Bangkok at a turning point for forests and climate

The Wilderness Society Inc
Joint Media Release
1 October 2009

Leading observer group urges delegates to return to original intent to protect forests and indigenous rights

Bangkok - As delegates consolidate language that will ultimately determine the scope and principles of the part of the climate change treaty intended to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of tropical forests (REDD); a coalition of leading forest and ecosystems experts are launching a campaign to highlight forest protection and indigenous rights. The new Forest Pledge - calling for countries to support the protection of intact natural forests as a core mechanism of the treaty - is intended to bring focus back to the original mandate of REDD laid out in the Bali Action Plan.

Mr. Joe Pokana, Mitigation Director, Office of Climate Change, Papua New Guinea, signs the Forest Pledge while youth look on. PNG has 5.1 million hectares of intact natural forests. Image: The Wilderness Society Collection

“Protecting forests and protecting Indigenous rights of the people who live in those forests is a necessary part of solving climate change,” said Miguel Lovera, chief negotiator for Paraguay, the first country to sign on to the pledge. “We are happy to be the first country to sign the pledge, and hope that more countries will follow our lead.” 

Despite the fact that a REDD mechanism will only be effective at reducing emissions if helps indigenous and local communities to protect their forests, the text to make sure this is a core objective of REDD has never been in the draft deal. The Forest Pledge is designed to ensure that the final text of REDD explicitly contains an objective of protecting intact natural forests. This includes protecting the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and forest communities.

“Communities around the world are expecting REDD to protect forests,” said Peg Putt, senior forest policy expert of The Wilderness Society. “Yet somehow, protecting forests fell off the back of the bus when the loggers got into the drivers seat. Now most countries are simply hanging on as passive passengers. The pledge is intended to return the protection of intact natural forests to the heart of the climate treaty.”

The international youth delegation at Bangkok also took up the cry for forest protection in the climate change treaty. Over 30 youth spent an hour in the rain canvassing delegates to sign up for the pledge as they entered the United Nations conference center this morning. Delegates from rainforest nations Papua New Guinea and Indonesia signed the pledge, pledging to protecting millions of hectares of forests. The youth held a 10 meter banner reading, “For a safe climate, protect the world’s forests.”

“Young people will live our whole lives with the consequences of the decisions negotiators make at these meetings,” said Joshua Kahn Russell of Rainforest Action Network, speaking on behalf of the youth delegates from over 20 countries who demonstrated outside of the UN Convention Center this morning. “The destruction of forests account for roughly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Without a flood of countries pledging to protect forests and indigenous rights, the world’s youth have no chance for a healthy climate future.”

Ecosystems Climate Alliance will be urging all countries to sign the Forest Pledge over the next week.

The complete text of the pledge reads:

(Name of Party or NGO) hereby pledges to support protecting intact natural forest and restoring degraded natural forest as a core objective of a REDD mechanism. This includes protecting the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and forest communities in such forests.

The Ecosystems Climate Alliance (ECA) is an alliance of environment and social NGOs committed to keeping natural terrestrial ecosystems intact and their carbon out of the atmosphere, in an equitable and transparent way that respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. ECA recognises that avoiding emissions of terrestrial carbon stored in the soils and biomass of forests, peatlands and wetlands represents the largest potential single opportunity for cost-effective greenhouse gas mitigation. ECA advocates climate, forest and land use policies to give strong, equitable, transparent and positive incentives free of perversities for avoiding the degradation of terrestrial carbon stores and for rehabilitating degraded land, supported by effective forest governance, robust monitoring and demand-side policies to ensure meaningful outcomes. ECA comprises Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Global Witness, Humane Society International, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest Foundation Norway, The Rainforest Foundation U.K., Wetlands International and The Wilderness Society.