Accra Caucus statement on forests and climate change

The Accra Caucus on Forests and Climate Change, a group of civil society and Indigenous Peoples organisations, has released the following statement. The statement sets out 10 principles and an approach to financing that Accra Caucus considers to be crucial for the REDD negotiations and subsequent agreements.

ACCRA CAUCUS ON FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE¹
Civil Society Strategy Meeting
Poznan, Poland
November 30 – December 1, 2008

Accra Caucus Statement for COP 14

Preamble

A diverse group of civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations (the Accra Caucus on Forests and Climate Change) was formed in Accra, Ghana on 18 August 2008, to discuss issues concerning REDD.² A summary of discussions about the main concerns was presented in Accra to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and to a number of Parties. Following the Accra meeting, some members of the same group and new organizations met in Poznan, Poland, to discuss and review the post-Accra REDD issues. The following highlights the Caucus principles and the approach to financing REDD considered crucial for REDD negotiations and subsequent agreements by Parties.

Principles

Parties MUST ensure that the following principles are secured in any REDD process and agreement:

1. Recognize and respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to lands, territories and resources, and their traditional uses of the forest. Implementation of REDD must not lead to displacement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities from their territories and lands.

2. Parties willing to participate in REDD must be required to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework, as well as to sign and ratify other relevant international instruments (ILO³ Convention 169, CBD⁴, Human Rights Convention etc).

3. Indigenous Peoples and local communities should be the primary and direct beneficiaries of financing mechanisms for REDD where their lands, territories and resources are concerned.

4. Parties must agree on minimum standards for benefit-sharing mechanisms.

5. Indigenous Peoples and local communities should benefit from their conservation efforts and revenues from REDD should be equitably shared between and within communities, especially among vulnerable groups and women.

6. Civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities must be involved at all stages of decision-making about REDD, from the design to the implementation. Implementation of REDD, at both national and project levels, should obtain free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples and local communities if using their territories and provide enabling environments for their meaningful participation at all levels.

7. REDD must improve forest governance.

8. Corporations that contribute to deforestation and forest degradation should not benefit from REDD mechanisms. REDD mechanisms must not provide opportunities for big businesses to exploit rainforest nations that participate in REDD schemes.

9. REDD must not be used as a legal excuse for industrialized countries to continue polluting. It must be accompanied by deeper commitments from industrialized countries to reduce their own emissions.

10. Parties must not see forests as a platform for mitigation only, but as a critical factor in the world’s adaptation to climate change.

Financing approach

• The Accra Caucus members believe strongly that offset market-based approaches to financing REDD will not really contribute to the overall reduction of carbon emissions.

• We also believe that a market-based approach will mostly benefit investors, brokers and private corporations, and not indigenous people and forest dependent communities.

• REDD finance must be managed in a transparent and participatory manner by all stakeholders including representatives from local communities, Indigenous Peoples and civil society organizations.

• The Caucus members support the creation of a global fund for forests and climate as a funding mechanism for REDD.

• The funds for REDD initiatives must be administered transparently at the national and local levels by multi-stakeholders bodies and equitably distributed.

The present statement represent the views of the organizations and networks listed below:

1. African Network for a Climate Community (ANCC/WCA), West & Central Africa

2. Papua NGOs Cooperation Forum, Indonesia

3. Asociacion Indidena y Campesina de Agroforesteria Comunitaria (ACICAFOC), Central America

4. Asociacion para el Desarrollo de la Mosquitia (MOPAWI), Honduras

5. Association pour le Développement des Baka (ADEBAKA), Cameroon

6. Centre for Environment and Development (CED), Cameroon

7. Centro Alexander von Humboldt, Nicaragua

8. Civic Response, Ghana

9. Concertación regional para la gestión de riesgo (CRGR), Central America

10. Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), Nepal

11. Vietnam National Working Group on Climate Change (VNNWGCC), Vietnam

12. Forêts et Développement Rural (FODER), Cameroon

13. Indonesian CSO Forum on Climate Change, Indonesia

14. Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia (IPADE), Nicaragua

15. Instituto socioambiental (ISA), Brazil

16. National Forum for Advocacy Nepal (NAFAN), Nepal

17. Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l’Homme (OCDH), Republic of Congo

18. Organisation Concertée des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature (OCEAN), DRC

19. Perkumpulan HuMa Jakarta, Indonesia

20. Sobrevivencia, Paraguay

21. The Papua New Guinea Ecoforestry Forum, Papua New Guinea

22. The River Fondation, Nicaragua

23. The Sustainability Watch Network, Central America

24. Union pour l’Emancipation de la Femme Autochtone (UEFA), DRC

25. Asociacion de Organismos No Gobernomentales de Honduras (ASONOG), Honduras

26. Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (IPAM), Brazil

1. The Accra Caucus on Forest and Climate Change is a group of civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local community organizations and networks, who are concerned with rights, equity and justice in REDD. The Caucus remains open to organizations and groups sharing its fundamental principles as set out in Accra, August 2008.

2. Reducing Emissions form Deforestation and Degradation.

3. International Labor Organization.

4. Convention on BioDiversity.