Tropical forest protection projects - a contribution to climate protection? The goal of the new joint project of OroVerde and the Global Nature is to ensure that projects related to climate protection in tropical countries observe the rights and interests of local communities and that attention is paid to the impacts on the regional biodiversity.
About one fifth of the global greenhouse gas emissions is caused by forest clearance particularly in tropical countries. Therefore, the protection of forests is seen as a fundamental part of combating climate change. The reduction of carbon emissions as stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol is above all geared towards industrial emission reductions. Apart from the use of green technologies industrial companies may invest in climate protection projects in foreign countries and thus acquire emission certificates that means the permission to emit a specified amount of carbon dioxide. On the „official market“ forest projects are only restrictedly admitted. But more and more companies support forest climate projects as a voluntary contribution to climate protection. Often there is a lack of knowledge about the concrete impacts of the activities in the tropical countries. So for instance, there are projects dealing with the installation of large-scale mono-cultures, which store greenhouse gas emissions in the short-term, but have negative effects on the regional biodiversity and make it more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Also the land rights of local communities and indigenous people are not always observed leading to massive opposition against the projects and local conflicts.
The joint project of Oro Verde and the Global Nature Fund, which was launched on July 1st 2010, is dealing with these topics. Its goal is to provide information on the effects of forest climate projects for companies and the interested public. Guidelines for forest climate projects dealing particularly with the protection of the biodiversity and the interests of the local population shall be developed involving different actors (companies, NGOs, scientists etc.). An analysis of case studies as well as already existing standards for forest climate projects will serve as the basis for it. To disseminate the recommendations, the guidelines will be made available to all persons interested free of charge and information workshops as well as presentations will be carried out at relevant events.