Forests and Climate Change

Could a major restoration initiative in Africa nearly double the area occupied by conflict-causing tree plantations?

21 Sep, 2021

By Oliver Munnion, Global Forest Coalition. Originally published on germanclimatefinance.de. The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) wants 100 billion dollars to help finance the restoration of degraded landscapes across the continent, in an effort to restore forests and suck carbon out of the atmosphere. Today, on International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, activists are calling on the scheme’s backers to exclude monoculture tree plantations from restoration efforts. AFR100 is an Africa-wide scheme aiming to restore 100 million hectares …

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AFR100: Driving commercial tree plantation expansion in Africa?

21 Sep, 2021

Pledges made towards the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) could result in nearly doubling the scale of commercial tree plantations across the continent. Download the briefing (2.1MB) AFR100 is…

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Postpone COP26! CLARA members call on UN to speed up climate action, but delay the negotiations

9 Sep, 2021

FOR RELEASE: Wednesday 8 September CLARA Members Call for Postponing COP26 COP26 climate change talks should be delayed, say CLARA organizations. The COP26 climate change conference scheduled for October 31…

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Asian Development Bank: Don’t finance dirty biomass!

31 Aug, 2021

In response to the Asian Development Bank’s consultation on its “Energy Policy – Supporting Low-Carbon Transition in Asia and the Pacific”, 48 organizations involved in the Environmental Paper Network’s Biomass…

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Pulp and paper giant denounced as the first delivery of eucalyptus arrives in Portugal from Mozambique

14 Jul, 2021

[Português abaixo] The first delivery of eucalyptus trees to Aveiro in Portugal from the port of Beira in Mozambique has been received with strong criticism by Mozambican and Portuguese groups…

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Open Letter opposing the Energy Charter Treaty and the proposed inclusion of biomass energy in it

7 Jul, 2021

Energy Charter Treaty: Including bioenergy within its remit would make this harmful treaty even worse The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) allows investors in the energy sector based in one member…

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Over 60 groups publish open letter in opposition to a coal-to-biomass conversion in Portugal

21 Jun, 2021

Nine Portuguese environmental NGOs (including two GFC member groups) and with the support of another 58 organizations internationally have published an open letter (see below) to the Portuguese Government and…

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Alarm over costly and polluting conversion of Pego power station in Portugal

21 Jun, 2021

21 June 2021 — A coal power plant in Portugal that was supposed to be shut down could instead be converted into a biomass burning facility at great public expense,…

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Exposing Net Zero greenwash: New report details Big Polluters’ next Big Con

9 Jun, 2021

Exposé of “net-zero” pledges uncovers grossly insufficient plans and the strategies polluting industries have used to lock in the ineffective schemes Press release, for immediate use – In the midst…

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Corporate contagion: How the private sector is capturing the UN Food, Biodiversity and Climate Summits

21 May, 2021

Three big United Nations summits are coming up on food, biodiversity and the climate, and the private sector is poised to have a major influence at all of them, making…

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The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, a massive step back in time

4 May, 2021

See the related Letter of Concern from CBD-Alliance. By Simone Lovera Once upon a time, some 30 years ago, life was very easy for conservationists. Instead of having to cope…

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The Summits of the Destroyers-in-Chief: We must resist the corporate takeover of the UN’s food, biodiversity and climate agenda

22 Apr, 2021

By Simone Lovera, Global Forest Coalition The US is back. Back in the Paris Agreement, and back to faithfully promoting the interests of destructive industries and their allies at the…

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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…

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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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