Folklore, History & the Study of Myth

FROM THE MOBILIZATION FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE 

For Immediate Release            22 September 2009

Actions Spreading Across the U.S. Against Corporate-Driven Climate Policy

Pittsburgh, PA--As groups protest the Pittsburgh International Coal Conference days before the G-20 arrives in the city, additional actions against U.S. climate policy and the fossil fuels industry took place on both the east and west coasts.

In New York City, Climate SOS, New York Climate Action Group  and Rising Tide North America protested what they called "a greenwashed U.S. climate agenda" at the opening of NYC Climate Week.  Activists distributed their version of the ACESA (American Clean Energy and Security Act) bill to event attendees and media in the form of fake $2 trillion bills [1] which subtly depict a collusion of prominent Green NGOs (NRDC, the Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund among others) with corporate backers of the bill (BP, Shell, Dow, and others). Climate SOS organizers Dr. Rachel Smolker and Dr. Maggie Zhou engaged ceremony patrons with a pointed critique of the bill's corporate-friendly implications.

Meanwhile on the west coast, the Mobilization for Climate Justice also took action in San Francisco against the corporate-driven U.S. climate bill. Activists blocked four lanes of traffic with a parachute-shaped banner which read "Climate Justice or Climate Chaos." "If Congress wants to protect the public interest, they would never consider adopting the current climate bill (ACESA) that was written by big oil and energy corporations in the first place," said Carla Pérez of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project. "Cap and Trade legislation coupled with direct subsidies to oil, coal, nuclear, bio-fuels and incinerator industries will only serve to add hundreds of toxic smokestacks in our backyards, she added."

Back in Pittsburgh, climate activists met in Schenley Park to set up the climate convergence--a space to talk about issues related to climate change and climate justice.  Part of this effort includes the New Voices on Climate Change program  of Global Justice Ecology Project. Anna Pinto, from CORE  in India, who came to the U.S. for a speaking tour as part of the New Voices on Climate Change program [2] , explained why opening space to discuss climate justice is so important. "Climate justice is not abstract. It's practical, it's about survival.  It's about need against greed," Ms. Pinto explained. "Is it worth it to have three cars today to have your children die of horrible diseases tomorrow? Both the United States and Indian governments are pandering to the greed of industrialists and financiers rather than enabling ordinary people to provide for their needs," she concluded.

Indigenous Environmental Network's Jihan Gearon, another New Voices on Climate Change participant, added her view on the centrality of climate justice within the discussion of climate change in the U.S.  "From extraction to transportation to refinement to distribution to consumption to storage, Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately impacted all along this road of destruction. The end result is contaminated and diminished food and water resources, forced removals, increased rates of illness and gridlocked economies," she explained.

"Global warming and climate change pose yet another serious threat. The land of the Indigenous people in the arctic is literally melting under their feet, disrupting the lifecycles of the plants and animals they depend on, and forcing coastal and island communities to abandon their homes and traditional lands. What happens to a culture when the land and environment it stems from no longer exists? Even more frightening is that the proposed solutions to climate change, such as carbon trading, nuclear power, and 'clean' coal technologies, will only exacerbate the problems we face," she added.

The repression experienced by indigenous and marginalized communities around the world due to climate change and the fossil fuel economy is today being echoed in Pittsburgh as a result of the same G-20 countries that are the main drivers of climate change.  Activists with the Three Rivers Climate Convergence and Seeds of Peace have been harassed and arrested numerous times over the past few weeks in the build up to the G-20 meetings later this week.

Protests across the U.S. demanding real, effective and just action on climate are expected to continue throughout the fall, to culminate on November 30th with massive non-violent civil disobedience actions nationally and internationally.

November 30th is significant as it is both the tenth anniversary of the historic shutdown of the WTO (World Trade Organization) meetings in Seattle and exactly one week before the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, where world leaders will meet to hammer out a new global agreement on climate.

Activists are joining together around the world to ensure that any new agreement on climate is devoted to real and just action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and not focused on corporate-controlled, profit-oriented false solutions to climate change.  Massive protests are being organized by the international network Climate Justice Action to occur during the UN meeting in Copenhagen, which some activists have begun to call "CorporateHaven" due to the overwhelming influence of industry in the climate debate.

Contact:
Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project +1.802.578.6980
Ananda Lee  Tan, Mobilization for Climate Justice West Coast +1.415.374.0615/+1.203.247.3756
Hallie Boas, New Voices on Climate Change Coordinator +1.415.336.6590
Rachel Smolker, Climate SOS +1.802.735.7794
Abigail Singer, Mobilization for Climate Justice Co-Coordinator +1.828.280.3462

Notes:

[1] http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/2009/09/nyc-scientists-activists-protest-corporate-control-over-climate-policy/

[2] The New Voices on Climate Change speaking tour is co-sponsored by Global Exchange, Speak Out and the Mobilization for Climate Justice.  Its goal is to highlight and amplify the voices of people and communities impacted by climate change, the fossil fuel industry and profit-driven false solutions to climate change.

For Immediate Release                                          15 September 2009

New Voices on Climate Change North American Tour Launched

Burlington, VT--Global Justice Ecology Project's New Voices on Climate Change fall tour was launched on Monday, September 14th at the University of Vermont. The tour will travel from New England, to the G20 in Pittsburgh, to Appalachia, the midwest, southeast, Quebec and the final leg of the fall tour will culminate on November 30, 2009 in the West Coast. November 30th is the 10th anniversary of the WTO Shutdown in Seattle, and is a key organizing date for climate actions around the world this year.

The New Voices tour is co-sponsored by Global Exchange, Speak Out and the Mobilization for Climate Justice.

Hallie Boas, Coordinator of New Voices on Climate Change stated, "We launched the New Voices tour to raise awareness about the root causes and implications of human-induced climate change."  She continued, "The tour is intended to inspire and empower audiences to be aware of real community based solutions to climate change already being implemented all over the world and to build the U.S. movement for climate justice, while educating people about the particularly pivotal role of U.S. climate policy in preparation for the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this December."

The first speaker on the tour is Anastasia Pinto [1], Executive Director of CORE (Center for Organizing, Research and Education) in India. Ms. Pinto is traveling throughout the northeast U.S. and speaking on climate change, gender justice and Indigenous rights. Her tour will finish at the G20 meetings in Pittsburgh, September 24-25.

"Climate change and false solutions to climate change are having an especially great impact on women and indigenous peoples in the so-called developing world, including my home country, India," stated Ms. Pinto. "If we are going to have any hope of stopping the climate crisis, we must join together to take strong action," she concluded.

Other sections of the tour feature Jihan Gearon [2] from the Indigenous Environmental Network Faith Gemmel, [3] an indigenous organizer for REDOIL, Camila Moreno, [4] from Terra de Direitos, a Brazilian NGO, and the final speaker of the fall tour is Fiu Mataese Elisara, [5] an indigenous Samoan activist.

Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project stated, "There are actions planned around the U.S. and all over the world on November 30, the day the tour ends.  This is also one week before the beginning of the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  World leaders are gathering there to discuss creating a new global agreement on climate change. People are mobilizing globally to demand these meetings take real steps toward dealing with the climate crisis and do not merely focus on pro-corporate, profit-oriented false solutions. The New Voices tour is part of this mobilizing process to ensure that the Copenhagen climate talks must not become the CorporateHaven climate talks," she continued.

FOR INTERVIEWS PLEASE CONTACT:

Hallie Boas , Global Justice Ecology Project (West Coast Desk), New Voices Coordinator, +1.415.336.6590
Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project Co-Director, +1.802.482.2689/mobile: +1.802.578.6980
Reede Stockton, Global Exchange, International Climate Equity Campaign Manager, +1.415.575.5559

For more information please visit New Voices on Climate Change.

NOTES to Editors:

[1] Anna Pinto is the Secretary and Programme Director of CORE (Centre for Organisation, Research and Education), an indigenous peoples' policy research and advocacy organization based in the North East of India. Anna has been an active member of the Indian Women's Movement for over two decades. She will speak about the intersection between climate change, gender issues and indigenous rights. Anna will tour the Northeast U.S. in September to help mobilize participation in actions and events that will take place in Pittsburgh during meetings of the G-20. While the leaders of the twenty richest countries meet about the financial crisis and the climate crisis, activists representing diverse movements will convene in Pittsburgh to expose the common root causes of the financial crisis and the climate crisis and link them to war as well as the other crises we face: including food, water and biodiversity. For more on Anna

[2] Jihan Gearon, is Diné (Navajo) and African American. She is Tódích'ií'nii (Bitter Water) clan, and her maternal grandfather is Tl'ashchí'í (Red Bottom People) clan. Jihan's family is from the community of Old Sawmill and she grew up on the eastern part of the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Jihan is the Native Energy Organizer at the Indigenous Environmental Network, a member of the Steering Committee of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative and on the Coordinating Committee of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance. Jihan will be speaking about the impacts of climate change and fossil fuels on poor communities and communities of color in the United States; and about the intersection between the financial crisis and the climate crisis and connections with the struggle for environmental justice in the U.S. She will be speaking in the industrial Midwest on a tour beginning in Pittsburgh during the G-20 talks at the end of September and ending in Detroit one week later.  For more on Jihan

[3] Faith Gemmill is a Pit River/ Wintu and Neets'aii Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska, and is a campaign organizer for REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands). Faith previously worked on behalf of the Gwich'in Nation for over ten years as a representative, public spokesperson and Gwich'in Steering Committee staff to address the potential human health and cultural impacts of proposed oil development and production of the birthplace and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd which is located within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Faith continues as a public spokesperson, press and tribal liaison and human rights advocate with the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC). She will be touring through mountaintop removal coal mining country in the Appalachians to build bridges between the communities suffering from coal mining and those suffering from oil extraction. For more on Faith

[4] Camila Moreno is a lawyer and researcher with Terra de Direitos, a Brazilian NGO working on peasant and indigenous land rights. She has worked for years in support of the struggles of indigenous and peasant movements in Brazil. Camila will be speaking about the links between deforestation and climate change and the impacts on forest dependent indigenous communities, as well as the impacts of monoculture tree plantations (including genetically engineered tree plantations) developed for the production of agrofuels (biofuels). She will be touring through the Southeast U.S. during the first week of November to speak to communities where genetically engineered eucalyptus tree plantations have been proposed for the manufacture of cellulosic ethanol.  For more on Camila

[5] Fiu Mataese Elisara-La'ulu is the Executive Director of the Ole Siosiomaga Society (OLSSI). He came to the organization after spending over eight years (1993 - 2001) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Samoa, six and a half of those years as Assistant Resident Representative (1996 - 2001). Fiu was given overall responsibilities for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and environmental programmes throughout much of his eight years with UNDP Samoa, and was closely involved with the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and other environmental partners, including OLSSI, in the implementation of environment programe around Samoa and the Pacific Island countries.  For more on Fiu

 STOP Genetically Engineered Trees Campaign

For Immediate Release                11 June 2009

Government Set to Approve Planting of a Quarter Million Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees in U.S. South

Hinesburg, VT, U.S.--The U.S. government is set to approve [1] a request from ArborGen, the genetically engineered (GE) tree research and development giant, for permission to plant 260,000 GE cold tolerant eucalyptus trees in 29 "field trials" across seven southern U.S. states.   Approval of such a large-scale planting of these dangerous flowering GE forest trees in the U.S. is completely unprecedented.  The GE eucalyptus, to be planted in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, would be allowed to flower and produce seeds, enabling them to potentially escape into native ecosystems and forests.

The STOP GE Trees Campaign, an international alliance of organizations that has banded together with the goal of globally banning the open-air release of genetically engineered trees, this week issued an "Urgent Action Alert" about ArborGen's potentially disastrous plans, with information about how the public can make comments to the government to help stop this large-scale release of GE trees.

"This is absolutely unprecedented--the government wants to approve the mass release of 260,000 flowering GE forest trees in so-called "field trials," stated Dr. Neil Carman who works with the Sierra Club in Texas.  "You cannot call over a quarter of a million trees over 330 acres "field trials."  These are experimental forests being planted outdoors under the disguise of "field trials" as a loophole.  The government must produce an Environmental Impact Statement to carefully review all of the potential environmental threats from this large-scale GE tree release," Dr. Carman continued.

Eucalyptus are internationally known for their devastating impacts--from invasiveness to wildfires to their ability to worsen droughts.  Massive wildfires in Australia earlier this year were fueled by eucalyptus, which contains a highly volatile oil.  These wildfires moved at 100 km/hr and killed 173 people, who literally did not have time to escape.  Additionally, eucalyptus grandis, one of the species in the GE eucalyptus hybrid, is also a known host to Cryptococcus gattii, a fungus that can cause fatal fungal meningitis in people and animals that inhale its spores.  C. gattii was recently found in the U.S. [2]

"In Brazil, eucalyptus plantations are known as 'green deserts' because they do not allow anything else to live," stated Camila Moreno, an attorney and Global Justice Ecology Project staff consultant in Brazil.  "No understory plants, no wildlife, no communities--only eucalyptus trees can survive there.  They are a disaster for Brazil, which is why there exists a large social movement against eucalyptus in Brazil and many hectares of plantations have been destroyed by communities," Moreno continued.

"ArborGen and their corporate owners, International Paper, Mead Westvaco and Rubicon [3] could not be more irresponsible.  The large-scale planting of these GE eucalyptus would spell disaster," added Danna Smith, Executive Director of the North Carolina based Dogwood Alliance.  "Already millions of acres of land in the South have been converted to pine plantations.  We cannot afford to lose any more of the precious native forests of the South--and especially not to eucalyptus plantations, which could make kudzu [4] look tame by comparison," she continued.

Official comments on the government's plans to approve the planting of 260,000 GE eucalyptus trees are being accepted until 6 July 2009 at 5 pm eastern U.S. time.   Also as a Public Service, the STOP GE Trees Campaign has created a sign-on Comment Letter demanding rejection of ArborGen's request to which members of the public can add their name. That Comment Letter with signatures will be submitted to the government.

Contact:  Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project, +1-802-482-2689 office/+1-802-578-6980 mobile
Dr. Neil Carman, Sierra Club, +1-512-472-1767 office
Brian Tokar, Institute for Social Ecology, +1-802-229-0087


NOTES:

[1] On June 3, 2009 the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued their draft environmental assessment (EA) regarding ArborGen's request to plant 260,000 flowering GE eucalyptus trees over 330 acres in seven states.  In the EA, APHIS recommends approving the request. For details see http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2008-0059

[2] http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/13/1/42.htm

[3] ArborGen is jointly owned by International Paper, Mead WestVaco and Rubicon LTD.  All three are timber product corporations.  IP and Mead WestVaco are based in the U.S. and Rubicon is based in New Zealand.  The three joint partners fund ArborGen's activities.  http://www.arborgen.co.nz/business.htm

[4] Links and information on Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) and its control:  http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/kudzu.shtml

For Immediate Release                                                       8 June 2009

Countdown for Survival: Global groups make an urgent call to end deforestation
and conserve the world's forests during UN Climate Talks

Bonn, Germany - A coalition of youth, environmental groups, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples organizations and women's groups delivered a plea to negotiators asking them to ensure a strong climate deal and warning them that they will put our survival at risk if they do not act immediately to halt deforestation and the industrial logging of the world's primary forests (forest degradation). [Signatories and statement below in NOTE 1]

"Survival is not negotiable. The climate deal signed in Copenhagen needs to ensure the survival of all countries and people. The immediate protection of the world's forests is no longer just an option, it is essential to ensure a safe climate for us and our kids," stated youth spokesperson Gemma Tillack.

The coalitions' plea asks delegates to ensure that any climate deal:

--Immediately ends deforestation, industrial scale logging in primary
forests and the conversion of forests to monoculture tree crops, plantations; 
--Protects the world's biodiverse forests including primary forests in
developed countries (e.g. Australia, Canada and Russia) and tropical forests in developing countries;
--Respects the rights of women, Indigenous peoples and local communities and allow them to lead healthy and sustainable lives whilst stopping deforestation and industrial logging of primary forests in their country; and
--Does not allow developed countries to use forest protection and the avoiding deforestation and industrial scale logging of primary forests in other countries as an offset mechanism for their own emissions.

"The forest is our life, without the forests we would not exist. Avoiding deforestation and stopping industrial logging will allow Indigenous peoples to live and will secure our future," said Adolphine Muley, of the Union pour l'Emancipation de la Femme Autochtone in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

"We need to ensure that climate change mitigation plans do not drive the establishment of monoculture tree plantations. The rapid ongoing direct and indirect replacement of forests by plantations is a significant cause of social and environmental harm and contributes significantly to climate change," said Diego Cardona from Friends of the Earth -Colombia and the Global Forest Coalition.

"The definition of forests in the climate change negotiations includes monoculture tree plantations thus allowing their promotion disguised as forests in market-based mechanisms that could be used in REDD. All countries need to accept and adopt a forest definition in the climate deal that clearly distinguishes forests from monoculture tree plantations," said Raquel Nunez from the World Rainforest Movement.

"A commitment to protect biodiversity and halt deforestation in primary forests would send a positive signal to the global community that we are on the right path towards avoiding a climate disaster," said Joao Talocchi from Greenpeace Brazil.

"Developed countries like Australia, Canada and Russia need to stop undermining the climate negotiations. They should stop industrial logging and woodchipping of their biodiverse forests, permanently protect their own carbon reservoirs and start accounting for their emissions from forestry activities. Only then can they ask developing countries to protect their forests," said Claire Spoors from Global Witness.

Ms. Tillack concluded saying, "We need to act now to secure a safe climate and peak our emissions by 2015. Every day of delay results in the release of huge amounts of dangerous carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We can not wait to take these first steps to ensuring our survival."

Contact:
Gemma Tillack: The Wilderness Society and youth caucus +61 427 057 643
Claire Spoors: Global Witness +49 1763 546 3586
Joao Talocchi: Greenpeace Brazil  +55 11 8351 0169

NOTE:
[1] The coalition of youth, environmental groups, NGOs, Indigenous peoples' Organizations, women's groups who have signed this survival plea include:
International Youth caucus in Bonn
Ecosystems Climate Alliance
Global Forest Coalition
The Wilderness Society
World Rainforest Movement
Global Witness
Greenpeace
Rainforest Action Network
Wetlands International
Rainforest Foundation Norway
Rainforest Foundation UK
FERN
Friends of the Earth
Sobrevivencia/FoE-Paraguay
Indigenous Environmental Network
Global Justice Ecology Project
CORE India
Life gender, Environment and Diversity Germany
Sustainable Population Australia
Tanzania Forest Conservation Group
the Tanzania Community Forest Conservation Network MJUMITA
Stop GE Tree Campaign
RAVA Institute Indonesia
SWBC Nepal
Timberwatch Coalition South Africa
Pacific Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition
Friends of the Siberian Forests Russia
Focus on the Global South
Women´s Environment Network Australia
Biofuelwatch
Women Environmental Programme Nigeria
Just Environment
COECO-CEIBA-Friends of the Earth Costa Rica
WALHI-Friends of the Earth-Indonesia
Down to Earth
Carbon Trade Watch
Women's Environment and Development Organization
Watch Indonesia
Asociacion ANDES Peru
Ecologistas en Accion Spain
Sustainable Energy and Economy Network
North East Peoples Alliance on Trade, Finance and Development India
WISE Inc. Philippines
GenderCC
FASE Solidarity and Education Brazil
Global Exchange
Kingdom Narintarakul Thai Working group for Climate Justice
Union pour l'Emancipation de la Femme Autochtone

Plea:

Halt Climate Change ---- Halt Forest destruction ---- Halt Plantations
The undersigned broad coalition of NGOs, Indigenous Peoples' Organizations and women's groups call upon the Parties to the FCCC to take into account the critical role of forest conservation in climate change mitigation. The protection of forest biodiversity is vital for life on earth. Native forest ecosystems  provide us with clean air, clean water, a safe climate, food, fodder and shelter and they are an important part of our global and cultural identity. Forests provide aesthetic and intrinsic values. Indigenous Peoples and traditional local communities of the forests are the guardians and original conservationists  of the forest. They maintain a food sustenance and socio-cultural relationship to the forests based on their cosmovision. 

For that reason, we call upon Parties to:

- Immediately put in place rights-based and equitable policies and institutions to halt deforestation and forest degradation and the destruction of other natural ecosystems like peatlands and grasslands in all continents

- Identify and address the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation;

- Ensure that these policies and measures uphold international human rights and environmental standards and are  fully consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes the effective adoption and implementation by all Parties and all UN agencies and multilateral banks of the Right to Free Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples and local forest dependent communities;

- Ensure that these policies take into account the specific role, rights and interests of women and are fully consistent with Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women;

- Ensure that these policies are fully consistent with the Convention on Biodiversity and its Expanded Program of Work on Forest Biodiversity and contribute meaningfully to conserving and enhancing biodiversity and related cultural diversity, traditional knowledge and spirituality;

- Explicitly exclude the establishment and management of monoculture tree plantations, including genetically modified tree plantations, and the practice of industrial logging from these policies. This also implies adopting a forest definition that clearly distinguishes forests from monoculture tree plantations;

- Ensure any policies intended to reduce deforestation and forest degradation include measures to reduce consumption of forest products, especially in the Industrialized North;

- Ensure these policies secure the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of forests and other ecosystems, both between countries and within countries, taking into account the critical role of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women in conserving and restoring forests and other ecosystems. This also implies recognizing the customary and collective land tenure and forest rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensuring the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women in all decision-making processes related to forests;

We call upon developed countries to recognize the historical debt to developing countries caused by their excessive greenhouse gas emissions. This implies immediate and drastic cuts in their domestic greenhouse gas emissions (45% by 2020/ 95% by 2050 as an absolute minimum) AS WELL AS providing sufficient financial and technological support to enable developing countries to halt the destruction of forests and other ecosystems. It is too late for either/or policies. Any form of carbon offsetting, including CDM afforestation/reforestation and REDD offset projects will only increase the ecological footprint and carbon debt of developed countries and must thus be avoided. (Due to a broad range of ethical, social and methodological risks, forest-based carbon offsets will undermine an effective, equitable and socially just climate regime.) Climate change mitigation and sustainable forest management must be based on different mindsets with full respect for Nature, and not on carbon offset mechanisms. Public funding mechanisms that ensure environmental integrity and equitable distribution of funds must be made established.

 

For Immediate Release                8 May 2009

Joint Release from Global Forest Coalition, Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign

Field Trial of Dangerous Genetically Engineered Trees Begins in Belgium
GE Poplars Risk Contaminating European Forests with Climate-Destructive Traits

Amsterdam, The Netherlands--Organizations internationally are condemning the planting of a highly controversial field trial of GE poplar trees on 6 May by The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB).  The poplars, planted in the Belgian countryside, have been genetically engineered for altered lignin content specifically for the production of agrofuels (industrial-scale biofuels). [1]

"Genetically engineered low-lignin poplar trees are a disaster waiting to happen," stated Dr. Miguel Lovera in Paraguay, chairperson of the Netherlands-based Global Forest Coalition.  "Poplars include thirty species that grow in a range of climates from subalpine in Northern Europe and Canada to subtropical areas in the south.  They can spread their pollen and seeds for up to hundreds of kilometers.  They can even spread asexually, through vegetative propagation, and can re-sprout from the stump if cut down.  Contamination of native poplars in The Netherlands and throughout Europe would be both inevitable and irreversible if GE low-lignin poplar plantations are developed," he added.

"Agrofuels made from food crops have been widely condemned due to their impacts on the global food supply," added Nina Holland, of the Belgium-based Corporate Europe Observatory.  "However, manufacturing agrofuels from non-food crops like GE trees is not the answer.  Non-food agrofuels will still monopolize land to grow the feedstocks--displacing agriculture and lopping down forests to free up the massive amount of land needed to produce the necessary quantities of fuel.  We have to reduce fuel consumption.  There is simply no way to sustainably replace the huge amount of transport fuel we currently use in Europe," she continued.

The role of healthy forests in mitigating climate change cannot be underestimated.  The escape of low-lignin GE poplar pollen and seeds into forests could cause devastating impacts including increased forest mortality since lignin is largely responsible for insect and disease resistance in trees.  Additionally, studies have found that low-lignin GE poplars store 30% less plant carbon as well as 70% less carbon in the soil. [2] They also rot much more quickly, rapidly releasing their carbon into the atmosphere.  This combination of destructive impacts indicates that GE poplars are yet another false solution and cannot be part of the fight against global warming.

"It is patently absurd to state that GE low-lignin poplars developed to produce agrofuels can be part of the solution to climate change," argued Anne Petermann, Executive Director of the U.S.-based Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator of the international STOP GE Trees Campaign.[3]  "Not only are GE trees themselves destructive to the climate, the entire notion of using wood to manufacture liquid fuels is ludicrous.  As we point out in the report, 'GE Trees, Cellulosic Biofuels and Destruction of Forest Biological Diversity', we need to be stopping the tremendous carbon emissions caused by deforestation, not creating a massive new demand for wood."


CONTACTS:
Dr. Miguel Lovera, Global Forest Coalition, +595-21-663654 (Office in Paraguay) +257 20993704 (mobile)  Dutch, French, Spanish and English

Nina Holland, Corporate Europe Observatory, +32 -(0) 2 89 30 930 (office),  +32 -(0) 497 389 632 (mobile)  Dutch and English
   
Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project, +1-802-482-2689 (office), +1-802-578-0477 (mobile)  English

NOTES:
[1] In May 2008 VIB's field trial permit was rejected by the Belgian Ministers for Public Health as well as Climate and Energy.  After VIB fought the decision, it was suspended in December 2008 by the Belgian Council of State and in February 2009, it was announced that the field trial would be allowed.

[2] "Unregulated Release of GM Poplars and Hybrids", a report submitted to the USDA APHIS in response to a permit application from Oregon State University for field tests of low-lignin GE poplars, August 2007.

[3] The STOP GE Trees Campaign includes 136 organizations from 45 countries who have joined together to demand a global ban on the release of GE trees into the environment.  The Southern Hemisphere Coordination point of the STOP GE Trees Campaign, World Rainforest Movement, has created an inventory of GE tree research and development around the world.

 

News Release

US Army Corps of Engineers
Sacramento District
Public Affairs Office
1325 J St. Room 1430
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-557-7461
Fax: 916-557-7853
Email: spk-pao@usace.army.mil

US Army Corps of Engineers announces stimulus projects

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (April 28, 2009) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District announces the following projects will receive funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

    In accordance with the legislation, these projects will be executed quickly, have low risk for schedule overruns, will result in high and immediate employment, be executed by either contract or direct hire of temporary labor, and complete a phase of or an entire project. Recovery Act funds will be used to complete increments of work on previously started projects and in some cases to complete such projects.

    In addition to funds provided for operations and maintenance and investigations (listed at www.usace.army.mil/recovery), the following Sacramento District civil works projects designated are:
       
•    American River Watershed Common Features: $14 million
•    American River Watershed - Folsom Bridge and Folsom Dam raise: $3 million
•    Farmington Groundwater Recharge: $835,000
•    Guadalupe River - Mitigation and bridge construction: $12.5 million
•    Napa River Flood Protection Project and Napa Wine Train Relocation: $99.48 million
•    South Sacramento County Streams - Levee construction: $4 million
•    Yuba River Basin - Marysville Ring Levee stabilization: $9.25 million
•    Rural Nevada – Construction and upgrading of sewage and water treatment facilities: $10 million
•    Rural Utah – Construction of water supply pipeline and water plant improvements: $3 million

    The Corps is committed to achieving the President’s and Congress’ vision for the civil and military funding provided in the Recovery Act. We will act to quickly put those funds to use to help get our fellow citizens back to work and to help with the nation’s economic recovery.

    Through these projects we will continue to provide lasting value for the nation by addressing much needed infrastructure improvements, while ensuring their safe and efficient implementation, fidelity to existing contracting criteria and fully-transparent accountability to the American public.

    The lists of projects released today and additional information on the Corps’ role in the Recovery Act are available on the Web at www.usace.army.mil/recovery.

                                                                                                                                                 ###

 

For Immediate Release                                                                  25 April 2009

Indigenous Peoples from around the World Outraged at the Rapid Escalation of Climate Change and Denounced False Solutions

Anchorage, Alaska--At the first global gathering of Indigenous Peoples on climate change, participants were outraged at the intensifying rate of destruction the climate crisis is having on the Earth and all peoples. Participants reaffirmed that Indigenous Peoples are most impacted by climate change and called for support and funding for Indigenous Peoples to create adaptation and mitigation plans for themselves, based on their own Traditional Knowledge and practices. Indigenous Peoples also took a strong position on emission reduction targets of industrialized countries and against false solutions.

The majority of those attending looked towards addressing the root problem - the burning of fossil fuels - and demanded an immediate moratorium on new fossil fuel development and called for a swift and just transition away from fossil fuels.

"While the arctic is melting, Africa is suffering from drought and many Pacific Islands are in danger of disappearing.  Indigenous Peoples are locked out of national and international negotiations," stated Jihan Gearon, Native energy and climate campaigner of the Indigenous Environmental Network. "We're sending a strong message to the next UN Framework Convention on Climate Change this December in Copenhagen, Denmark that business as usual must end, because business as usual is killing us.  Participants at the summit stood united on sending a message to the world leaders in Copenhagen calling for a binding emission reduction target for developed countries of at least 45% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 95% by 2050."

"In Alaska, my people are on the front lines of climate change and are devastated by the fossil fuel industry," related Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL).  "Alaska natives network and we are fighting back.  We recently won a major battle last week as the District Court of Columbia threw out a plan to access 83 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf that was driven by Shell Oil. Shell has a long history of human rights violations, for which many have suffered and died, like Ken Saro-Wiwa of the Ogoni People in the Niger Delta of Africa."

Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network's Executive Director, commented, "We want real solutions to climate chaos and not the false solutions like forest carbon offsets and other market based mechanisms that will benefit only those who are making money on those outrageous schemes "  He added, "For example one the solutions to mitigate climate change is an initiative by the World Bank to protect forests in developing countries through a carbon market regime called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation or REDD."  He concluded, "Don't be fooled, REDD does nothing to address the underlying drivers of deforestation."

At a World Bank presentation at the global summit, Egberto Tabo, General Secretary of COICA, the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations in the Amazon Basin denounced "the genocide caused by the World Bank in the Amazon." Mr. Tabo also categorically rejected the inclusion of forests in the carbon market and the Bank's funding of REDD. The World Bank's representative, Navin Rai admitted that "the Bank has made mistakes in the past..We know that there were problems with projects like the trans-amazon highway." But REDD, he argued would not be more of the same. However, indigenous leaders at the global summit were unconvinced by his assurances and the Work Bank presentation ended with a Western Shoshone women's passionate appeal to the Bank to stop funding projects that endanger the survival of indigenous peoples.

 

Press Release                                                                                                  6th April 2009

Global Civil Society Opposes Charred Earth Policy

147 organisations from 44 countries warn against 'biochar' (large-scale charcoal) as a dangerous new false solution to climate change

An international declaration was today launched by 147 organisations opposing the growing hype and political support for Biochar. The groups signing the declaration "strongly oppose the inclusion of soils in carbon trade and offset mechanisms, including in the Clean Development Mechanism.” The groups further assert that, "the ‘biochar’ initiative fails to address the root causes of climate change.” [1]

Those issuing this warning range from small farmers associations and forest protection groups to international environmental networks and human rights advocates. Further organizations are being invited to sign the declaration.

This International declaration “Biochar, a New Big Threat to People, Land and Ecosystems” has been launched as UN and government delegates are meeting in Bonn this week to discuss a post-2012 climate change agreement.  One of the proposals [2] which they will be discussing is to allow carbon credits for using charcoal as a soil additive in the hope that this will create a permanent 'carbon sink' and help to reduce global warming, and reclaim degraded soil.  They will also discuss whether to generally include agricultural soils into carbon trading.

Civil society groups have called for caution on Biochar in view of serious scientific uncertainty. Many share concerns that this technology would lead to vast areas of land being converted to new plantations, thus repeating the unfolding disasters which agrofuels cause. They point out that large scale financial incentives for biochar or other soil sequestration could result in large scale land conversion and displacement of people.

Helena Paul from EcoNexus states: “Including biochar and agricultural soil in carbon markets would turn soils into a commodity that could be sold to offset pollution elsewhere. It would endanger smallholder farmers and indigenous peoples who cannot compete with governments and large companies and who are at risk of being displaced if the ground is literally sold out from under their feet.”

Stella Semino from Grupo de Reflexion Rural, Argentina adds: “The idea that charcoal will rescue a burning planet is absurd. Some biochar proponents call for quantities of charcoal which would require over 500 million hectares of industrial tree and crop plantations.  We know already that industrial agriculture and tree plantations are a major contributor to climate change and displace people and biodiversity. We need to protect ecosystems, not grow vast new monocultures and burn them! This is a farce.”

Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch states: “Large-scale support for biochar is premature and dangerous. Claims that biochar is retained permanently in soils and increases fertility are based on Terra Preta soils in Amazonia, which were made by indigenous peoples hundreds or even thousands of years ago.  Those farmers used biodiverse organic residues and compost, as well as charcoal. Modern biochar is not the same. Some companies are making biochar out of municipal waste and tyres, others promote using biochar to scrub flue gases from coal burners and then using this combination as a fertilizer. Some plan to use giant microwave ovens to char trees – justifying this by pointing to ancient Amazonian soils is absurd.” [3]

CONTACTS:

Rachel Smolker (U.S.): rsmolker@riseup.net
 -  Tel  +1 – 802-482-2848 or  +1-802-735-7794
Almuth Ernsting (UK): info@biofuelwatch.org.uk
- Tel 0044-1224-324797
Helena Paul (UK): h.paul@econexus.info
 - Tel  +44–(0)207–431-4357
Stella Semino (Denmark): stella.semino@mail.dk
 - Tel +45–(0)463-25328

NOTES:

[1] The declaration and organizations can be found at http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/news.php?id=1226 . Further Organizations wishing to add their name to the declaration should contact: biochar_concerns@yahoo.co.uk


[2] The governments of Belize, Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Micronesia, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, have called for the inclusion of biochar into the Clean Development Mechanism, i.e. into carbon trading.  This is also supported by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

[3] For further information and references regarding biochar, see “Biochar for Climate Change Mitigation: Fact or Fiction?” http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/biocharbriefing.pdf

(Washington, D.C. – September 17, 2008) Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), George Voinovich (R-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced bipartisan legislation to boost funding for the conservation of migratory birds. The Senate bill, S. 3490, reauthorizes the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA), but at significantly higher levels, to meet the growing needs of our migrants, many of which are in rapid decline. Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) have introduced similar bipartisan legislation, H.R. 5756, in the House of Representatives.

“Maryland’s natural treasure, our environment, is a lure for millions of human tourists and avian visitors each year. For nearly a decade, federal investment in habitat protection, education, research and monitoring of neotropical migratory birds has been vital to the well-being of our ecosystem and our economy,” said Senator Cardin.

Staff of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report that they receive many more requests for high quality conservation projects than they can provide grants for. NMBCA currently provides a maximum authorization of $6 million per year; last year Congress appropriated $4.5 million, a $500 thousand increase from the previous year. Under the new law, that amount would increase to $20 million by 2015. Grants require matching funds from other non-federal sources. Thus far, more than $21 million from NMBCA grants has leveraged over $95 million in partner contributions. FWS lists 341 migratory bird species that can benefit from the program: http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NMBCA/BirdList.shtm.

 

                                                                             #30#

 

For Immediate Release        World Environment Day, 5 June 2008

A Black Day for the Environment: False Solutions to Food Crisis will Escalate Starvation, Accelerate Climate Change and Devastate Biodiversity

Rome, Italy--The Global Forest Coalition, a worldwide coalition of environmental NGOs and Indigenous Peoples' Organizations, has called World Environment Day 2008 a black day for the environment, now that it appears the FAO Summit on World Food Security will fail to agree on an immediate halt to all forms of support for agrofuels. Instead, countries like the U.S. seem eager to exploit the current human tragedy for the promotion of a new 'Green Revolution,' which will have devastating impacts on both the climate and biodiversity.

"The rapid expansion of large-scale unsustainable agriculture that is being promoted at this Summit will lead to massive deforestation, thus contributing significantly to climate change," warns Dr. Miguel Lovera, the chairperson of the Global Forest Coalition. "In a country like Paraguay we have seen how the expansion of large-scale agro-industrial monocultures like soy has displaced small farmers and Indigenous Peoples, destroyed their forests, and contaminated their water resources with agro-chemicals, with devastating impacts on the health, welfare, and nutrition of rural communities."

It is widely acknowledged that the current food crisis has been caused by a combination of factors: climate change, a history of corporate-led globalization of food production and trade, increased consumption of meat and dairy products and the rapid expansion of agrofuels.

"Considering these factors, the one quick measure Heads of States could have taken to save the lives of many of the thousands of people currently starving, is to call for an immediate halt of all subsidies and other kinds of support to agrofuel production," stated Dr. Rachel Smolker of Global Justice Ecology Project, and the lead agrofuel researcher for the Global Forest Coalition.  Dr. Smolker concluded, "By failing to take this emergency measure, countries like the U.S. have made it clear that their main allegiance is to the agro-industrial interests that are capitalizing on the current crisis to promote their biotechnology, agro-chemicals, artificial fertilizers and other false solutions to the food crisis. This model of industrial agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, deforestation, rural depopulation as well as starvation. The 'solutions' being proposed by FAO will only worsen the situation. Food production, land and water rights must be put back into the hands of people, not corporations if we are to find a true solution to this crisis."

Climate change will have a particularly devastating effects in regions like Africa and the Pacific, that are already suffering disproportionately from the current food crisis. "By the end of this century 15 out of 27 nations in the Pacific will either no longer exist or will be totally uninhabitable," alerts Sandy Gauntlett, chairperson of the Pacific Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition. He ends, "The reality of agrofuels is that it is an economic measure that allows big industry to peddle psychological relief to the European and American consumer while the Pacific drowns and slowly starves."

For more information, please contact:

Orin Langelle, media coordinator, Global Forest Coalition, +1.802.482.2689 (office), +1.802.578.6980 (mobile)
In Rome, Italy: Dr. Rachel Smolker, tel:+39 333 211 8630 (English)
In Asunción, Paraguay: Dr Miguel Lovera, tel: +595-21-6636543 or +595-971-201957 (English, Spanish, French, Portugese and Italian)

16 April. For immediate release. With George Bush today expected to
outline options for a 'cap and trade' scheme to tackle US greenhouse gas
emissions, European environmental groups warned that a similar policy in
the European Union has been a 'total failure'.

European emissions have risen in the three years during which the EU
Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), which accounts for the vast majority
of trades in the world carbon market, has been in operation.

Heavy industry lobbying has led to an over-allocation of the free
pollution permits issued by the scheme, allowing large polluters to generate
billions in windfall profits but offering them little incentive to
change to cleaner energy and reduce emissions.

"Cap and trade schemes provide businesses with an opportunity to delay
making the transition to low carbon technologies" says Kevin Smith, a
researcher with the Carbon Trade Watch project of the Transnational
Institute, an Amsterdam-based think-tank. "Carbon trading will make huge
profits for a handful of polluting companies in the US, but it will not
bring about the emissions reductions that are so desperately needed."

"The European cap and trade scheme has seen industry lobbying at every
stage" says Oscar Reyes, also of the Transnational Institute. "There is
no reason to believe that this situation would be any different in the
US, where corporations enjoy an even greater degree of political
influence."

"There are many more effective policy tools than emissions trading to
fight climate change, such as increased spending on public transport and
more conventional regulations to cut energy use" says Jutta Kill of
the environmental group FERN. "An effective policy should cover all
sectors. The US military alone is responsible for the same amount of
emissions in one day as the whole of Sweden is in one year."


Further information
Kevin Smith, Carbon Trade Watch, kevin@carbontradewatch.org ,
+44-207-700-7971

Oscar Reyes, Transnational Institute, oscar@tni.org, +31-647-035-778

Anne Peterman, Global Justice Ecology Project, globalecology@gmavt.net,
PHONE

Notes
1. Permits sold and re-sold as part of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
(EU ETS) account for ¤19 billion of an estimated global market of ¤23
billion. See World Bank, State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2007 p.3

2. Recently released European Union statistics indicate that industries
covered by the ETS emitted almost 1.88 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide against allowances of 1.91 billion tonnes. In other words, the 'cap',
which is meant to reduce emissions, failed to cap emissions because it
was set above the level of actual emissions.

--

 

For Immediate Release- February 28, 2008
Contacts – William Craven, cell: 415.407.3426

'Green' Vision for Sears Turnaround Outlined in ForestEthics Memo
Investors Urged to Embrace “Good News” Eco-responsibility Could Bring Beleaguered Company
Quarterly Earnings Released Today; Large Shareholders Meet to Chart Future Course

NEW YORK— As Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) released fourth quarter earnings expected to show a 47% loss for the fiscal year, forest advocacy group ForestEthics delivered to investors a memo urging the company to consider a novel step toward revitalizing their struggling brand: environmental responsibility.

The memo outlines how an embrace of environmentally friendly practices can provide Sears with much-needed good news following a series of financial, retail, product, and customer service mishaps.

The delivery of the memo also coincides with a meeting of shareholders in ESL Investments, the hedge fund founded by Sears Chairman Edward Lampert. ForestEthics hopes these large investors will consider the benefits of change at a time when the policies that made Sears successful in the 20th century appear outdated and wasteful in the 21st.

“Time and time again, we’ve seen what a significant impact adopting environmental standards can have on a major corporation,” said Ginger Cassady of ForestEthics. “It won’t solve all of Sears’ problems, but it can help reinvent their brand while protecting forests.”

The catalog practices of Sears (and SHC subsidiary Lands’ End) are having a devastating effect on our last remaining Endangered Forests, including the Canadian Boreal. The Boreal is logged at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day. In addition to serving as a critical line of defense against global warming, and as Earth’s most accessible source of freshwater, the Boreal is home to hundreds of First Nations indigenous communities and provides critical habitat for species of songbirds and caribou.

ForestEthics’ memo suggests six areas where Sears has an opportunity to show its commitment to employees, shareholders, customers, and the environment: the size of its climate footprint; the amount of recycled fiber in its catalogs; reduction in paper use; zero paper sourced from Endangered Forests; minimal use of precious natural resources in its paper production; and use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) fiber.

The memo also cites a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit indicating that “companies that saw their share price rise by at least 50% in the last three years place a greater importance on social and environmental goals than companies with share prices that have declined by more than 10%.”

ForestEthics, a nonprofit with staff in Canada, the United States and Chile, recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change—and so can corporations. Armed with this unique philosophy, ForestEthics has protected more than twelve million acres of Endangered Forests. Visit www.ForestEthics.org or www.catalogcutdown.org for more information.                   

 

# # #

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7 December 2007

Indigenous Peoples Protest UNFCCC
Indigenous Peoples shut out of Climate Change Negotiations

Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia- Indigenous peoples representing regions from
around the world protested outside the climate negotiations today
wearing symbolic gags that read UNFCCC, the acronym of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, symbolizing their systematic
exclusion from the UN meeting.

Yesterday a delegation of indigenous peoples was forcibly barred from
entering the meeting between UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer and
civil society representatives, despite the fact that the indigenous
delegation was invited to attend.  This act is representative of the
systematic exclusion of indigenous peoples in the UNFCCC process.

 "There is no seat or name plate for indigenous peoples in the
plenary, nor for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the
highest level body in the United Nations that addresses indigenous
peoples rights," stated Hubertus Samangun, the Focal Point of the
Indigenous Peoples delegation to the UNFCCC and the Focal Point for English
Speaking Indigenous Peoples of the Global Forest Coalition.

"Indigenous peoples are not only marginalized from the discussion,
but there is virtually no mention of indigenous peoples in the more that
5 million words of UNFCCC documents," argued Alfred Ilenre of the Edo
People of Nigeria.

This is occurring despite the fact that indigenous peoples are
suffering the most from climate change and climate change mitigation projects
that directly impact their lands.

Indigenous peoples are here in Bali to denounce the false solutions to
climate change proposed by the United Nations such as carbon trading,
agrofuels and so-called "avoided deforestation" that devastate their
lands and cause human rights violations.

"This process has become nothing but developed countries avoiding
their responsibilities to cut emissions and pushing the responsibility
onto developing countries," stated Fiu Mata'ese Elisara-Laula, of the O
Le Siosiomaga Society of Samoa.  "Projects like REDD (Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries) sound very nice but
they are trashing our indigenous lands.  People are being relocated and
even killed; my own people will soon be under water.  That's why I call
the money from the projects blood money," he added.

Marcial Arias of the Kuna People of Panama reminded the international
community that indigenous peoples' right to participate was recognized
in the Earth Summit in 1992 and reaffirmed this year. "On September
13th of this year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [1] which enshrines the
fundamental human rights of indigenous peoples to their lands,
territories and environment. It is precisely these rights recognized by the UN
itself that the UNFCCC is violating," he explained.

Contact: Hubertus Samangun, Indigenous Focal Point to the UNFCCC
(Bahasa, English) 0813-1077-8918
Orin Langelle, Global Forest Coalition Media Coordinator
0813-3895-9742 (English)
(photos available upon request)

Notes:

[1]   http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html

For immediate release
29 November 2007

No time left for false solutions:
Stop commercialising carbon, cut emissions at source!

The Global Forest Coalition (GFC) [1] is present in Bali, Indonesia,
for the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, 3rd-14th December,
with a team of campaigners from around the world, including Indigenous
Peoples' representatives, to expose the false 'solutions' - agrofuels
[2] and carbon markets - being promoted by many governments and
companies.

It is now increasingly recognised that these failing solutions are also
having devastating impacts on the world's 854 million chronically
hungry people, [3] 1.6 billion forest-dependent people [4] and on forests
and biodiversity around the globe. [5] There is also growing evidence
that many are even making climate change worse.[6]

However, these so-called 'solutions' have certainly worked for those
governments and companies supporting them - but only because they have
generated windfall profits and subsidies for the world's richest
transnational companies, who have discovered that there are huge profits to be
made out of commercialising carbon; [7] and because they have allowed
governments to be seen to be doing something without making any
difficult decisions.

Dr Miguel Lovera, Chair of the GFC, said:

“Governments are here to stop climate change, not promote carbon
commercialisation. They should keep forests out of carbon markets, stop
subsidising agrofuels and say a resounding No! to the World Bank's planned
Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. They need to roll their sleeves up
and get on with the very real and urgent task of stopping climate
change immediately. There's no time left to make any more mistakes!�

Many effective 'tried and tested' processes, technologies, transport
systems and regulations, that cut emissions at source and provide social
and ecological benefits, already exist. These include (to name just a
few) bans on deforestation, converting to more sustainable wind and
solar energy sources and ramping up investment in efficient and affordable
public transport systems.

Journalists are invited to contact any of the campaigners listed below,
to talk about the specific social and environmental impacts of
commercialising carbon in different regions of the world.

In the first instance you may wish to contact our coordinators on their
Balinese mobiles:

Media Coordinator: Orin Langelle, GFC, US, +62 813 38959742, English
Campaigns Coordinator: Ronnie Hall, GFC, UK, +62 813 38959738, English

Speakers with different areas of expertise, regional knowledge and
languages:

Marcial Arias, a leader of the Kuna people, Panama.
Indigenous Peoples' rights, UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples,
especially in relation to UNFCCC and the UN CBD.
Kuna and Spanish, +62 813 38959740

Timothy Byakola, Climate and Development Initiatives, Uganda.
Agrofuels, carbon trading and plantations.
Lunyoro, Swahili and English, +62 813 38959739

Fiu Mata'ese Elisara-Laulu, O Le Siosiomaga Society, Samoa
Sustainable development that impacts culture, social, environment and
economic issues.
Samoan and English, +62 813 38959741

Sandy Gauntlett, Chairman of the Pacific Indigenous Peoples
Environmental Coalition (PIPEC), Aotearoa/New Zealand
Plantations and agrofuels, Pacific climate impacts, Indigenous Peoples
rights
English, +62 813 38938574

Dr Andrei Laletin, Friends of the Siberian Forests, Russia
Russian government's positions on forests and climate change, REDD
Russian and English, +62 813 38950984

Dr Miguel Lovera, Chairperson of the GFC and Iniciativa Amatocodie,
Paraguay
Conservation and restoration of forest biomass, rights of Indigenous
Peoples.
Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian, +62 813
38959743

Simone Lovera, GFC's Managing Coordinator and Sobrevivencia, Paraguay
International Environmental Law, payment for environmental services
schemes, soy expansion, Indigenous rights, REDD.
English, Dutch, Spanish, German and Portuguese, +62 813 37984639

Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP), US
Genetically engineered forest trees; second generation agrofuels
English, +62 813 38918437

Hubertus Samangun, Director of ICTI, Tanimbar, Indonesia, Southeast
Asia Regional Coordinator of the International Alliance of Indigenous and
Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests. Indigenous rights, biodiversity
and forest policy, agrofuels, REDD.
Bahasa Indonesia and English, +62 813 10778918

Swati Shresth, Kalpavriksh, India
Agrofuels (especially Jatropha), tribal law and protected areas.
Hindi and English, +62 813 38918431

Dr Rachel Smolker, Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP), US
lead author of GJEP/GFC report "The true cost of agrofuels: food,
forests and the climate"
English, +62 813 38959709

Also present in Bali are many members of the International Alliance of
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests. The
International Alliance is active in 43 countries. They can be contacted via:

Kittisak Rattankrajangsri, International Alliance of Indigenous and
Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, Thailand
Thai and English, +62 813 38934295


References:

1. The Global Forest Coalition is a worldwide network of
non-governmental organisations and Indigenous Peoples Organisations that promotes
effective rights-based forest conservation policies. See
http://www.globalforestcoalition.org for more information.

2. The term 'agrofuels' is a more accurate label for the production of
fuel from industrially produced agricultural crops (and is also used by
the FAO). The term 'biofuels' gives a false impression that these
fuels are environmentally friendly, when they are in fact environmentally
and socially destructive.

3.  A recent report to the UN General Assembly, on the right to food
expressed “grave concerns� that agrofuels production �presents
serious risks of creating a battle between food and fuel that will leave
the poor and hungry in developing countries at the mercy of rapidly
rising prices for food, land and water�. The author of the report, the
UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, recently
called for a five-year moratorium on the production of agrofuels using
current methods.
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html?siteSect=881&sid=8305080
According to the UN's World Food Programme 854 million people are already
chronically hungry and nearly six million children under the age of
five die of starvation every year: one child every five seconds.
http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduction/hunger_what.asp?section=1&sub_section=1

4. Agrofuels and plantations planted to offset carbon emissions in the
rich industrialised world are increasing deforestation, and this is
having a severe impact on forest-dependent communities. According to the
FAO, 1.6 billion people are dependent on forests or trees outside
forests http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/livelihoods/en/. See for example,
the impact of the tree planting project in the Mount Elgon national park
financed by the FACE Foundation at
http://www.wrm.org.uy/countries/Uganda/book.html and the impacts of a
voluntary forest-related carbon offset project in Ecuador at
http://www.wrm.org.uy/countries/Ecuador/book2.pdf

5. In Paraguay, for example, the expansion of the agricultural frontier
is the principal cause of biodiversity loss, and agrofuels are
stimulating demand for large scale monoculture products like soy. It is now
estimated to be 7-10% (Fundacion Moises Bertoni 2007) in isolated and
dwindling patches of forest. Since the 1980's this has been caused
primarily by the advance of soy monoculture.

6. The Global Forest Coalition/Global Justice Ecology Project will
launch its new report The real Cost of Agrofuels: food, forests and the
climate, in Bali on 4 December 2007. To take just one example, however, a
recent study of N2O emissions from agrofuels revealed that some
contribute up to 70% more to global warming via N2O emissions than they do to
cooling via avoided CO2 emissions. This is especially true for fuels
derived from rapeseed (about 80% of European production) and corn
(virtually all production in the US). In the author's words: "Here we have
concentrated on the climate effects due to required N fertilization and we
have shown that the use of several agricultural crops with high N/C
ratios for energy production can readily lead to N2O emissions, large
enough for several crops to cause net climate warming instead of cooling
by saved fossil CO2.� Crutzen, P.J., Mosier, A.R., Smith, K.A.,
Winiwarter, W. 2006. N2O release from agro-biofuel production negates climate
effect of fossil-fuel derived "Co2" savings.  Atmos. Chem. Phys.
Discuss., 2007, 7, 11191

7. The EU, for example, has fallen behind schedule to meet its Kyoto
target of an 8% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2012, and the
US$44 billion-a-year market has been labelled “an environmental and
economic failure�. The scheme has, however, generated “record profits
for RWE AG and other utilities�,
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awS1xfKpVRs8&refer=home

PRESS RELEASE FROM Global Justice Ecology Project  EMBARGO UNTIL 12:00 AM GMT, 17 NOVEMBER 2007

Governments must reject ˜Biofuels" and other False Solutions to
Climate Change

In reaction to today's launch of the synthesis report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in Spain, the Global Forest
Coalition, a worldwide coalition of NGOs and Indigenous Peoples
Organisations, called upon governments to reject so-called ˜biofuels" and other
false solutions to climate change like carbon trading. It is now
becoming clear that these solutions may in fact make climate change worse,
not better, and that they have many other serious social and
environmental impacts. (1)

The IPCC report again highlights that climate change is already having
devastating impacts upon the economies and livelihoods of people all
over the world. Indigenous Peoples and other vulnerable and economically
marginalized peoples suffer the most dramatic consequences of climate
change, as they are directly dependent upon the forests, drylands and
polar ecosystems that are being destroyed by droughts, forest fires and
other effects of global warming. However, these communities are also the
main victims of the false solutions that some governments and high
profile advocates are proposing, like large-scale biofuels, (or
 ˜agrofuels" as most social movements refer to them) and carbon
investments in forestry projects.

Dr. Miguel Lovera, chairperson of the Global Forest Coalition, said:

"Here in Paraguay the soya boom that has been triggered by agrofuels
means that farmers are now racing to clear the forests and plant soy.
What is the point of planting a crop that is supposed to help stop
climate change, when it involves ripping out the lungs of the world and
destroying the homes and livelihoods of our forest peoples, including our
last communities of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation?
The IPCC recognizes that conserving forests is one of the most effective
and economically efficient ways of mitigating climate change but
governments don't seem to be listening: instead of banning deforestation,
they are actually subsidizing the production of these agrofuels crops
which are making deforestation worse all over the world." (2)

In Mato Grosso in the Brazilian Amazon, renewed soy expansion caused
deforestation to increase by around 84% between September 2006 and
September 2007. Soy expansion in South America is mainly caused by the
ethanol boom in the US, which has triggered US soy farmers to switch to corn.


“As the main problems are caused by the indirect impacts of
agrofuels, proposals to certify "sustainable biofuels" just won't work, as
they can't control these indirect impacts" emphasizes Dr. Rachel
Smolker of the Global Justice Ecology Project in Vermont (US).

"Second generation agrofuels, like genetically modified trees, will
also cause a myriad of environmental and social problems, including the
replacement of forests with vast monocultures of tree plantations,
planted to fuel cars" she adds.

The Global Forest Coalition also opposes proposals to finance reduced
deforestation through the international carbon market, as such offsets
do not contribute anything to mitigating climate change: every ton
carbon stored in forests will imply an extra ton of carbon emissions in the
North. Moreover, they form an inequitable and unpredictable source of
financial support. Carbon offset projects in countries like Uganda have
already led to devastating impacts on local communities. (3)

"Many Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific face the possibility of
losing everything in a short space of time:  their homes, their
territories and their livelihoods -, because of rising sea-levels. We insist that
governments do something now to stop this ethnocide. They urgently
need to invest in real forest conservation (4), sustainable transport
systems and solar and wind energy" stresses Sandy Gauntlett, chairperson
of the Pacific Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition.

For more information, please contact: - Dr. Miguel Lovera, Global
Forest Coalition, Paraguay, tel: +595-21-663654 and mobile: +595-971-201957
(English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch)
- Sandy Gauntlett, Pacific Indigenous Peoples Environment Coalition,
New Zealand, tel: + 64 9 8349529
- Anne Petermann (mobile +1 802 578 0477) and Dr. Rachel Smolker,
Global Justice Ecology Project, USA, tel: +1 802-482-2689,
globalecology@gmavt.net and rsmolker@globaljusticeecology.org
- Ronnie Hall, campaigns coordinator, Global Forest Coalition, UK, tel:
+44 7967 017281, ronnihall@googlemail.com

NOTES:
(1) See also
http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/From%20Meals%20to%20Wheels%20The%20Social%20and%20Ecological%20Catastrophe%20o.pdf
For an overview of social and environmental impacts of agrofuels,
  http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/Potential%20Policy%20Approaches%20and%20Positive%20Incentives.pdf
For an analysis of the possible impacts of the inclusion of avoided
deforestation in global carbon markets and
http://www.wrm.org.uy/countries/Ecuador/book2.pdf
For an example of the impacts of a voluntary forest-related carbon
offset project in Ecuador.
(2) In 2007 alone, soy monocultures expanded from 2.4 million to 2.8
million hectares in Paraguay. The price rise of around 23% on the
international markets is considered to be one of the major factors. See also
www.lasojamata.org for more information on the environmental and social
impacts of soy production.
(3) The tree planting project in the Mount Elgon national park financed
by the FACE Foundation to offset CO2 emissions from air travellers and
Dutch electricity companies led to major negative social and
environmental consequences around the park, with communities that were living in
the area being forcibly resettled. Lack of agricultural land and
fuelwood outside the park led to increased forest degradation, land slides,
hunger, poverty, prostitution and HIV/AIDS. In 2005, a Ugandan Court
ruled that the resettlement was illegal, and in 2007 returning local
people cut down 100,000 of the newly planted trees to create space for
their farms again. For more information, go to
http://www.wrm.org.uy/countries/Uganda/book.html
(4) The Framework Convention on Climate Change obliges all governments
to conserve forests and other carbon sinks, and developed countries to
provide new and additional resources to enable developing countries to
conserve their forests. See also
http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/Report%20on%20Independent%20Monitoring%20article%204.1.pdf
for an independent review of the implementation of the forest-related
clauses of the FCCC.

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