what on earth 56
DESCRIPTION
Friends of the Earth Scotland's supporters' magazineTRANSCRIPT
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s supporters’ magazine
Issue 56 Spring / Summer 2011
working with Friends of the Earth International.
Photos © Conor Ashleigh
Community leaders and Friends of theEarth International staff present at thePre-Conference on Forests,Biodiversity and Indigenous People inPenang, Malaysia. See p3
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Contents
What on Earth 56
Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) is:
• Scotland’s leading environmental
campaigning organisation
• An independent Scottish charity
with a network of thousands of
supporters and active local groups
across Scotland
• Part of the largest grassroots
environmental network in the world,
uniting over 2 million supporters,
77 national member groups, and
some 5,000 local activist groups –
covering every continent.
Our vision is of a world where everyone
can enjoy a healthy environment and a
fair share of the earth’s resources.
Friends of the Earth Scotland is an
independent Scottish charity SC003442.
What on Earth is published by and
copyrighted to:
Friends of the Earth Scotland5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR
T: 0131 243 2700
W: www.foe-scotland.org.uk
Editor: Davina Shiell
Picture Editor: Per Fischer
Voluntary Assistant Editor: Mark Johnson
Design: www.triggerpress.co.uk
Advertising: Kash Bhattacharya
Tel: 0797 100 3132
Cover Photo: Conor Ashleigh
The views expressed in What on Earth
are not necessarily those of Friends of
the Earth Scotland. FoES accepts no
liability for errors, omissions or incorrect
data in advertisements.
Printed on Revive pure white silk 100%
recycled paper
RE-USE AND SPREAD THE WORD
When you have finished with this
magazine, save it or pass it on to friends,
a doctor’s surgery, school, student union,
library or café. As a last resort recycle it.
2 View from the streetWe say goodbye to Duncan McLaren
who has been our Chief Executive for the
last seven years
3 NewsFriends of the Earth International is 40!
4 Campaign NewsWe’ve been busy with RBS,
environmental justice, biomass and a
host of other stuff.
7 Local Groups and ActivismOur star activist is Christ Scatchard from
Inverness.
8 The poor had no lawyersLand rights in Scotland and abroad,
by Andy Wightman.
10 REDDAll the ins and outs of REDD: reduced
emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation, by Chris Lang.
12 BiofuelsUnsure what biofuels are? You won’t be
after campaign intern Emilia Hanna’s
expert analysis.
14 The road to feed the poorWe talk to La Via Campesina’s Henry
Saragih from Indonesia.
15 Eco-livingHow to install solar panels and
wood-burning stoves at home.
16 Your SupportHow you can get involved in our
community fundraising and outreach
programme.
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Many thanks to those of you that returned supporter surveys to
us from the last What on Earth. Your feedback is invaluable and
helps us to know where we are doing well and where we need to
improve.
We are pleased to hear that a large majority of you really liked
the new look What on Earth. You asked for some more detailed
expert analysis, so this time we have plenty of guest features on
land rights. If you have any suggestions for future features,
please let us know.
A few of you wanted to receive the magazine by email, so we
have added you to our What on Earth email list. I was pleased to
see that many of you re-use the magazine by passing it on to
schools, doctors’ surgeries, friends and libraries.
If you have any more comments and suggestions in future,
please do get in touch. It’s your magazine, and we want to make
it as useful and interesting as possible for you.
With best wishes, Davina Shiell, [email protected]
It’s been a great privilege to serve as
Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth
Scotland for the past seven years.
In that time I’ve seen the organisation
achieve incredible things – culminating in
the passage of world leading climate
change legislation in 2009.
We have mobilised thousands to support
climate justice, to fight poverty and to act
for a greener future. We’ve helped
Scotland resist new nuclear power and
genetically modified crops. We’ve helped
set, and then seen great progress
towards, ambitious targets for increased
recycling and more renewable energy.
But we’ve also experienced constant
struggles to resource the essential work
we do.
We have to constantly resist
misinformation, vested interests,
complacency, and now a political ideology
at Westminster that is undermining the
very foundations of a sustainable society.
So I want to thank each and every one of
you for your continued loyalty, support and
generosity for the cause.
If Scotland is to realise the potential of a
greener future, it will need Friends of the
Earth Scotland more than ever to promote
a just transition. We want a world where
new green technologies bring green jobs,
in which the benefits are shared widely,
and in which people in declining dirty
industries are helped in solidarity - not
abandoned to the whims of the market, or
an ever-stretched voluntary sector under
the vague mantra of a ‘Big Society’.
Devolution has helped Scotland make
some bold steps towards becoming a
sustainable and just society.
But it has also seen some of the worst of
insular decision making and the politics
of fear – in approving yet more
unnecessary road schemes like the M74
and the Forth Replacement Crossing,
and in bowing to the interests of
developers in rejecting third party right of
appeal and real participation in urban
planning.
More devolved powers will bring more
opportunities and more challenges. I
know that Friends of the Earth Scotland
is willing to face them. I’m sure you are
too.
Our supporters are our best advocates.
Please do what you can to help us build
public support for the challenges ahead.
Give what you can. Ask your friends and
colleagues to support us too. Share this
magazine and our email, facebook and
twitter updates widely. Be the change you
want to see!
Our new Chief Executive will be
announced soon.
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View from the Street
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News
Every two years FoEI member groups get together to discuss joint
strategies and campaigns and to vote on the federation’s future
direction at a BGM (Bi-annual General Meeting).
Davina Shiell, Head of Supporter Development and
Communications, attended the BGM in Penang, Malaysia in
October 2010. Davina said:
I arrived in a very hot and steamy Penang and was ferried off to a
small rainforest island with monkeys running around to spend the
first two days at a ‘Pre-conference on Forests, Biodiversity and
Indigenous People.’
Friends of the Earth campaigns to protect the livelihoods of people
within their environment. Over these first two days I met indigenous
and community leaders from across Asia, Latin America and Africa
(pictured on the inside front cover) who are fighting against greedy
corporations, the trade in palm oil, expulsions from their land and
environmental destruction. Listening to the community leaders
speak in their range of languages dressed in their traditional wears,
it was alarming to hear the pattern of repetition that is happening
across the globe. Whether it was a story from Uganda, Guatemala
or Indonesia, they spoke of poor people being displaced from their
land to make way for foreign interests growing crops for
commodities to be used by us in the North.
Moving to a high-rise hotel in Penang for the BGM, I then spent a
long but fascinating week with FoE campaigners from across the
world to agree on FoEI’s
strategy and discuss how to
transform the world in a positive
way. The stories I heard and the
networks and connections I
made in those few days were
invaluable as well as stimulating,
and will help strengthen our links
with the international network
into the future.
To celebrate Friends of the Earth International’s (FoEI) 40th
birthday, we are issuing a special edition of What on Earth about
land rights issues around the world.
Friends of the Earth International was founded in 1971 by four
environmental organisations in France,
Sweden, England and the USA. From its
earliest days FoEI was a key player in
the anti-nuclear movement and became
known for advocating alternative energy
solutions. Groups from Asia, Latin
America and Africa joined the federation in the 1980s when
tropical rainforests and indigenous rights became major issues.
In the mid 1980s Eastern European members joined, which
facilitated campaigning across Europe on acid rain, packaging,
air pollution and biotechnology. Subsequent years saw the
federation taking strong stances against genetically modified
organisms and corporate power, as well as protecting
biodiversity, tackling climate change and reducing waste. A
strong sense of social as well as environmental justice has
always been at the heart of FoEI’s work.
Today FoEI is a federation of 76
independent groups that campaign
internationally, nationally and locally
to protect the environment and
create sustainable societies. A small
secretariat based in Amsterdam provides coordination and
support, and there is also an office in Brussels that brings
together European voices to lobby the EU. Top priorities include
climate change, biodiversity, land rights, consumption and
corporate power.
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Campaign NewsW
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Our Clean Up RBS campaign got off to a healthy start this year
with an oily stunt outside the Treasury in London. On the day that
RBS bosses announced their annual results we handed in 1000
postcards from Scotland demanding that George Osborne takes
action to cure bankers of their addiction to financing the fossil fuel
industry.
RBS’s results showed that the bank is still not making a profit so
our stunt highlighted the unhealthy investments of an unhealthy
bank. Our message to the Chancellor was that for the health of the
planet, the Government must intervene to create a Royal Bank of
Sustainability from the wreckage of the Oil Bank of Scotland.
More recently, groups around the country have been taking part in
the UK Government’s Climate Week initiative. It’s grimly ironic to
discover that one of the key sponsors of this celebration of public
action on climate change is none other than RBS!
We wrote to all the official supporters of Climate Week to point out
the problems with RBS’s involvement given their track record in
financing the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel activities on earth.
It’s heartening to report that as we go to press we have already
had a great response from groups expressing their concern.
WHAT YOU CAN DOIn April we will be making a fuss around the bank’s AGM in
Edinburgh. Visit www.foe-scotland.org.uk/cleanupRBS to
find out how to get involved.
Email the Chancellor, asking him to attend the AGM on
taxpayers’ behalf at www.foe-scotland.org.uk/cyberactions
WHAT YOU CAN DODownload the 'Power of Scotland Renewed' report at
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/power-secured
Our fight to stop the new coal-fired power station at
Hunterston goes on. We’ve been working with the local
campaign group CONCH (Communities Against New Coal
at Hunterston) to gather letters to the local council. A formal
objection from Ayrshire Council could trigger a Public Local
Inquiry.
To prove that Scotland doesn’t need this kind of new fossil
fuel development, we commissioned some research to show
how we could meet all our energy needs from renewables.
The report, called ‘Power of Scotland Secured’ shows that we
can not only meet our own electricity needs from renewables,
but that we can also share our resources with others. We can
build the kind of infrastructure that, even if the wind stops
blowing, the tides stop turning and the waves go still, will give
us access to more than enough energy for our needs.
Our Low Carbon Power campaign is supported by the
European Climate Foundation.
Campaigning in North Ayrshire
Oily stunt outside an RBS branch in London
We’re starting work on Scotland’s fuel poverty problem. We
think it’s unacceptable that people are living in cold homes
in 2011 and we’re determined to force the Government to
deliver genuinely universal programmes to make all
Scottish homes comfortable and energy efficient.
The Robertson Trust and FoE Europe share our concern
and are supporting this work.
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Campaign News
Our Access to Justice campaign calls for changes in the law to
enable campaigners and community groups to fight against
decisions that affect our environment, such as the construction
of power stations, bridges, roads and golf courses.
We handed thousands of signed postcards in support of the
campaign to the Scottish Parliament’s Convenor of the Public
Petitions Committee in the Autumn, and the Committee
considered our petition in early December.
The Scottish Government thinks the system works for
communities and people who want to defend their environment,
but we disagree. The great news is that the Parliament’s
Petitions Committee agreed with us and have asked the
Government to prove why they believe the system works.
We’re piling on the pressure and, hopefully, we’ll change the
system for good!
With many thanks to the Esmee Fairburn Foundation for their
generous support and to our supporters that donated to this
campaign.
Ross FinnieMSP gets togrips with ourcampaign.
Together with our local groups network, we have been
challenging proposals for four big biomass power stations
planned by Forth Energy in Dundee, Grangemouth, Rosyth and
Edinburgh’s Leith. We’ve been out on the streets, working with
local campaigners and lodging formal objections to the plants.
The large scale biomass plants being proposed are billed as
‘renewable energy.’ Biomass is plant matter used to generate
energy from heat. It can include wood, forest residues (dead
branches, tree stumps, wood chips) as well as rubbish.
However, although trees do grow back, this takes time. In the
case of old growth forests it can take hundreds of years. At the
moment Forth Energy plans to import the majority of the wood
from overseas, contributing to deforestation and increasing
pollution from shipping. There are also concerns about human
rights violations relating to sourcing wood from certain countries.
We believe that the scale of these four plants, in a context of a
boom in biomass across Europe and North America, may
contribute to severe pressure on forests, and the people who rely
on them. Proposals for new logging and plantations to feed
European demand are emerging all over the developing world: in
countries like Indonesia, Guyana and Liberia. We need to look at
the big picture – and not use more than our fair share of the world’s
wood to feed energy demands. As our new ‘Power of Scotland
Secured’ Report shows (see page 4), there are alternatives.
With many thanks to our suporters that donated to our biomass
appeal.
‘It is clear that there is a strong case to answer and that
the Government has very little to lose and much to gain
in taking up the matter.’
Robin Harper MSP talking about our Access to Justice
campaign.
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As part of our work with Friends of the Earth Europe sharing the
success of our Big Ask Scotland campaign, we went to Finland to
talk to the FoE group there about the Scottish climate law. We
took part in an activists’ training weekend where we made
presentations about the Scottish Climate Change Act as well as
the campaign we ran to help secure it. The Finnish activists’
feedback on the Scottish input was very positive: they really
appreciated having a concrete example of a successful campaign.
As well as speaking to the activists we met politicians from the
Greens and the Left Alliance. Despite FoE Finland / Maan
Ystavat’s excellent campaign so far, there are a number of
political and practical difficulties that make a climate law difficult or
unlikely. Finland is a big manufacturing exporter, being dubbed the
‘China of Europe’. Given that the Finnish economy is structured
on exports, there are strong economic pressures against a climate
law. Politically, the centre-right party is increasingly popular and it
is widely expected it will be in Government following elections in
April. Overall the probability of a good climate law outcome from
the April election is low.
Reflecting on this, we have to admit to some extent we were lucky
in Scotland. All the parties in the Scottish Parliament supported a
climate law. In addition, the arithmetic of the Parliament gave us
the opportunity to work with opposition parties in pushing the
minority Government further than it might otherwise have gone.
But that doesn’t mean we are ceasing to push for more, and as a
new Government takes shape we will be seeking to ensure they
prioritise tackling climate change.
By Gail Wilson, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland Co-ordinator
The Scottish elections on 5 May present a major opportunity to
ensure that climate change doesn’t fall off the political agenda.
While political parties will understandably focus their election
campaigns on the economy, jobs and cuts to the public sector,
we know that these issues are linked to our response to climate
change, so this needs to remain a priority.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland came together to campaign for
what is now the world’s strongest climate law: the Scottish
Climate Change Act. Every political party voted the Act through
the Scottish Parliament, demonstrating cross-party commitment
to addressing climate change.
But we know legislation on its own isn’t enough. Whichever party
or parties hold political power in Scotland after May, they will
have a responsibility to show strong leadership and action to
enable Scotland to play its part in tackling global warming.
Trying to come up with a manifesto that reflects the diversity of
our coalition – from development and environmental
organisations, to trade and student unions, community and faith
groups – was no easy task. But together we identified ten key
areas where we knew Scotland would need to act.
We have some exciting plans for the next few months, giving
people in Scotland a chance to talk directly to their future
politicians. We’re organising Climate Cafés across the country,
where local people will talk face to face – speed-dating style –
with their parliamentary candidates about the climate change
issues that concern them.
On Wednesday 13 April, which we’re dubbing ‘Climate Day’, we’ll
host a live online political debate where the parties will face
questions on climate change from a ‘virtual’ audience. You can
be part of this virtual audience by logging on and watching the
event live from your computer and posting questions and
comments online.
Campaign News
WHAT YOU CAN DOFind out more about Climate Cafés and Climate Day at
www.stopclimatechaos.org/scottish-elections
Read the manifesto at www.stopclimatechaos.org/sccs-
manifesto.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland can also be contacted on
0131 317 4112.
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FoE Scotland staff with Finnish campaigners
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Local groups and Activism
Campaigners in Tayside have objected to a new biomass power plant in Dundee, one
of the four large-scale biomass power stations planned for Scottish ports. The
application from Forth Energy was lodged at the end of 2010, and FoE Tayside
responded with a well researched objection.
Kimberly Ellis, a member of the group, describes the campaign: “The main arguments
people make locally against the biomass “renewable” energy plant are about its visual
impact and effects on local air quality. But there are broader issues: the social and
environmental impact of logging and monoculture in other countries, not to mention the
overall CO2 emissions when you take changes in land use into account. It’s about time
we develop a sense of global solidarity with people in so called ‘developing’ countries.”
She goes on to explain the latest developments: “Members of the opposition at the
council suggested recommending that the Scottish Parliament starts a public inquiry
into the proposal. This would have given us more time to demonstrate to politicians
what a bad idea Forth Energy’s proposal is in terms of ecological and economic
sustainability. However, this was voted down by councillors in the main party.”
The group has had good communications with their MSP, Shona Robison, who has
said that the Scottish Government is looking at its biomass policy.
WHAT YOU CAN DOGet involved in your local group! We have groups in Aberdeen, Dumfries,
Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Inverness and Ross, Moray, Stirling and Tayside.
Contact details and meeting times are at www.foe-scotland.org.uk/localgroups or
call Hannah Kitchen on 0131 243 2700.
Chris is a member of the Inverness
group, and has a real passion for
sharing his love for the environment
with other people. He is incredibly
generous with his time, and loves
finding ways of helping new people
get involved in campaigning.
He decided he wanted to raise
awareness about climate change,
and bring local community and
environmental groups together. So
he came up with the idea of holding
a Climate Quiz.
Chris wrote to all sorts of different
charities asking them to provide
questions and a prize for the quiz.
He invited groups from all over the
area to enter a team, and promoted
the event far and wide.
The event was a huge success,
which brought together all sorts of
people to stretch their brains on
some surprising environmental facts.
He’s even put the questions on a CD
so that groups can hold the quiz in
other areas.
Chris continues to campaign with the
Inverness group and is a real asset
to the environmental movement.
Thanks Chris!
Volunteers moved into Falkirk Mall to
present a creative alternative to the
usual consumer driven Christmas. The
group demonstrated craft ideas,
emphasising reusing resources and
fostering learning with others. The group would like to thank Jessica Paterson for
her work organising the event.
Leith protesters against biomass outside the Scottish Parliament
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Feature: Land rightsW
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In December I visited Israel and
Palestine as part of a fact-finding
delegation investigating the activities
of the Jewish National Fund. In
particular, we were interested in the
role that the Fund has played in the
expropriation of land from the million
or so Palestinians who were expelled
from their homes and whose villages
were destroyed in the ethnic
cleansing of 1948. These people and their families are now
scattered all over the world, with 4.7 million living today in
refugee camps in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon pending
a solution to their plight.
Land issues are central to the conflict in Palestine and range
from sovereignty and colonialism in the West Bank to the right of
return and expropriation of property in East Jerusalem. Whilst
this particular conflict is among the most critical anywhere in the
world, it is by no means unique and disputes over land are
frequent, ubiquitous and of long standing.
Whilst few conflicts come close to the intensity of the Palestinian
question, the fundamental elements of the dispute over land are
common all over the world. In short, the powerful suppress the
weak, and economic and legal instruments are deployed to
legitimise and sanction colonisation and theft of land. In
Palestine this was achieved initially through the Absentees’
Property Law 1950, which expropriated the land of those who
had been expelled on the grounds that they were now
absentees.
In Scotland, the same process took place over many centuries
as the indigenous land codes were eliminated by feudalism and
then the commons were steadily appropriated and privatised
through a process of legalised theft. Any attempt to sort out land
rights must be based on a clear understanding of how the legal
regime emerged.
Land reform in Scotland emerged as a mainstream topic of
public debate in 1997. However, rather than becoming central to
debates about economic and social policy, it has remained
associated with rural Scotland and with the north and west in
particular. But land rights affects us all. How secure are you in
your own home? What happens if you are a tenant and your
landlord defaults on their mortgage? What rights do you have as
a citizen to take action to defend common good land in your
town? And how can unscrupulous individuals be prevented from
grabbing land?
Land reform is about why common land in the heart of
Edinburgh has been let for a penny a year to a commercial
property company who, if the Leasehold Reform Bill proposed
by the SNP Government goes through, will get outright
ownership. It is about why, in this day and age, children still have
no legal rights to inherit land. It is about why at a time of
austerity and proposed caps on public benefits of £26,000 per
family, it seems to be quite all right to hand out millions in
agricultural subsidies to some of the richest families in the
country. It’s about a housing bubble built on cheap credit that
has denied young people a place to live, and it is about how
property speculators can pocket millions of pounds in rising land
values on the back of publicly funded infrastructure.
A few years ago I bought some land. Not a lot, just a little bit. It
cost me £12.95 and is located at Area F-4, Quadrant Charlie on
the light side of the moon. I will probably never visit though I did
see it the other night – it’s in the Oceanus Procellarum. The
deeds for the property are detailed and they appear to be, in
every sense, legitimate and proper. My problem, of course is
that were I to try and defend my property rights I would have
difficulty doing so since there is no legal jurisdiction for lunar
property. At the end of the day I simply have a few bits of
worthless paper.
By way of contrast, a few months ago I uncovered the title deeds
of a 400-acre parcel of common land in Scotland and was
intrigued to find out that in 1986 it had been split up among the
three landowners whose land bounded it irrespective of the fact
By Andy Wightman
Settlements in the West Bank and, in foreground, a destroyed Palestinian village
that many more people potentially had an interest in it. Not only
that, but these landowners only had rights of use in the
commonty and no rights of property. Even the Keeper of the
Registers of Scotland made a note in the Register of Sasines
‘agent aware granters apparently only have title to rights in
pasturage.’ In other words, the conveyancing solicitor (who shall
remain nameless for the moment) knew that the farmers had no
property rights in the common but still drafted and submitted the
deed for recording.
Nevertheless, they grabbed it and despite all the blatant defects,
this deed (unlike my moon deed) actually enjoys the full
protection of the Scots law of property.
Call me naive but is this not what would, in any other
circumstances, count as theft? If I walked away with a suitcase
full of cash that was lying around and appeared to belong to no
one, could I claim it as mine? If it was stolen property, surely I
would be guilty of reset? If it was legitimately owned by others,
then I am a simple thief. But land is different. Why?
Because land is power, and how such power is derived, defined,
distributed and exercised affects numerous aspects of how we
live our lives. It is at the root of growing inequality in Britain and
at the heart of the housing crisis.
In 1872, Cosmo Innes,
the famous antiquarian,
advocate and law
professor observed that
‘the poor had no lawyers’. Not only did the poor have no lawyers
but they spoke no Latin either and were not in the habit of
travelling to Edinburgh on a regular basis to examine the title
deeds of the nobility.
Today we are better informed and should be doing more to
uphold community land rights and provide a check on the
abuses of power that the legal system has tolerated for too long.
That goes for Palestine too.
Andy Wightman is a writer and researcher on land rights. His
latest book, The Poor Had No Lawyers is published by Birlinn.
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Feature: Land rights
WHAT YOU CAN DOTo hear Andy Wightman speak about land rights, come
along to our post AGM conference on land rights on
Saturday 28 May in Edinburgh. Register at
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/AGM-landrights and see inside
back cover for details.
Waverley Market –dispute about commongood status
Alyth Hill – a common inPerthshire that has been‘stolen’
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Feature: Land rightsW
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REDD, or Reduced Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation, is
one of the most controversial issues in the
climate change debate. The basic
concept is simple: governments,
companies or forest owners in the South
should be rewarded for keeping their
forests instead of cutting them down. The
devil, as always, is in the details.
Monoculture plantationsThe first detail is that the payments are
not for keeping forests, but for reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation. This opens up the possibility,
for example, of logging an area of forest
but compensating for the emissions by
planting industrial tree plantations
somewhere else.
The idea of REDD was already discussed
in the negotiations leading to the Kyoto
Protocol, but was rejected because of
serious difficulties in guaranteeing that
payments would fund things that wouldn’t
have happened anyway, and that the
process wouldn’t simply result in
protecting one area but displacing
deforestation to somewhere else. It would
also be very difficult to measure the
avoided emissions and the carbon stored
reliably, and it would only create a
temporary store of carbon.
These problems remain major set backs
in implementing REDD, both nationally
and at project level.
REDD discussions in CancunREDD developed from a proposal in 2005
by a group of countries led by Papua New
Guinea calling themselves the Coalition
for Rainforest Nations. In December
2010, REDD formed part of the Cancun
Agreements.
Since the UN climate conference in Bali in
2007, conservation, ‘sustainable
management’ of forests and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks
have been added to the actions to be
supported: making REDD into ‘REDD
plus’. But these “plus points” bring more
potential drawbacks.
Conservation sounds good, but the
history of the establishment of national
parks includes large scale evictions and
loss of rights for indigenous peoples and
local communities.
Sustainable management is vague and
could include subsidies to industrial-scale
commercial logging operations in old-
growth forests or indigenous peoples’
territory.
Enhancement of carbon stocks could
result in conversion of land (potentially
including forests) to industrial tree
plantations.
There are some safeguards annexed to
the text but they are weak. For example
the text only notes that the United Nations
‘has adopted’ the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The text
refers to indigenous peoples' rights, but it
does not protect them.
Funding REDDBut perhaps the most controversial aspect
of REDD is omitted from the text agreed
in Cancun. There is no mention of how
REDD is to be funded – that decision is
postponed to the UN climate conference
to be held in Durban this December.
There are two basic mechanisms for
funding REDD: from government funds or
from private sources, which would involve
treating REDD as a carbon ‘offset’, and
allowing polluters to pay to have their
continued emissions offset elsewhere
through a REDD project.
There are many variants and hybrids of
these two basic mechanisms, but any
mechanism that would directly trade the
carbon stored in forests is controversial.
That is because carbon trading does not
itself reduce emissions because for every
carbon credit sold, there is a buyer.
Trading the carbon stored in tropical
forests would allow pollution in rich
countries to continue. Worse, forest
carbon trading could create a new bubble
of carbon derivatives or discourage
investment in more sustainable means of
cutting emissions.
Creating a market in difficult to measure
REDD carbon credits opens the door to
carbon cowboys, or would-be carbon
WALHI/FoE Indonesiademonstration against REDD.
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traders with little or no experience in
forest conservation, who are exploiting
local communities and indigenous
peoples by persuading them to sign away
the rights to the carbon stored in their
forests.
The role of the World Bank in financing
REDD is of particular concern, given its
fondness for carbon trading. The Bank
has already set up the Forest Carbon
Partnership Facility (FCPF) with the
explicit aim of creating markets for forest
carbon.
CorruptionThere is a serious risk of REDD leading
to increased corruption if large sums of
money start to flow – particularly for
unregulated trade in REDD carbon
credits in poorly governed countries.
Forestry departments are among the
most corrupt departments in some of the
most corrupt countries in the world.
Billions of dollars have already been lost
from carbon markets in Europe through
fraud.
Peter Younger at Interpol is already
concerned. He said:
“Alarm bells are ringing. It is simply too
big to monitor … Organised crime
syndicates are eyeing the nascent forest
carbon market... Fraud could include
claiming credits for forests that do not
exist or were not protected or by land
grabs. It starts with bribery or
intimidation of officials, then there’s
threats and violence against those
people. There’s forged documents too.
Carbon trading transcends borders. I do
not see any input from any law
enforcement agency in planning REDD.”
Without monitorable and enforceable
safeguards, and strict controls and
regulation, REDD may deepen the woes
of developing countries. In the same way
that revenues from oil, gold, diamond and
other mineral reserves have fuelled
pervasive corruption and bad governance
in many tropical countries, REDD could
prove to be another ‘resources curse’.
Ultimately, this will make protection of
forests less likely to be achieved and will
do nothing to ameliorate carbon
emissions.
Chris Lang runs the
www.redd-monitor.org website.
‘The end goal is mitigating climate
change, after all, not making
money. Governments have been
tasked with creating low carbon
economies, not new carbon
markets.’
Friends of the Earth International
report ‘REDD: The realities in Blank
and White,’ November 2010.
Ricardo Navarro, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth El Salvador, protests against the exclusion ofrecognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD.
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In June 2010 in Riau, Indonesia, a 45 year-old mothercalled Yusniar was shot dead for protesting aboutthe destruction of her homeland and the exploitationthat she had suffered by corporate palm oil giant PTTBS, who had not paid her salary in months.
Meanwhile, in Paraguay, Silvino Talavera’s family continue the
fight for justice. Silvino, aged 11, died from toxic poisoning after
exposure to herbicides being used on soya fields in his village in
2003.
Although Silvino and Yusniar are from opposite sides of the
globe, their stories are united by one common factor: EU policy
on renewable energy and biofuels.
What are biofuels?Biofuels, which are also known as agrofuels, are made from
biological matter, such as plants. Crops such as maize, soya or
palm oil have sugars and fats which contain high levels of
energy. These sugars and fats can be extracted and distilled into
ethanol or biodiesel. In the transport sector bioethanol and
biodiesel are mixed with petrol and diesel, and in the energy
sector biofuels are used as an electricity source.
The European Union: an insatiable appetite forbiofuelsProduced on a small scale, biofuels can be a green alternative
to fossil fuels – waste vegetable oil, for example, can be
recycled and used again as a fuel.
But the problem is that all EU countries must, by law, increase
their consumption of biofuels massively by 2020. The mandatory
targets have created an insatiable appetite for biofuels, which
cannot be met by local production alone. What’s more,
companies are rewarded for supplying biofuels through
subsidies. The sheer scale of the demand has placed pressure
on land availability, with devastating consequences.
Fuelling deforestationIn response to the demand, large-scale monoculture plantations
in tropical regions of the world have proliferated. Communities in
South America and Southeast Asia have seen the rapid
depletion of their forests.
Jefri Gideon Saragih of Sawit Watch, an Indonesian Human
Rights NGO, told us that ‘400,000 hectares of Indonesia’s land
and forests are being converted every year to meet the
international demand for biofuels. I urge Europe to please
decrease its demand for palm oil.’ The United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that 98 per cent of
Indonesia’s primary rainforest will be destroyed by 2022 as a
result of palm oil plantations.
On the other side of the world, Paraguay is now the world’s
fourth largest soya exporter; the EU is the main importer. Marco
Castillas, Paraguayan land rights expert, reports that the
landscape is now covered in soya fields where there once stood
forests.
Does EU biofuels policy protect againstdeforestation?Not properly. The EU law now says that biofuel plantations are no
longer to be grown on land which has been deforested for the
purpose. Firstly, however, this rule is hard to monitor, and in
many instances the deforestation carries on unabated. Secondly,
even if biofuels companies do not grow directly on forests, they
are displacing farmers and rural communities, forcing them to
retreat into and destroy the forests. This phenomenon is called
By Emilia Hanna
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Feature: Land rights
‘indirect land use change’ and because the policy does not
account for it properly, the deforestation continues.
Exacerbating rights abusesThe examples of Yusniar in Indonesia and Silvino from
Paraguay are not isolated.
In Indonesia land conflicts have quadrupled to over 660 cases in
the last six years. Sawit Watch has reported cases of people
resisting companies entering their lands getting bulldozed off.
Once the land is taken over by the palm oil company, there is
little that can be done to retrieve it.
In Paraguay forced displacement of indigenous people is
currently the order of the day, according to the International
Work Group on Indigenous Affairs. The spraying that Silvino
Talavera received is a regular tactic used by soya cultivators to
force people off land. This resulted in the hospitalisation of over
200 people from the Itakyri indigenous community in 2009, and
has been linked to chronic long-term syndromes resulting in
death, spontaneous abortions and babies being born with birth
defects. Marco Castillas says that ‘The consumption model in
Europe is directly linked to the wellbeing of the Paraguayan
landless farmers. If consumers don’t change their consumption
patterns, chaos will prevail in Paraguay.’
Does the policy protect against human rightsabuses?No. The EU law simply requires the European Commission to
publish a report on human rights issues associated with biofuels
by 2012. It seems that a report, to be published in over a year
from now, will be cold comfort for communities such as those in
Paraguay and Indonesia who are suffering the effects of biofuels
policy now.
Are we using biofuels in Scotland?Yes. Across the UK and in Scotland we are currently mixing 3.3
per cent biofuels with transport fuel. This will increase to 4.1 per
cent next year. Although this doesn’t seem like much, biofuels
used in the UK and Scotland in 2009/2010 came from 31
different countries, taking up 1.4 million hectares of land– an
area about half the size of Belgium, or 2 million football pitches!
Three-quarters of biofuels used came from overseas.
In terms of electricity generation, Scotland does not currently
have power plants run from biofuels. Plans for a biofuel plant at
Grangemouth by energy company INEOS, which we opposed,
were shelved in 2008. However, there are plans for four new
power plants to be run from biomass, a solid form of biofuels,
which we are also opposed to due to sustainability concerns.
You can find out more about biomass in Scotland on page 5.
Emilia Hanna is a campaigns intern at FoES and wrote a
Masters dissertation on biofuels.
WHAT YOU CAN DO• Friends of the Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland
(EWNI) are running an e-petition to express solidarity
with Silvino Talavera, the young Paraguayan boy killed
from exposure to toxic chemicals.
http://tinyurl.com/6aacgpt
• Attend our post AGM conference on land rights on
28 May in Edinburgh to hear more from FoE EWNI’s
biofuels campaigner, Kenneth Richter. Register today at
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/AGM-landrights
• To find out more about biofuels and how you can get
involved in campaigning, visit www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/
Biofuels plantations in Paraguay © MARCO CASTILLAS
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Henry Saragih from La Via Campesina spoke to ourCommunications Officer, Per Fischer. Henry is thechairperson of the Indonesian Peasant’s Union and hasbeen the International Co-ordinator of the grassrootsmass movement La Via Campesina since 2004.
What on Earth: Could you introduce us to La Via
Campesina?
Henry Saragiah: La Via Campesina represents small farmers,
agricultural workers and indigenous people. The organisation
was created in 1993 in Belgium as the response to neo-liberal
global policies affecting farmers. Since the beginning we’ve
been responding to neo-liberal policies which are destroying the
lives of people in rural areas. We are working against the
agreements and policies of the World Trade Organisation,
against IMF policy, and against the rule of trans-national
corporations. And we defend food sovereignty, a concept that we
created in 1996.
WOE: Do you think the organisation is still relevant in the
21st century?
HS: Yes, because, as you know, people have more serious
problems than in the last century, like hunger in the world, which
is now increasing to reach 1 billion. Back in 1996 all the
government leaders said at the World Food Summit that they
would reduce world hunger to 125 million by 2015. Now, in the
21st century, the number of starving people is close to 1 billion.
La Via Campesina is relevant in the struggle to solve this
problem. The majority of people hit by hunger live in rural areas
and the number of people living in poverty is increasing.
Climate change is the real problem for people around the
world, and according to the IPCC 50% of greenhouse gases
are from industrial agriculture.
WOE: Is climate the most important of these issues?
HS: I would say that climate change is a consequence of the
world’s economic model, the model of industrial development.
The corporate food production system has failed to feed the
people of the world, because of its relations to the economic
model, while making the climate crisis worse.
WOE: So it’s possible to feed the planet in the future?
HS: Yes, the Earth is can feed us. The problem is that the
current economic model makes it impossible for each country to
feed its own people. For example, Japan is able to feed all its
people, but Japan’s farmers cannot compete with the products
from other countries. Their rice farmers cannot compete with the
rice from Thailand, so Japan has become one of the biggest rice
importers in the world. 70% off all food in South Korea and
Japan is imported form other countries. The exporters of all this
food, whether it’s Indonesia, the Middle-East or Europe, are
expanding their food production with big plantations, leading to
massive land-grabbing. Food is not only produced to feed
people, but also to feed animals in industrial animal production
and to produce agro-fuels. We must change this economic
model.
La Via Campesina works both on the policy level and on a
practical level. We have proposed a peasants’ rights charter, to
give all small farmers and people living in rural areas rights
within the UN system. I have worked for this for 10 years on an
international level.
WOE: How far away are we from having a peasants’ rights
charter?
HS: With the food crisis and poverty of people in rural areas, I
think we are looking at progress, and hope to have the
declaration within a year.
La Via Campesina is a strategic ally of Friends of the Earth
International.
HenrySaragih hasbeencampaigningfor farmers'rights since1996.
Interview
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Eco-Living
By Bing San
Solar power provides renewable and clean energy that can be
used in our homes. There are two different types – solar
thermals heat water and are very effective, providing enough hot
water for a whole family. Photovoltaics convert solar power into
electricity and are currently less efficient.
To install solar panels onto your home, you need to work out its
orientation. The direction of your solar panels and the pitch they
will be angled at are important in maximising the amount of
energy they can capture. The optimum orientation for your solar
panels is south-facing, at an angle determined by the latitude of
your location. Your solar panel supplier will advise you of the
size needed, which will be determined by the amount of hot
water or electricity required.
When installing any kind of renewable system in your home,
decreasing energy consumption is important, as a renewable
system should be part of a greener lifestyle. Ways to reduce
water consumption include showering more and bathing less,
using dual-flush toilets and reducing dishwasher use.
For a solar hot water system, a back-up supply is required if the
heat collected from the sun is not sufficient to provide enough
hot water. The back-up supply will provide hot water on overcast
days or heat up the water when it cannot reach the required
temperature. This still saves energy, since the temperature
difference between the initial and final temperatures is lower.
There are ways to create your own solar panels in a green way
by reusing old materials. Solar panels can be made up of pipes
in an encased glass box or old radiators.
We recommend that you seek professional advice when
installing solar panels.
By Chris Burton
We had our Morso Squirrel wood burning stove installed last
August, and despite one of the coldest winters on record, we
enjoyed a very cosy winter season.
It’s something we had been meaning to do since we moved into
our flat about five years ago, but had been put off a little by
price, inconvenience of fitting and space loss. True enough, it’s
not cheap and cost about £2,500 for the stove including fitting
(which took a couple of days), but we are now kicking ourselves
for not having it done earlier.
For other city dwellers like ourselves, you’ll need one of the
smoke exempt (SE) models, which are more expensive, and
although some models can only burn wood, the Squirrel can
burn both wood and coal.
I guess it must be the ‘hunter-gatherer’ instinct in me, but I have
really enjoyed the practical aspects of collecting wood, cutting it
to size, making kindling and getting the fire going. I’ve also
created a couple of woodsheds where the free wood that I have
collected over autumn is seasoning in time for next winter.
Buying bulk bags of wood keeps fuel costs down.
The stove itself is really quite small and sits in the corner of the
living room, creating a really nice focus. Once alight, which takes
a matter of minutes with the use of firelighters, the room is toasty
warm within about 20 minutes and keeps the living room and the
rest of the flat warm with minimal maintenance for the rest of the
evening.
It is advisable that you check regulations about wood burning
stoves in your area with your local authority.
The Morso Squirrel multifuel stove.
In a new venture we are holding a series of craft fairs – the
first one was in March at Augustine United Church in
Edinburgh where we had some beautiful crafts on sale. If you
missed this one, don’t worry – we will be at the Eric Liddell
Centre on 30 July & 12 November from 10.30am to 3pm.
Entry is free and there will be home baking, tea and coffee on
sale. Please come along and join us!
We are once again a charity
partner for the Edinburgh
Half Marathon, and this
month will see our dedicated
supporters running the 13.1
miles across Edinburgh for
us. If you would like to take
part next year, please drop
us an email at
fundraising@foe-
scotland.org.uk and register
your interest.
We will be a part of Scotland’s biggest cycle ride this year –
sign up now to take part in the 51 mile ride from Glasgow to
Edinburgh, or the 100 Sportive ride, which takes in the
Southern Uplands. To find out more and sign up go to
www.pedalforscotland.org and choose Friends of the Earth
Scotland as your chosen charity.
Our team of volunteers will be heading out to festivals and
events across Scotland this summer. Spreading the word
about what we do is vital to our organisation, and the more
volunteers we have the more events we can attend. If you
would like to be a part of our team, please get in touch! You
can find out more at www.foe-scotland.org.uk/outreach.
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2010 was an exciting year at Friends of the Earth Scotland,
with a new fundraising and outreach programme. Our
fantastic supporters ran, strutted on the catwalk and ate
delicious food, all in the name of fundraising. Our team of
outreach volunteers attended festivals across Scotland,
including EcoFusion, T in the Park and The Big Tent to
engage the public with our campaigns.
2011 started off with a very successful Valetine’s Ceilidh –
thank you to the Ceilidh Collective for their ongoing support.
We’ve also just had a swish (clothes swap) at the Voodoo
Rooms in Edinburgh, with one in Glasgow planned for later in
the year.
We have lots more activities so please do support us and get
involved!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You can also organise your own fundraising activities
with your friends, place of work or school.
Find out more at www.foe-scotland.org.uk/fundraising or
call Zoe Furnivall on 0131 243 2700.
Bike Ride & Fashion show
John Fellows completes the half marathon in 2010
FA
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With our jewellery recycling scheme you can recycle
any type of unwanted jewellery – it doesn't have to
be gold, silver and precious stones – we accept
costume jewellery, watches, and broken items. Place
your unwanted jewellery in the FREEPOST jewellery
recycling envelope enclosed, or visit our website to
find out more:
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/jewelleryrecycling
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Saturday 28 MayOut of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street,Edinburgh EH6 8RG10.30–14.00 Annual General Meeting for FoES
members (free lunch included)14.00–17.00 Public conference on land rights
Ou AGM is your opportunity to find out moreabout the organisation, have your say in therunning of the organisation and to stand forelection to our Board.
Speakers for our conference on land rights are: • Andy Wightman, Scotland's leading land rights expert (see his article on p8-9)
• Kenny Richter, Biofuels Campaigner, Friendsof the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Benny Wanda, West Papuan independence leader
Register today at www.foe-scotland.org.uk/agm-
landrights or complete and return the form sent with this
copy of What on Earth.
TMTM