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Early yesterday morning, Kevin and I received urgent emails from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), saying “Last night negotiations over REDD fell into major disarray.” We were invited to a press conference where representatives of EDF and “several leading Amazon groups will address where the talks have stalled, which countries are at fault and what needs to happen to move REDD forward.”

REDD — Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation — is a mechanism for reducing CO2 emissions that was formally adopted by the Conference of Parties in Bali last year. The question now, like so many other issues related to the carbon market, is how will REDD be defined?

We didn’t receive the EDF email in time to attend the press conference, but by 1 p.m. we received an update from EDF announcing that negotiators had reached a compromise that will advance talks on reducing deforestation and degradation.

Here’s the back-story. According to REDD-Monitor, “On 9 December 2008 (Tuesday), the day before international human rights day, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand removed all references to the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities from the UN technical discussions on REDD.”

The Third World Network (TWN) posted an update today, saying, “Outraged that the word ‘rights’ was removed from the text, several Indigenous Peoples groups, and joined by several other allied human rights and environmental organizations, protested in the conference corridors shouting ‘No rights, No REDD.’”

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told TWN, “These states are very keen to include REDD as part of the agreement on mitigation which will be agreed in Copenhagen in 2009. However, they obstinately refuse to recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other forest peoples, who are the ones who sacrificed life and limb to keep the world’s remaining tropical and sub-tropical rainforests.”

Last night, I received a copy of “The Little REDD Book” (published by Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of 37 scientific institutions from 19 countries) from Jorge Alvarez Lam of the Ministry of Environment in Lima, Peru, According to the book, “Countries that are willing and able to reduce emissions from deforestation should be financially compensated for doing so. … REDD could simultaneously address climate change and rural poverty, while conserving biodiversity and sustaining vital ecosystem services.”

According to EDF’s 1-p.m. press release, closed-door negotiations on Wednesday led to an agreement to give Indigenous Peoples “a voice.” The agreement will be handed off to government ministers arriving in Poznan today.

“This is a crucial step forward,” said Steve Schwartzman, EDF’s director for tropical forest policy. “Is it everything indigenous people want and deserve? No but it guarantees talks will advance and indigenous groups will be heard. If we can’t find ways to compensate nations that slow deforestation, then tropical forests will be gone. That’s bad for the climate and for the people who live in the forest.”

REDD is an issue of importance for delegates Millie and I met from Peru and Ecuador. Joining us for a “REDD wine” toast are: Julia Justo Soto of FONAM, National Environment Fund-Peru; Jorge Alvarez Lam (the one who gave me the Little REDD Book); Ricardo Giesecke, Comunidad Andina, Secretaria General, Peru; and Jorge Nuñez, Ministry of Environment, Quito, Ecuador. Tuesday was a big day for Jorge Nuñez, who gave a presentation on REDD at the conference. And yes, Jorge N. and Ricardo are the ones we rode with on the long train ride from Berlin to Poznan (see earlier blog post).

This entry was posted by Valerie Davis on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 8:08 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.