The Green Economy

On the eve of the International Day of Struggle against Tree Monocultures, we invite you to participate in the webinar “Tree Plantations, Carbon Markets and Resistances”. It will be on Friday 20th September.

This briefing provides an overview of the expansion of tree plantations aimed at carbon markets. Where are these plantations located, who is profiting from them, what have been the impacts for communities living on the lands these projects occupy, and what international initiatives are taking place to boost tree plantations for carbon offsetting.

In recent years, 'energy' has taken center stage at important debates around solutions to the impending climate collapse towards which the world is heading. This debate encompasses everything from the 'energy transition' and 'clean energies,' to structural critiques that question why and for whom energy is produced. However, it is necessary to take a step back and reflect on the very idea of 'energy.' This edition of the WRM bulletin aims to contribute to that reflection.

The root of the climate crisis we are experiencing does not lie in the sources of energy we use but in the very logic of what we mean by 'energy.' While it is hard to imagine this today, the notion of energy has not always existed. It was created for a very specific purpose: capital accumulation. As long as we continue to normalize 'energy' as an essential resource for human life, we will never see the true causes of the climate collapse we are experiencing: a social system designed to concentrate wealth.

The report, “Energy Alternatives: Surveying the Territory,” published by The Corner House, presents data and arguments that dismantle the thesis of the “green energy transition.” It also offers an extensive compilation of community experiences that propose energy alternatives based on a conception of energy that differs from the capitalist one. Access the report here (available in English and Spanish).  

This article is a scathing critique of the climate policies developed in international negotiations, such as the COPs, which only serve the economic interests of whose who are accelerating destruction on the planet. In the name of such policies, 'carbon biopirates' threaten diverse indigenous communities and their territories throughout the world. “In the face of this daunting landscape, Indigenous Peoples are not only resisting, we are also proposing alternatives,” the article states.

Wildlife Works company (WWC) wants to carry out a carbon project in the Brazilian Amazon. But the Ka'apor indigenous people in resistance don’t want to turn nature into a commodity. Support this petition for the authorities to ban the company from operating in the Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land.

Kami mengundang Anda untuk berpartisipasi dalam peluncuran virtual film dokumenter baru, tersedia dalam Bahasa Indonesia, tentang perlawanan masyarakat adat dan tradisional terhadap percepatan REDD dan proyek pasar karbon lainnya atas hutan dan wilayah mereka. Ini akan terjadi pada hari Rabu 30 April.

Several companies have been expanding their tree plantations in the Colombian Orinoquía, which is increasing longstanding conflicts and violence. “These are not reforestation companies, but deforestation companies, because they have introduced invasive tree species that are not native to the territory – like acacia, eucalyptus and pine trees. So they are driving out what naturally grows here” - Indigenous Sikuani Leader

Samling is a notoriously destructive Malaysian logging, plantations and construction company which has faced decades of opposition from indigenous peoples such as the Penan and the Kenyah for destroying their customary lands. In December 2023, the Samling subsidiary SaraCarbon listed a carbon project in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in the registry of the carbon standard provider Verra.

In the framework of International Women's Day, WRM is relaunching the podcast “Women’s struggles for land”, with stories from women’s collectives from the coastal area of Chiapas in Mexico, the Malen Chiefdom in Sierra Leone and the Kapuas river area of Central Kalimantan in Indonesia. While their stories appear quite different from each other at first glance, we find many commonalities and a strong connection between them.

WRM expresses its solidarity with the struggle of women from the Rural Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Brazil. On this day, March 13, they are taking various actions across the country in favor of agrarian reform and against the multiple forms of violence perpetrated against women, under the slogan “Agribusiness means violence and environmental crimes. The struggle of women is against capital”. One of the actions is taking place in the state of Espírito Santo, where 1000 women have occupied an area belonging to Suzano.