Forests and Climate Change

The Green Climate Fund is driving a paradigm shift – but in the wrong direction

21 Mar, 2021

By Coraina de la Plaza, Forests and Climate Change campaign coordinator, Global Forest Coalition This year the UN’s International Day of Forests (21st March) links the need to protect forest ecosystems with the post-Covid recovery. The chosen theme is: Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being. Behind this important (but ultimately hollow) messaging hides a very different reality: one of the UN’s most significant forest and climate-related finance mechanisms—the Green Climate Fund (GCF)—is being captured by corporations and harming …

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Swallowing Indonesia’s forests: New report reveals how Indonesia’s proposed food estate projects threaten a social and environmental disaster of global concern

4 Mar, 2021

by Rachel Smolker, Biofuelwatch, USA Read the full report: Swallowing Indonesia’s Forests The Indonesian government recently announced plans for several new “food estate” projects in Central Kalimantan, Papua and North…

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Nepal’s community forests on the front lines against COVID-19

20 Feb, 2021

by Ramesh Timilsina, Program Officer, Federation Of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN) Like the rest of the world, Nepal is suffering from the wrath of COVID-19. Factories are shut down,…

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Plans for burning Namibian wood in German power plants denounced

19 Feb, 2021

Open Letter sent to Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development 18 February 2021 — A project which would see large quantities of Namibian wood burned in German power stations,…

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Circular economy or vicious cycle? How corporate capture of policy-making and perverse incentives are driving deforestation

16 Dec, 2020

Our new report in our Forest Cover series analyzes the self-reinforcing cycle of the corporate capture of government policy-making and perverse incentives that harm biodiversity. It includes analysis by member…

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International Civil Aviation Day: Say no to carbon offsets for aviation!

3 Dec, 2020

[Português abaixo] Today marks International Civil Aviation Day, and we’re launching a case study explaining how the International Civil Aviation Authority’s (ICAO) plans to offset emissions from flying through buying…

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Open letter to the Global Environment Facility and UNDP: no more climate finance for tree plantations and bioenergy

3 Dec, 2020

As the Global Environment Facility embarks on it’s civil society consultations today ahead of its 59th Council Meeting, we’re publishing an open letter to GEF CEO Carlos Manuel Rodriguez and…

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Statement against burning Namibian bushwood in German heat and power plants

9 Oct, 2020

Joint Statement against the import of Namibian bushwood for use in power and heat plants in Hamburg Hamburg, 9th October 2020 – The Hamburg Ministry for Environment and Energy and…

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No more Rhetoric: It’s time for money to be redirected to a gender-responsive, rights-based ecosystems approach to halt biodiversity loss

8 Oct, 2020

Orignially published in ECOonline September 2020. By Souparna Lahiri, Global Forest Coalition The United Nations Biodiversity Summit is taking place at a time when the Covid 19 Pandemic has resulted…

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Roll up, roll up! The Net Zero Circus is coming to a forest near you

30 Sep, 2020

by the GFC climate team Today is the start of the three-day Net Zero Festival, an online event featuring a whole range of dirty companies such as Shell, the seventh…

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A “peoples’ response”: Over 100 organizations sign letter criticizing the UN’s biodiversity summit

30 Sep, 2020

CBD Alliance Press Release: Organizations from around the world, the majority from the global South, have published a “Peoples’ response to the High-Level Summit on Biodiversity”, which raises critical points…

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The impacts of tree plantations on women & women-led resistance to monocultures

20 Sep, 2020

September 21st marks International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, a day to celebrate resistance against the establishment and expansion of harmful commercial monocultures. To commemorate the occasion and…

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Global coalition releases liability “roadmap” for governments to Make Big Polluters Pay

15 Sep, 2020

Today, a global coalition released a “liability roadmap”: a first-of-its-kind tool outlining how local to global decision makers, including government officials, can hold polluting industries liable for the climate damage…

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15 years of REDD+: Has it been worth the money?

3 Sep, 2020

New briefing explains the basics of REDD+ and why it’s so contentious It’s 15 years since the United Nations climate convention unveiled REDD (and then REDD+) as its much-hyped solution…

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Action alert! Development banks: Stop investing in industrial animal agriculture

6 Aug, 2020

As fires rage once again in parts of Latin America, send a strong message to international development banks: stop fueling the climate crisis and new pandemics by investing in industrial…

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Letter of concern to the European Investment Bank (EIB) to stop finance for industrial livestock production

22 Jul, 2020

Over 20 organisations including the Global Forest Coalition have sent an open letter (copied below) to the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) calling on them to align their…

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Open letter: International development banks must stop funding industrial livestock farming

2 Jul, 2020

Over 30 organisations including the Global Forest Coalition have signed an open letter (also copied below) to the Chief Executive Officer of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the President…

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