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Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 13:08:14 -0800
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
From: Native Americas Journal <bfw2@cornell.edu>
Subject: Negotiating Kyoto: Indigenous Peoples and the Complex Path to Global Solutions

The following article is provided from Native Americas' special-issue
on "Global Warming, Climate Change and Native Lands," Vol. XVI No.
3&4.  Published by the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University's
American Indian Program, Native Americas Journal keeps you informed
of issues and events that impact indigenous communities throughout
the hemisphere. You can find more information on this topic, as well
as how to subscribe to Native Americas on our website at
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu or
http://www.nativeamericas.net.
------------------------------------------------------------

Negotiating Kyoto: Indigenous Peoples and the Complex Path to Global Solutions
By Melina Selverston/Native Americas Journal
© Copyright 2000

>From Alaska to the Amazon, indigenous people are commenting on the
dramatic changes in their fishing, hunting, and gathering practices
that have been passed on for generations. Communities are
experiencing the impact of changes in their environment, which
scientists have named "global warming." Increasingly, scientists are
concluding that global warming is caused by human activity, in
particular the burning of fossil fuels (coal and petroleum). Plants
and animals survive in specific ecosystems and can suffer
dramatically, even disappear, because of changes in the weather
conditions. Most indigenous communities are linked to specific
ecosystems upon which they rely to continue as a people. According to
a recent report, "Scientists are beginning to document some profound
effects that the changing climate is apparently causing in plant and
animal populations."1

Climate Change and Forests
The most dramatic effects of global warming are seen in the oceans,
which are extremely sensitive to even the slightest temperature
changes. Coastal areas are at risk of being flooded. Latin America's
coral reefs already are showing signs of dying as a result of
slightly warmer oceans, and El Niño-related storms are increasing.
The Caribbean Islands and the Atlantic Coast of the Americas stand to
suffer significantly from the changes in the ocean climate and the
probable floods stemming from global warming.

Forests have a unique relationship to climate change, which is
becoming increasingly relevant in South America because of the
destruction in the Amazon Basin, the largest forest area in the
world. Not only can climate change lead to deforestation, but also
deforestation can exacerbate climate change. The fire that burned out
of control in Brazil last winter is attributed, in part, to the
drought, in turn, linked to global warming. The fire in northern
Brazil burned for many weeks causing irreparable damage to the
rainforest, including the Yanomami, Macuxi, and Wapishana
territories. The fire ate into tropical forest areas that are usually
too humid to burn.2

As the forest burned, it released dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. The environmental group Friends of the Earth
estimated that the Brazil fires released 125 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That is the equivalent of 10
years' emissions from the largest city in Brazil, São Pãolo. Forests
have the ability to store carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases,
which is why they are called "carbon sinks." The stored greenhouse
gases are released into the atmosphere when forests are destroyed,
adding to the global warming effect. Conversely, reforestation can
remove those gasesfrom the atmosphere. Thus, forests are vital to the
natural balance of global climate.

The Amazon rainforest is as large as the continental United States,
and incorporates nine different South American countries (Brazil,
Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and
French Guyana, which actually is a French protectorate). More than
500 different indigenous languages are spoken there. Beyond the
Amazon rainforest there is the huge Atlantic rainforest on the Coast
of Brazil, and important forests in Central America and Mexico.

The Climate Regime
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
was developed by governments in 1992 to address the problem of
climate change. At that time, scientists were still building a case
that global warming was occurring, and that it was largely the result
of human activity. Since then, the evidence has been mounting,
pointing to the human causes of global warming. The UNFCCC went into
effect in 1994 with about 160 countries. The industrialized countries
that are parties to the convention are called Annex I countries. The
Annex I countries are considered to have contributed the most to
global warming, and are wealthier, so the UNFCCC gives them more
responsibility for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Annex I
countries are also expected, within the UNFCCC, to assist the poorer,
less-developed countries that are likely to be most affected by
global warming.

It is estimated that in order to stabilize carbon dioxide at a safe
level it will require a 60 to 80 percent cut in carbon emissions from
current levels. Through negotiations governments are determining
methods to reduce emissions of dangerous gases into the atmosphere.
They also are discussing ways to control the gases that are already
there. Planting trees, one method to absorb greenhouse gases, is
called a carbon sequestration.

Now, through an agreement signed in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the
UNFCCC, governments made a legally binding commitment for
industrialized countries to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Within an established commitment period, 2008 to 2012, those
countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent
below 1990 levels. The objective of the UNFCCC is not simply the
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but actually the
"stabilization of greenhouse gases at a safe level." Therefore the
UNFCCC, in various articles, states that the control of greenhouse
gases through sinks can be used to meet a country's commitment to gas
emissions reduction. In other words, an industrialized country can
"trade" the gases they are saving by financing the protection of a
forest in a developing country for the gases they are producing at
home.

The Clean Development Mechanism
The Kyoto Protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
to provide a system for Annex I countries to assist developing
countries achieve sustainable development and to contribute to the
objectives of the UNFCCC by supporting carbon sinks.

There has been contentious debate about "emissions trading"
throughout the UNFCCC negotiations. Unfortunately, forest-dwelling
indigenous communities, the people who stand to be most directly
affected, have not yet been actively involved in those debates. The
CDM has to support "sustainable development" as described by the host
country. Indigenous people have learned from experience that with
protected areas and parks, if "conservation" takes precedence over
the needs of local communities, it can result in conflict.

A study by the Center for International Environmental Law, based in
Washington, D.C., concludes that "given the right legal and
institutional framework, CDM forest projects could be potent tools in
achieving climate benefits while protecting forests and benefiting
local communities."3 Supporters of this perspective argue that if
there are adequate regulations, the CDM could be an important way for
resources to be transferred from wealthy countries to communities
that can benefit from investment in sustainable development. For
governments of developing countries, the CDM is a mechanism for them
to obtain the financial resources needed to achieve sustainable
development-something they have been calling for since the climate
negotiations began a decade ago.

Critics of the CDM are concerned that it may provide incentives that
contradict environmental objectives. Dr. Ursula Fuentes Hutfilter of
the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health fears that the
"accounting of biological sinks in the Kyoto Protocol could lead to
incentives with negative impacts upon climate protection as well as
biodiversity conservation."4 For example, a government might clear
away valuable wetlands biodiversity to develop a tree plantation for
carbon sequestration. Alternately, forest peoples might be relocated
or otherwise adversely affected to make way for "protected areas."

Other aspects of the debate on emissions trading focus on the
validity of carbon sequestration as a method for climate control.
Article 12 states that "emissions reductions resulting from each
project activity shall be certified by operational entities to be
designated by the Conference of the Parties." Scientists have argued,
however, that there is no practical method to prove that a carbon
sequestration or sustainable development project has contributed to
stabilization of greenhouse gases. In any case, many European
environmental organizations say that emissions trading lets their
industries off the hook. "It is less expensive to support a project
in the developing world than to improve the industry methods," said
Gotelind Alber of the Climate Alliance of Europe.

Participation of Indigenous Peoples
It is important that the UNFCCC include strong language to protect
the rights of indigenous people. It is a powerful and binding
convention in the United Nations hierarchy of treaties, considerably
more important than, for example, the Convention on Biodiversity,
which does contain language concerning indigenous peoples. The CDM,
in particular, will directly affect indigenous and local communities,
so their voices must be included in the discussions to define the
legal framework governing it. At a minimum, issues of "prior and
informed consent" and "benefit sharing," already addressed in the UN
body of international laws, must be clearly defined in the CDM.

It is difficult to consider the long-term effects of international
policies when indigenous people throughout the hemisphere are faced
with the daily struggle to survive. In Latin America most indigenous
people do not have land titles and do not benefit from the basic
rights of citizenship. Yet the policies developed in the climate
negotiations will directly impact indigenous peoples and their homes.
Yaritza Array, an indigenous leader from Venezuela who has studied
the UNFCCC, made an urgent call for indigenous organizations to
educate each other about the UNFCCC, and to demand participation in
the negotiations. "We have to intervene so they take serious measures
against the current model of development-our survival is at stake."5

Notes
1 "Global Warming is Here: The Scientific Evidence," The Atmosphere
Alliance, Olympia, Wash., March 1999.
2 William Schomberg, "Brazil Begins to Count Toll of Amazon Fires."
Reuters, April 2, 1998.
3 "Carbon Conservation: Climate Change, Forests, and the Clean
Development Mechanism," Donald Goldberg, et al., Washington, D.C.,
1998, CIEL and CEDARENA.
4 Dr. Ursula Fuentes Hutfilter, "Sinks in the Kyoto Protocol?An
Overview." Paper presented at the Climate Alliance Congress, the
Netherlands, May 1999.
5 "Consideraciones Sobre el Convenio de Cambio Climatico y el
Protocolo de Kyoto," Yaritza Array, Federacion Indigena de Bolivar,
Venezuela.

------------------------------------------------------------
Melina Selverston is the director of the Coalition for Amazonian
Peoples and Their Environment, based in Washington D.C., and a Ph.D
candidate in Political Science at Columbia University.
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"Nowhere else will you be able to find such powerful-knowledge filled writing."
--Wilma Mankiller, Editorial Board Member of Native Americas Journal

Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
American Indian Program
Cornell University
450 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-2602

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        http://www.aip.cornell.edu

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