4 de febrero de 2011 | Entrevistas | Anti-neoliberalismo | Bosques y biodiversidad
Different approaches
Deforestation affecting indigenous peoples
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On Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) officially launched the International Year of Forests at the UN Forum on Forests held in New York, US. Several international social and indigenous organizations highlighted the need to address once and for all the real causes of deforestation.
The UN General Assembly declared 2011 as International Year of Forests to call attention on the need to manage, preserve and maintain the forest resources of the planet. It is estimated that at least 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their survival.
However, several sectors of the international civil society are worried about the measures negotiated within the UN to fight deforestation, since they are not addressing the real causes.
The UN scheme called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD) ”will not protect forests or stop deforestation”, states a press release issued by the Global Justice Ecology Project, the Global Forest Coalition, Dogwood Alliance, Timberwatch Coalition, BioFuelWatch and the Indigenous Environmental Network. These groups and networks created a joint work program called “The Future of Forests”, to fight the real causes of deforestation.
The REDD system is under discussion at the UN climate negotiations. Real World Radio interviewed Tom Goldtooth, member of the Indigenous Environmental Network. The leader said that REDD is a market mechanism that “commodifies” forests. “In our opinion, it doesn’t address the true issues and concerns of climate change”, he said.
The Indigenous Environmental Network was created in 1990 in the US as an initiative of grassroots indigenous communities and individuals worried about issues of environmental and economic justice. The organization also works around human rights and in coordination with indigenous peoples from Global South countries such as Bolivia, Panama and South Africa.
The communities were worried back then about the same things that worry them today: mining and wood companies entering their territories; toxic waste management, among others.
Goldtooth said that big corporations of those sectors arrive to the lands of communities and promise them large sums of money. The indigenous leader regretted that many times these companies divide communities. “This is economic blackmail,” he said.
The representative of the Indigenous Environmental Network also said that many governments, corporations and the World Bank continue exploiting forests, and that the UN solutions are not “deep” enough. We have to see what the real causes of deforestation are, he said. “We don’t want this deforestation in our backyard, but we don’t want it in anyone else’s backyard”, he added.
Finally, the leader said that “we have to make sure that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples be implemented country by country”, and to pay attention to the right to land, in addition to the participation of indigenous people in issues that can affect their lives.
