In the negotiating process leading up to the Rio+20 conference some rich-country governments and influential business groups have sought to impose a regression from the principles agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit – such as the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the precautionary principle, and the right to information and participation – and to undermine certain rights that have already been achieved, such as the rights of indigenous peoples, traditional communities, peasant farmers, and others.
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We, the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth assembled at the site of Kari-Oka I, sacred Kari-Oka Púku, Rio de Janeiro to participate in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20, thank the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil for welcoming us to their territories. We reaffirm our responsibility to speak for the protection and enhancement of the well-being of Mother Earth, nature and future generations of our Indigenous Peoples and all humanity and life.
Introduction and notes by Chris Lang
Source: http://www.redd-monitor.org
By FERN. Community voices about a forest carbon offset project.
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WRM joins in the call for a global mobilization on June 5, World Environment Day, to expose and denounce the structural causes of the crises facing the planet and the false solutions that the creators of these crises are seeking to impose as a means of refounding the capitalist system. This mobilization will also serve to present and promote the real solutions proposed by the peoples to eradicate social, economic and environmental injustice.
Up to now, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has focused on the pursuit of “food security” and consequently on actions to generate enough food for the entire planet.
However, for several social movements this definition has served well agribusiness and does not consider the issue of who produces the food, how it is produced and for what.
Several months ago (see WRM Bulletin 172) we reported on the plans of Suzano Papel e Celulose S. A. – the world’s second largest pulp producer – to invest in biomass plantations. Biomass energy is one of the market-driven false “solutions” to climate change. It promotes land grabbing and diverts attention from the need to effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the source.
Veracel is expanding its operations in Brazil, with the consent of the government. The decision of the Institute of the Environment and Water Resources (INEMA) to grant preauthorization for the expansion of Veracel Celulose S.A. – a joint venture between Stora Enso and Aracruz – runs counter to a 2008 Federal Court ruling that revoked the environmental licence granted to the company in 1993.
EJOLT (Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade) is an ambitious collaborative project that brings together 23 environmental organizations and academic institutions to catalogue ecological distribution conflicts and produce material for use by environmental justice organizations in their struggle against environmental injustice (see www.ejolt.org).
The Carbon Connection, is a Fenceline Films presentation in partnership with the Transnational Institute Environmental Justice Project and Carbon Trade Watch, the Alert Against the Green Desert Movement, FASE-ES, and the Community Training and Development Unit.
La Via Campesina is gathering information on actions organized around the world against land grabbing and in support of agrarian reform, food sovereignty and other demands in the framework of the International Day of Peasant Struggle, April 17. Information should be sent to viacampesina@viacampesina.org, and all activities will be recorded on the map available at: http://viacampesina.org/map/17april/map.html