KIDNAPPING FOR CARBON RIGHTS

A recent press release about the Carbon Trading Summit, Indigenous Environmental Network focused on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), what can go wrong and what already has gone wrong with the program. An example of how something that sounds like a good thing to some is a bad thing for many and a really, really bad thing for a few is the shocking kidnapping of a Papuan New Guinea native leader. Abilie Wape, a leader of the Kamula Doso Peoples claims he was forced at gun point to surrender the carbon rights of his tribe's forest.

The following is from Redd-Monitor.

REDD and violence against indigenous leader in Papua New Guinea

By Chris Lang, 15th January 2010

This week, activists protested outside a Carbon Trading Summit in New York. Executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Duke Energy, American Electric Power and other corporations mingled with representatives from government, carbon credit aggregators, hedge funds and carbon traders. “The same Wall Street bankers who gave us the global climate crisis are trying to own the sky,” said Brian Tokar, director of the Institute for Social Ecology. In its press release about the event, Indigenous Environmental Network focussed on REDD, what can go wrong and what already has gone wrong. (Spanish version, below.)

Abelie Wape, an Indigenous leader from Kamula Doso in Papua New Guinea, was forced at gunpoint to sign away the carbon rights to the forest. Kamula Doso is one of the most controversial of the REDD projects currently being set up anywhere in the world. These accusations of violence make any pretense of free, prior and informed consent farcical.

PRESS RELEASE
1/13/10

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director
Indigenous Environmental Network
(218)760-0442

Carbon Markets Violate Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Threaten Cultural Survival

Indigenous leader kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to surrender carbon rights for REDD in Papua New Guinea

New York, USA — As carbon traders hawk permits to pollute at the Second Annual Carbon Trading Summit, Indigenous Peoples denounced that selling the sky not only corrupts the sacred but also destroys the climate, violates human rights and threatens cultural survival.

“Carbon trading and carbon offsets are a crime against humanity and Creation,” said Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network. “The sky is sacred. This carbon market insanity privatizes the air and sells it to climate criminals like Shell so they can continue to pollute and destroy the climate and our future, rather than reducing their emissions at source.”

“This Carbon Traitors’ Summit comes on the heels of the failed UN Copenhagen climate conference which put forests in carbon markets by creating a mechanism called REDD or REDD-plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).” According to Goldtooth, “Most of the forests of the world are found in Indigenous Peoples’ land. REDD-type projects have already caused land grabs, killings, violent evictions and forced displacement, violations of human rights, threats to cultural survival, militarization and servitude.”

A recent World News Australia television exposé sheds light on the risks of REDD, carbon traders and the shocking kidnapping of a Papuan New Guinea native leader. Abilie Wape, a leader of the Kamula Doso Peoples claims he was forced at gun point to surrender the carbon rights of his tribe’s forest.

A visibly shaken Wape told reporters, “They came and got me in the night, police came with a gun. They threatened me. They forced me to get in the vehicle. Then we came in the night to the hotel. They told me, “You sign. Otherwise, if you don’t sign, I’ll get a police and lock you up.”

“Indigenous Peoples are being forced to sign over their territories for REDD to the Gangsters of the Century, carbon traders, who are invading the world’s remaining forests that exist thanks to the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples,” denounced Marlon Santi, President of the CONAIE, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, one of the most powerful native organizations in the world. “Our forests are spaces for life not carbon markets.”

Another REDD-type project, a UNEP-funded carbon forestry project in the Mau forest of Kenya has resulted in evictions and threatens the cultural survival of the Ogiek hunter-gathers. “Ordering us to leave Mau is like taking a fish out of water and expecting it to survive” said Ogiek People Development Program Director Daniel Kobei. According to REDD-Monitor, “UNEP’s failure to prevent the eviction of thousands of people to make way for a carbon project does not bode well for the millions of Indigenous Peoples and forest dwelling communities of the world.”

Survival International reports that REDD schemes could leave Indigenous Peoples “with nothing.” “Everyone who cares about our future, forests, Indigenous Peoples and human rights should reject REDD because it is irremediably flawed, cannot be fixed and because, despite efforts to develop safeguards for its implementation, REDD will always be potentially genocidal,” concluded Goldtooth.

El comercio de carbono viola los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas y amenaza la supervivencia cultural

Líder indígena secuestrado, amenazado con armas y obligado a entregar los derechos al carbono de su selva para REDD en Papua Nueva Guinea

Nueva York, EEUU — Mientras comerciantes de carbono venden permisos para contaminar en la Segunda Cumbre Anual del Comercio de Carbono, Pueblos Indígenas denunciaron que vender el cielo no solamente corrompe lo sagrado, sino también destruye el clima, viola los derechos humanos y amenaza la supervivencia cultural.

“El comercio de carbono y las compensaciones de carbono son un crimen de lesa humanidad, contra la Madre Tierra y el Padre Cielo” dijo Tom Goldtooth, Director Ejecutivo de la Red Indígena sobre el Medio Ambiente. “El Cielo es sagrado. Esta locura de los mercados de carbono privatiza el aire y se lo vende a los delincuentes climáticos como la empresa petrolera Shell para que puedan seguir contaminando y destruir el clima y nuestro futuro, en lugar de reducir sus emisiones donde se originan.”

“Esta Cumbre de Traidores del Clima se realiza justamente después del fracaso de la conferencia de la ONU sobre el clima en Copenhague que colocó a los bosques en los mercados de carbono al crear un mecanismo que se llama REDD o REDD-plus (Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación).” Según Goldtooth, “La mayoría de los bosques del mundo se encuentran en los territorios de los Pueblos Indígenas. Los proyectos tipo-REDD ya han causado la usurpación de tierras, asesinatos, desalojos violentos y desplazamientos forzosos, violaciones de derechos humanos, amenazas a la supervivencia cultural, militarización y servidumbre.”

Un reportaje reciente del noticiero de televisión World News Australia documenta los riesgos de REDD, los comerciantes de carbono y el secuestro espeluznante del dirigente indígena de Papua Nueva Guinea. Abilie Wape, un líder de los Pueblos Kamula Doso, dice que fue obligado con un arma a entregar los derechos al carbono de la selva de su comunidad.

Wape claramente conmocionado dijo a los reporteros, “Vinieron por mi en la noche…la policía llegó con un fusil. Me amenazaron. Me obligaron a subir al vehículo. Luego viajamos por la noche al hotel. Me dijeron, “Fírmalo. Si no firmas, conseguiré que la policía te encarcelen.”

Los Pueblos Indígenas están siendo obligados a entregar sus territorios para REDD “a favor de los Gángsteres del siglo, comerciantes del carbono, que han empezado a entrar en los continentes donde la poca cantidad de bosque ha quedado gracias a la sabiduría de los pueblos indígenas” denunció Marlon Santi, Presidente de la CONAIE, la Confederación de las Nacionalidades Indígenas de Ecuador, una de las organizaciones de pueblos originarios más poderosas del mundo. “Nuestros bosques no son mercados de carbono, son espacios de vida.”

Otro proyecto tipo-REDD, un proyecto financiado por el Programa de Naciones Unidas sobre el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) sobre carbono forestal en el Bosque Mau de Kenya – África ha resultado en desalojos y amenazas a la supervivencia cultural del Pueblo Ogiek que son cazadores y recolectores. “Exigirnos que salgamos del Bosque Mau es como sacar un pez del agua y suponer que va a sobrevivir,” dijo Daniel Kobei, Director del Programa de Desarrollo del Pueblo Ogiek. Según REDD-Monitor, “Que el PNUMA no haya prevenido el desalojo de miles de personas para facilitar el camino para un proyecto de carbono… no es una buena señal para los millones de Pueblos Indígenas y comunidades que residen en los bosques del mundo”.

Survival International informa que los esquemas REDD podrían dejar a los Pueblos Indígenas “sin nada.” “Todo el mundo que se preocupe por el futuro, por los bosques, por los Pueblos Indígenas y por los derechos humanos debería rechazar el mecanismo REDD porque es fundamentalmente viciado, no tiene remedio y porque, a pesar de los esfuerzos para desarrollar salvaguardas para su implementación, REDD siempre podría causar genocidio,” concluyó Goldtooth.