Press release: New report from Accra Caucus published
A new report - Realising Rights, Protecting Forests: An Alternative Vision for Reducing Deforestation - was launched on June 3rd 2010 at the climate change talks in Bonn.
Links to the report in English, French and Spanish below.
The report highlights three critical components to protecting forests:
- full and effective participation
- secured and equitable land rights
- community-based forest management
These are illustrated by case studies from Accra Caucus member organizations in Indonesia, Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, Cameroon, Papua New, Guinea, Tanzania and Nepal.
"National and international REDD processes have been going too fast for rights holders and stakeholders to effectively participate, but no plan to reduce deforestation will work without indigenous peoples and local communities," said Samuel Nnah Ndobe, Centre for Environment and Development, Cameroon, "genuine consultation needs political will and cannot be rushed because of imposed deadlines."
"Currently there is a massive gulf between the negotiations at an international level and the lived experience in tropical forest countries. This report aims to help bridge that gulf and contribute to the debate on protecting forests," said Kate Dooley, FERN.
What is Accra Caucus?
The Accra Caucus on Forests and Climate Change is a network of southern and northern NGOs representing around 100 civil society and Indigenous Peoples' organizations from 38 countries, formed at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Accra, Ghana in 2008. The Caucus works to place the rights of indigenous and forest communities at the centre of negotiations on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), and to ensure that efforts to reduce deforestation promote good governance and are not a substitute for emission reductions in industrialised countries.
