Indigenous leaders were not consulted about US$180 million LEAF Coalition REDD deal in Pará. “We are being sold like goods”

Open letter to Governor of Pará criticises the failure to carry out a process of free, prior and informed consent.

PHOTO Credit: SEMAS.

On 24 September 2024, during Climate Week in New York, Helder Barbalho, Governor of Pará state in Brazil announced a new US$180 million REDD deal. The deal was set up through the LEAF Coalition, which consists of corporations including Amazon, Bayer, BCG, H&M, and Walmart Foundation, along with the governments of Norway, US, UK, and South Korea.

REDD-Monitor wrote about this deal on 7 October 2024. I noted that in the press releases about the deal, there was no specific mention of a process of free, prior and informed consent with the Indigenous peoples of Pará.

Emergent, the company that coordinates the LEAF Coalition, put out a seven-page press release that included comments from seven companies, two governments, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative, Environmental Defense Fund, and Barbalho, the governor of Pará.

But the voice of only one Indigenous person was included: Concita Sompré of the Federation of Indigenous Peoples in Pará.

In the press statement, Barbalho says that,

“Our jurisdictional REDD+ system is based on a robust model, anchored in strong social participation. Our population, including Indigenous Peoples, Quilombolas, Traditional Communities and Family Farmers, is not only heard but works together and shares the benefits.”

No consultation

On 8 October 2024, 38 Indigenous and community organisations signed an open letter to Barbalho criticising his failure to consult them. The letter is posted in full, below.

The letter points out that the signing of the deal in New York “represents a clear violation of the right of Traditional Peoples and Communities to Free, Prior and Informed Consent”.

The main author of the letter is 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Alessandra Korap Munduruku. She is the coordinator of the Pariri Indigenous Association, which represents 15,000 Munduruku Indigenous people in southwest Pará. She criticised the deal on Instagram the day after it was signed.

“I was shocked to hear a contract had been signed with international companies. I have not seen this contract. I do not know its terms,” she told Mongabay. “I fear our people will lose autonomy over our land because we’ll have to consult companies and the government before engaging in practices we have maintained for generations.”

“Our leaders were never consulted on the carbon credits,” she told Reuters. “We are being sold like goods.”

Here is a translation of the open letter to Governor Barbalho (the original, in Portuguese, is available here):

LETTER OF TRADITIONAL PEOPLES AND COMMUNITIES AND PARTNERS AGAINST DISRESPECT FOR THE RIGHT TO FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT BY THE STATE OF PARÁ

Amid historic droughts and smoke that has covered the skies of the Amazon and Brazil, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, signed a carbon credit financing agreement with the LEAF Coalition, worth almost R$1 billion, allegedly involving the participation of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. The LEAF Coalition is made up of large companies such as Amazon, Bayer and Nestlé, companies historically linked to practices that violate human and socio-environmental rights, as well as governments of countries in the global North, such as Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Korea, which have done little or nothing to mitigate the effects of climate change and are trying to outsource this responsibility to the peoples of the forest. The signing of the agreement took place during Climate Week in New York, on September 24, and represents a clear violation of the right of Traditional Peoples and Communities to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent is an international right that ensures that Indigenous peoples and traditional communities are consulted independently and without coercion before the implementation of projects that may impact them. This consultation must include the provision of clear and accessible information, allowing communities to understand the implications of decisions. This process is essential to respect the self-determination and rights of these peoples, promoting fair dialogue with authorities and companies. However, the agreement signed by the government of the state of Pará did not respect these principles.

The demand for the demarcation of Indigenous lands, the titling of quilombola lands and land regularization are priority struggles on the agenda of forest defenders. These actions are essential to guarantee the sovereignty and continuity of traditional ways of life, which play a crucial role in tackling the climate crisis. These rights should not be conditioned by any obligation on the part of the people, as they are legitimate and non-negotiable. The causes of the struggle in defense of the environment, whether physical, cultural or spiritual, cannot be treated as bargaining chips for the commercialization of carbon credits.

At this time, when the consequences of the climate crisis are directly impacting our territories, it is urgent to advance in concrete struggles in defense of Traditional Peoples and Communities, as well as all living beings that form the community that sustains our Mother Earth. It is unacceptable that the Government of the State of Pará makes decisions without consulting traditional communities, who are the greatest protectors of the forests and, yet, the most affected by the lack of effective climate adaptation policies.

The answers to these crises lie in the territories. Forest peoples need to be heard and consulted. Our territories are not for sale!

Pará, October 8, 2024.

The letter is signed by:

1. Aliança Contra Ferrogrão
2. Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras (AMB)
3. Associação das comunidades de Montanha e Mangabal
4. Associação de Mulheres Indígenas Wakoborũn
5. Associação de Mulheres Trabalhadoras Rurais de Santarém (AMTR)
6. Associação Indígena Da'uk do Alto Tapajós
7. Associação Indígena També do Vale do Acará
8. Associação indígena Pariri
9. Cáritas Brasileira Articulação Noroeste
10. Coletivo de Mulheres Indígenas as Karuana
11. Coletivo Jovens Tapajônicos
12. Coletivo Maparajuba
13. Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT)
14. Comitê de Defesa da Vida Amazônica na bacia do Rio Madeira (COMVIDA)
15. Conselho indígena de gestão Ka'apor
16. Conselho Indígena Tapajós-Arapiuns – CITA17. Conselho Munduruku do Planalto de Santarém
18. Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI/Santarém)
19. FASE-Amazônia
20. Fórum de Mulheres da Amazônia Paraense
21. Fórum da Amazônia Oriental (FAOR);
22. Grupo Mãe Terra
23. Instituto Madeira Vivo (IMV)
24. Instituto Zé Cláudio e Maria
25. Instituto Patauá
26. Instituto Paiakan
27. Movimento de pescadores e pescadoras artesanais do Brasil (MPP)
28. Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores (MPA)
29. Movimento Munduruku Ipereg Ayu
30. Movimento Tapajós Vivo (MTV)
31. Organização dos educadores indígenas Munduruku (Arikico)
32. Organização dos Povos Indígenas Apurinã e Jamamadi de Boca do Acre (OPIAJBAM)
33. Sociedade de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos – SDDH
34. Tapajós de Fato (TDF)
35. Terra de Direitos
36. Associação Nova Vitória-Comunidade Jane Júlia- Município de Pau D’arco/PA
37. Associação dos Produtores e Produtoras Rurais Organizados do PA Escalada do Norte - Município de Rio Maria/PA
38. Associação de Moradores Agricultores Remanescente Quilombola do Alto Acará (AMARQUALTA)