gast, The Netherlands
• Transnational Institute, The Netherlands
• Water Justice and Gender, The Netherlands
• Working Group Food Justice, The Netherlands
• Akariro Films, New Zealand
• Casa Congo, Nicaragua
• Association Nigérienne des Scouts de l'Environnement, Niger
• Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
• Wise Administration of Terrestrial Environment and Resources, Nigeria
• Spire, Norway
• Pakistab Kissan Rabita Committee - PKRC (Pakistan Farmers
• Coordination Committee), Pakistan
• Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan
• Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee - PKRC, Pakistan
• Asociacion Indigena Ambiental (AIA), Panama
• Oro Communities Environmental Awareness Network (OCEAN), Papua New Guinea
• Unión de Organizaciones y Ciudadan@s de Ñeembucú (UOCÑ), Paraguay
• Alturas de la Amazonía, Perú
• Ambientalistas Perú, Perú
• Red Ambiental Peruana - RAP, Perú
• Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA), Philippines
• Community legal help and policy center, Philippines
• Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center - Friends of the Earth Philippines, Philippines
• Living Laudato Si' Philippines, Philippines
• National Food Coalition, Philippines
• Peoples Development Institute, Philippines
• Climáximo, Portugal
• MartinGreens Innovation, Portugal
• Nature-D-Congo, Republic of Congo
• AfrosRD, Dominican Républic
• Centro Montalvo, Dominican Républic
• Papaméhiva, Réunion Island
• amicsarbres, Spain
• Amigas de la Tierra / Friends of the Earth, Spain
• Arran de terra, Spain
• Comité Internacional del Corredor Biológico Mundial, Spain
• Ecologistas en Acción Almería, Spain
• Ecologistas en Acción de El Ejido, Spain
• Federacion de Comites de Solidaridad con Africa Negra - UMOYA, Spain
• Fundación Galicia Verde, Spain
• Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts Observation Network, Spain
• Proyecto Gran Simio, Spain
• Ruralitzem, Spain
• Unión Universal Desarrollo Solidario, Spain
• Universal global de ediciones, Spain
• Vall de Can Masdeu, Spain
• Centre for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka
• Bread for all, Switzerland
• Cardamom Hill Research, Switzerland
• Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth Switzerland, Switzerland
• semnar / saatgutpolitik & wissenschaft, Switzerland
• SUHODE Foundation, Tanzania
• Thai Climate Justice for All, Thailand
• Les amis de la terre-Togo, Togo
• The Association of Rural Environment and Forestry, Turkey
• RAREF, Turkey
• New Horizons Women's Education Centre, Uganda
• Aberdeen Climate Action CIC, United Kingdom
• Action on Climate Change Teignbridge (ACT), United Kingdom
• Adio Health Ltd, United Kingdom
• Extinction Reality, United Kingdom
• Flourishing Diversity, United Kingdom
• Fresh Eyes, United Kingdom
• Global Justice Herts and Beds, United Kingdom
• Global Justice Now, United Kingdom
• Rainforest Foundation UK, United Kingdom
• Survival International, United Kingdom
• The Corner House, United Kingdom
• War on Want, United Kingdom
• Colectivo TÁ, Uruguay
• RAPAL, Uruguay
• REDES-Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay, Uruguay
• Voces de América, Uruguay
• 350 New Orleans, USA
• ActionAid USA, USA
• Amazon Watch, USA
• BCMAC, USA
• Berks Gas Truth, USA
• Biofuelwatch, USA / United Kingdom
• Central Park Gallery, USA
• Campaign to Stop GE Trees, USA
• Cibnor News, USA
• Coastal Environmental Alliance to Stop Ecocide (CEASE), USA
• Community Alliance for Global Justice, USA
• Denver Peace Council, USA
• Dreams United/Sueños Unidos, USA
• EarthCorp Foundation Inc, USA
• Eden Foods, USA
• Environment Matters (envmatters.org), USA
• Ethical Markets Media Certified B. Corporation, USA
• Extinction Rebellion New Orleans, USA
• Food & Water Watch, USA
• FoodFarmsDemocracy.net, USA
• GeoEsse, USA
• Gettysburg Environmental Concerns Organization, USA
• Global Justice Ecology Project, USA
• Human Nature, USA
• Institute for Social Ecology, USA
• Just Food and Water, USA
• Live Zero Waste, USA
• Maple Hill Garden, USA
• Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, USA
• MN350, MN Divestment Coalition and Walker Community United Methodist Church, USA
• National Family Farm Coalition, USA
• New York Row and Grow: Boat House and Garden Group, USA
• OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, USA
• Parable of the Sower Intentional Community Cooperative,USA
• PLANT (Partners for the Land and Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples), USA
• PeoplesHub, USA
• Popular Resistance, USA
• Rainforest Relief, USA
• Ríos to Rivers, USA
• Rising Tide Wenatchee, USA
• Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, USA
• SAFES, USA
• Sanctuary at Sunrise Hill, USA
• Seattle Solidarity Network, USA
• Shalom Mennonite Congregation, USA
• Sunflower Alliance, USA
• SustainUS, USA
• Tasting Awareness, USA
• Texas Drought Project, USA
• The Hive Tribe, USA
• UC Davis, Indigenous Research Center of the Americas, USA
• Until Justice Data Partners, USA
• Water Climate Trust, USA
• Whole Community as Methodology, USA
• Windrose Fund, USA
• Yoga For Peace, Justice, Harmony With the Plane, USA
• Coalición de Tendencia Clasista (CTC-VZLA), Venezuela
• Comuna Socioproductiva Corozo Dulce y Revolucionaria, Venezuela
• Fundacion Instituto de Ingenieria, Venezuela
• Fundación Tierra Vermelha, Venzuela
• Observatorio de Ecología Política de Venezuela, Venezuela
• Plataforma de Lucha Campesina, Venezuela
• PNFAE Agroecologia, Venezuela
• Red de Cooperación Amazónica REDCAM, Venezuela
• TV Caricuao, Venezuela

In addition to the 364 organisations, 128 individuals from 19 countries signed the declaration

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