Fault Lines - The other debt crisis: Climate debt

 
The climate crisis in Bolivia is not a headline or an abstraction - it is playing out in people’s lives in real time.

Melting glaciers are threatening the water supply of the country’s two biggest cities. Increasing droughts and floods are playing havoc with agriculture.

So it is no surprise that in climate negotiations, Bolivia is emerging as a leader in the global south - advancing both radical solutions and analysis that make rich countries distinctly nervous.

On this edition of Fault Lines, Avi Lewis travels to Bolivia to explore the country’s climate crusade from the inside.

It is the story of an emerging movement, based in the global south, raising questions about who owes what to whom in confronting the climate crisis.

And it is playing out in Bolivia’s epic landscape - from the tropical glaciers to the endless salt flats. A landscape that in normal times seems to mock the very idea that human beings can change the course of nature.

This episode of Fault Lines can be seen from Thursday, May 20, 2010 at the following times GMT: Thursday: 0600; Friday: 0030, 0830; Saturday: 2330; Sunday: 0630, 2130; Tuesday: 0530, 1230; Wednesday: 0300.

 

Wind industry takes over Zapotecan lands

Wind power projects on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southeastern Mexico harm land of Zapotecan farmers.

Los campesinos Zapotecas protestan en contra de los parques de molinos de viento.

En Juchitán, en el sur de México, siempre hay viento. Un viento muy fuerte. Los parques de molinos de viento salen como hongos de la tierra. Esto, a gran disgusto de los campesinos Zapotecas.

 
 

The Sheka Forest Story - Wisdom from the Past, Resilience for the Future

The Sheka Forest Story - Wisdom from the Past, Resilience for the Future from The ABN and The Gaia Foundation on Vimeo.

(Melca Ethiopia) 

The Sheka Forest Story shows the power of collaboration.
The Sheka forest is one of Ethiopia’s largest and last remaining tropical forests. Clan leaders, the local community and the local government have come together with the support of local partner, Melca Ethiopia, to help secure the future of the forest, its rich bio-cultural diversity and to enhance sustainable livelihood options.
The Sheka Forest Story tells an enchanting tale of the complexities of forest governance at a time when it has never been more critical.
It takes everyone to protect a forest. It only takes a few to destroy it.
A film made with partner Melca Ethiopia. More about Melca Ethiopia here melca-ethiopia.org/ ​

 

The Kamburu Story - A community-led response to climate change in Kenya

The Kamburu Story - A community-led response to climate change in Kenya from The ABN and The Gaia Foundation on Vimeo.

(The Institute for Culture and Ecology) 
 
Short film, co-produced by the Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) in Kenya, the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and The Gaia Foundation (UK). This film tells the story of the Kamburu community and their courageous steps towards being more food secure, and their community-led approach to protecting the environment.
 

Climate Justice: Vermont Report Backs from the Cancún Climate Talks

Global Justice Ecology Project’s Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle will speak in Vermont about the UN climate talks held at the end of 2010 in Cancún, Mexico and will provide analysis of the decisions made there.

WHEN & WHERE:

Brattleboro, VT–Wednesday, January 26 from 6pm-8pm (Cancún report via skype) at the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, 214 Main Street

Burlington, VT–Thursday, January 27 from 6pm-8pm with a Potluck following, at the Vermont Workers’ Center, 294 North Winooski Avenue

View the new climate justice video produced by the Vermont Workers’ Center and the People’s University of Learning and Liberation (PULL):

 

 
 
The event in Burlington is co-sponsored by the Vermont Workers’ Center, the People’s University of Learning and Liberation (PULL) and Global Justice Ecology Project.  The presentations will be followed by a discussion of the local implications of the climate justice issue and its links to Vermonters and health care.

The above video on Climate Justice will be shown at both locations.

Petermann lost her accreditation as an UN observer in Cancún for participating in a protest against the UN’s silencing of grassroots voices.  The UN Climate talks excluded participation by people from communities already effected by climate disruption including Indigenous Peoples, women, workers and youth.

Both Langelle and Petermann have attended the UN climate talks since 2004.  Global Justice Ecology Project co-founded the Durban Group for Climate Justice, Climate Justice Now!, Climate Justice Action and works nationally and internationally in solidarity with communities and people impacted by climate change.

Global Justice Ecology Project has offices is Hinesburg, VT and Oakland, CA.

For more info contact:

Aja Lippincott, Global Justice Ecology Project, 802.482.2689

VT Workers’ Center, 802.861.4VWC

 
 

Lives of the Forest

‘Lives of the Forest’ was created by indigenous activists from across the Asia Pacific region exploring the likely impacts of the UN’s REDD programme on indigenous resources and lifestyles. It was created during a participatory video facilitator training in Ifugao (Philippines) by representatives of 15 distinct indigenous communities from 8 different countries.

The film was shot entirely on location within the remote mountain community of Hungduan in Ifugao (home to the Tuali peoples - one of the many indigenous groups in the Cordillera region of the Philippines) and explores the traditional knowledge and lifestyles of the Tuali peoples including their deep connection with, and reliance upon, their Muyong (clan-owned woodlands) and communal forests as an example of an indigenous community whose way of life is threatened by programmes such as REDD. The indigenous filmmakers behind this short film assert that market-based approaches to climate change are at odds with the traditional lifestyles and belief systems of indigenous peoples and that, through such programs, governments around the world will assert ownership over the forests inhabited by indigenous communities leading to landlessness and increased loss of bio-cultural diversity.

It was planned and created by 18 indigenous activists as a collaborative filmmaking exercise during a 2-week training program in participatory video facilitation. The trainees undertook all the conceptualisation, storyboarding and filming. They made all the editing decisions during a participatory ‘paper edit’ process. The footage was edited on location with all the trainees in attendance by the trainers, whilst they received editing training and pieced together the short films created by local women and youth during community placements.

‘Lives of the Forest’ is intended as a piece of video advocacy that will add to the rich tapestry of perspectives on how best to address the climate crisis. It does not purport to represent all indigenous communities; nor does it claim to be ‘balanced’ or ‘objective’. This is collaborative polemic filmmaking by those whose voices are rarely heard and are always under-represented.

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaJHoALBUjw

Undercover with Conservation International

American registered charity Conservation International says it provides environmental ‘solutions’ to some of the world’s biggest corporations. We think it’s more accurate to say they provide greenwashing services to some of the planet’s worst polluters. We went undercover to see if they’d help an arms company make its weapons more eco-friendly and more…
Read a brilliant article about the film and Conservation International on The Ecologist site here

source: http://www.dontpaniconline.com/DPTV/undercover-with-conservation-international

A Darker Shade of Green–New GJEP/GFC Video on REDD Released

New Video Reveals Global Resistance to Forest-Carbon Projects and Documents Critical Perspectives on REDD

A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests


(Instructions for requesting a DVD of the new REDD video, which includes two bonus features, can be found here.)

Global Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project have produced a new video entitled A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests. The twenty-eight minute video, launched today, documents opposition among Indigenous Peoples, forest-dependent communities and environmental justice groups around the globe, to controversial programs that claim to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) by putting forests into the carbon market.

As policies and programs to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) are promoted around the world by corporations and governments, Indigenous Peoples and other forest-dependent communities are raising the alarm that these programs will have serious negative impacts – and will not mitigate climate change.

Clayton Thomas-Muller of Indigenous Environmental Network, featured in the video, declares, “We can take care of our own lands, we don’t need agencies … to do this for us. As Indigenous Peoples we want rights, and we don’t want REDD.”

Nnimmo Bassey, of Nigeria, Chair of Friends of the Earth International, also featured in the video, says, “The whole idea of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation is not about stopping deforestation. It’s industry driven, it’s driven by speculators who want to grab land in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, and who don’t really want to change the mode of economy we’re living right now.”

REDD has been hotly contested since it was first introduced into the climate mitigation package at the United Nations climate talks in 2007. Every year since, REDD has been pushed by those who wish to use the world’s forests as carbon offsets and protested by Indigenous Peoples and forest dependent communities that face potential forced relocation if their forest homelands are “protected,” under the REDD scheme. A Darker Shade of Green details the ideas behind REDD and the concerns being raised against it.

Following the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa last month, global REDD projects are coming under even greater scrutiny. Simone Lovera, Director of Global Forest Coalition, said, “The outcomes of the Durban Conference in the field of REDD are generally seen as a major step backwards. The already unacceptably weak and non-binding social and environmental safeguards that were adopted previously were further undermined, and the vague guidance for reporting emission reductions allows cheating and exaggerations.”

Subnational REDD programs such as the agreement between California, USA, Chiapas, Mexico, and Acre, Brazil – featured in the new video – are still set to move forward, though with carbon markets collapsing, grassroots resistance growing, and global climate agreements in deep-freeze, legislators may be hard-pressed to provide concrete footings for the complicated agreement.

A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests, produced in English and Spanish, features interviews and testimonies from Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Uganda, India, and California. The DVD version of the video contains two additional bonus films on REDD: Amador Hernandez: Starved for Medical Services by Global Justice Ecology Project and REDD: A Greed for Trees by the Chiapas-based NGO Otros Mundos. Information on requesting this DVD can be found here.

The video was made possible with support from Artists Project Earth UK, Carbon Trade Watch, Green Valley Media, Hiroshi Kanno, Isvara Foundation, Lawson Valentine Foundation, Lush Cosmetics Company, and New Visions Foundation.

A three-minute trailer is also available for viewing in English and Spanish by clicking here

Disputed Territory

Disputed Territory
The green economy versus community-based economies. A story of the peoples of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil.

We are re-launching this recent video produced by the World Rainforest Movement, which is now available in four languages; English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. It tells about the impacts of REDD+ and the ´green economy´ projects for forest peoples, as well as their struggle against such projects to reclaim their territory.

The video is available at www.wrm.org.uy

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests. By proposing this new international day, the UN is trying to raise awareness about the importance of all types of forests. However, the UN should raise awareness in the first place about the fact that forests around the world are increasingly disputed territories.

In this dispute there are two clear sides. On the one hand the around 300 million of people who depend directly on forests. These forest communities not only depend on forest for their survival but also play a fundamental role in the conservation of these forests. On the other hand the big transnational companies, for which forests are simply a source of profits, obtained by the extraction of commodities or by the substitution of forests with industrial monocultures. Since a couple of years, forests communities are facing another threat that is disputing their lands: REDD projects and other related “solutions” to the climate crisis, proposed in the context of the “Green Economy”.

A clear example of this dispute is what happens in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. 500 years ago, the Atlantic Forest covered the entire Brazilian coastline, but is now seriously endangered. However, in the state of Paraná, a vast area of this Forest still survives. This is the largest area of the Atlantic Forest in the world and it is home to a number of different traditional communities; the Caiçaras, the Quilombolas and the indigenous Guaranis.

The ways of life of all three populations are closely tied to the Atlantic Forest. Most of them do not have legal title to the land they occupy or the forests they use. How have these communities traditionally coexisted with the Atlantic Forest?

Fifty years ago, ranchers began moving into the area, clearing the forest and taking over the land to raise water buffalos. In the 1990s, projects arrived, including REDD+, that form part of the so-called Green Economy. What has been their experience with this kind of projects?

In 2003, with the help of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), the community of Rio Pequeno occupied a ranch. What happens when communities organize and regain control over their land?

In 2012, the WRM visited a number of traditional communities in the area searching their answers to these questions. The result is this video, now available in four languages. We invite you to watch it, share it and/or use it in your work with communities also facing the dispute of their territories with REDD and “green economy” projects in general.

Movie: Stop the crop! For a sustainable, GMO-free future

Europe is faced with a new wave of GM-crops that could drastically change the way we produce food in Europe – including extensive pesticide spraying. These GM-crops are unnecessary, risky and profit large multinational companies at the expense of small scale and sustainable farming.

This 9-minute film presents some of the dangers of GM-crops, and calls for people across Europe and beyond to take action to stop them. We need a future of food and farming that benefits people and planet, and not the pockets of big business. We need to stop GM-crops from spreading across Europe.

Watch it here: http://www.stopthecrop.org

‘Pedal Contra Pre-Sal’ video in portuguese

In the South-East state of Espirito Santo Brazil off-shore pre-salt petroleum was discovered deep under the Earth’s crust in 2006. The subsequent oil exploration and extraction has had numerous impacts on the marine environment and the people who live there. Espirito Santo is a state which has already felt severe impacts from land extraction. It is a major producer of steel, marble, granite, cellulose, papaya, coffee and the second largest petroleum export region in Brazil. It holds the largest port complex in South America with plans to invest $100 billion RS from public and private funds into the ports. Two more large ports are slated for construction including the much contested Jurong port. Local communities and activists continue to resist various aspects of the petroleum impacts on land and shore. In January 2014 a group of 20 activists set out to learn more, build solidarity, and share the impacts between affected communities – by bicycle.

See the blog for more information.
http://pedalcontrapresal.blogspot.com.br/

Corridors of Resistance: Stopping oil and gas pipelines

 

The Unist’ot’en camp in North-Western British Colombia, Canada, is front and centre in a global battle for climate and energy justice.

Since 2011 they have been maintaining a check-point controlling access through their territory to stop government and industry plans to build several gas and oil pipelines through their territory. These pipelines form part of an energy corridor that will serve to unlock the vast energy reserves of the tar sands and transport fracked gas with disastrous implications for the climate. The camp was established to oppose these projects, to defend the sacred headwaters, the salmon that spawn there and to maintain their autonomy over their unceded lands.

This video, filmed at the camp in 2013, reveals how the Unist’ot’en camp is succeeding in stopping up to 7 pipelines, holding up billions in investment and keeping millions of barrels (and cubic metres) of fossil fuels under the ground. It also show how the camp, beyond being a simple movement of resistance is creating a new intentional community, informed by a millennia old relationship with the territory and natural law, but through a constant process of re-iminagination.

As of Fall 2015, the camp continues on high alert amidst multiple incursions from the companies trying to build the pipelines. Yet while under attack, the camp enjoys wide support and solidarity. As this video highlights, the Unist’ot’en form part of a networked “corridor or resistance” of numerous justice movements who are increasingly willing to take action to oppose extreme energy projects and who are building energy sovereignty from the ground up.

Welcome to the gateway of meaningful decolonization

Corridors of Resistance is an EJOLT Video directed by Leah Temper, edited by Siobhan McKeon and Claudia Medina with camera by Fiona Becker and Leah Temper.

It accompanies a report on Climate Justice: Refocusing resistance for climate justice. COPing in, COPing out and beyond Paris

Including an article on the camp with the title: Decolonising and decarbonising: How the Unist’ot’en are arresting pipelines and asserting autonomy (Leah Temper and Sam Bliss)

Download the report and chapter here: http://www.ejolt.org/2015/09/refocusi…