Only Bold Climate Solutions Will Protect People and Planet
(September 25, 2019) — In 2014, the Institute revealed that thousands of Ugandan villagers had been forcibly evicted to establish a non native pine-tree plantation, run by a Norwegian firm, Green Resources. The scheme was set to produce and sell carbon credits to polluters in the name of climate change mitigation but took away land that was essential to the livelihoods of the locals living in 17 surrounding villages.
This first report secured important wins—the company’s only carbon credit buyer, the Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) suspended funding and outlined ten actions for Green Resources to undertake for payments to be reinstated. The company’s major shareholder, Phaunos Timber Fund, divested from it.
In late 2017, we documented how, contrary to the findings of a company-sponsored audit undertaken to appease the SEA, local communities continued to face an acute hunger crisis with access to water, firewood, and land for grazing animals denied. This led us to campaign for the SEA to cancel its contract with Green Resources once and for all.
Amidst denials by Green Resources, in August 2019, we released copies of eviction notices and official letters, not made public before—providing irrefutable evidence of the land grab and how people were forced out of their land to make way for the plantation.
This evidence was released alongside a new report, Evicted for Carbon Credits, which identified additional actors complicit in this ongoing disaster—including government development agencies such as Norfund and Finnfund, and international certification bodies, such as the Forest Stewardship Council and the UN Clean Development Mechanism.
Once again, our work has borne results
This timely report was released the same week as when the Swedish Energy Agency was about to resume the purchase of carbon credits with a planned disbursement of SEK 10 million (US$1,035,000) to Green Resources. Once again, SEA has had to announce it will delay payments. Green Resources’ financiers and certifiers are now on the defensive, finding it increasingly difficult to justify their ongoing support.
Let us be clear: We are not going to address a climate crisis largely created by rich countries by forcibly evicting African farmers from their land. Pine-tree plantations that enable developed countries to keep polluting are not the solution we need.
As people around the world strike for the climate this week, following the bold, visionary leadership of youth, we must demand true solutions that protect people and the planet. For our part, we will continue to expose false climate solutions like those pedaled by Green Resources, hold the actors behind these false solutions accountable, and campaign for bold, courageous, equitable action to solve the climate crisis.
The Darker Side of Green: Plantation Forestry and Carbon Violence in Uganda
The Oakland Institute
In recent years, there has been a significant trend toward land acquisition in developing countries, establishing forestry plantations for offsetting carbon pollution generated in the Global North. Badged as “green economic development,” global carbon markets are often championed not only as solutions to climate change, but as drivers of positive development outcomes for local communities. But there is mounting evidence that these corporate land acquisitions for climate change mitigation—including forestry plantations—severely compromise not only local ecologies but also the livelihoods of the some of the world’s most vulnerable people living at subsistence level in rural areas in developing countries.
New research uncovers the “darker side” of the global green economy, revealing brutal consequences of much-lauded carbon offset schemes.
OAKLAND, Calif. — A new report released today by the Oakland Institute, The Darker Side of Green: Plantation Forestry and Carbon Violence in Uganda, debunks popular claims that carbon trading represents a “win-win” for rural communities and the environment. Firsthand accounts from Uganda reveal that villagers living in and around land concessions acquired by Green Resources, a Norwegian company implementing forestry-based carbon offset projects, have experienced forced evictions and restricted access to land and food, in addition to loss of livelihood—all in the name of green investment. Green Resources, allegedly the largest operator of green forestry plantations on the African continent, has leased more than 10,000 hectares of land in Uganda alone, with additional landholdings in Mozambique and Tanzania.
Supported by investments and loans from international aid and investment development agencies—including NORFUND, the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries—the stated objective of Green Resources is to mitigate climate change and ensure sustainable environmental management, community development, and poverty alleviation in Uganda.
“Based on research conducted over the last two years, the report raises important questions and concerns about the ability of the project to achieve its stated goals,” said Dr. Kristen Lyons, lead author of the report. “Interviews with over 150 Ugandan villagers shed light on the ‘darker side’ of the green economy and expose the hidden social and environmental costs of Green Resources projects in Uganda that are borne by the local communities,” she continued.
“While carbon trading based on the offset of environmental pollution from the global north to the global south is widely championed as a good news story, this report highlights the need for closer scrutiny of such initiatives,” said Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute, publisher of the report. “It is unacceptable for carbon trading schemes to result in forced evictions and increased food insecurity while delivering little to no improvement on access to health, sanitation, and education,” he continued.
Following the launch of the report, a public event will be held at Litteraturhuset, Wergelandsveien 29, Oslo, on November 4, 2014 from 11:00am–1:00pm to discuss the findings of the report. The event is organized by the Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development (FORUM), Future in Our Hands, Spire, and the Development Fund, in cooperation with the Oakland Institute.
Read the FAQ on Carbon Violence: The Darker Side of Green here
To read the report, “The Darker Side of Green: Plantation Forestry and Carbon Violence in Uganda,” please visit: http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/darker-side-green
Carbon Colonialism: Failure of Green Resources’ Carbon Offset Project in Uganda
Carbon Colonialism: Failure of Green Resources’ Carbon Offset Project in Uganda exposes the continued and relentless attacks of Green Resources on the rights of local people and the environment in Kachung, Uganda.
Following the Institute’s exposé in 2014, revealing the mistreatment and violence perpetrated by the company in Uganda, Green Resources’ only carbon credit buyer, the Swedish Energy Agency, suspended funding in 2015 and outlined ten actions for the company to undertake to reinstate payments. The following year, Green Resources’ major shareholder, global forestry investment firm Phaunos Timber Fund, divested from the company.
As the Swedish Energy Agency reassesses whether to resume payments to Green Resources in early 2018, Carbon Colonialism is an irrefutable indictment on the failure of Green Resources to address the harmful impacts on local communities as a result of its project.
OAKLAND, Calif. (December 12, 2017) —As the One Climate Summit begins in Paris, the Oakland Institute’s new report, Carbon Colonialism: Failure of Green Resources’ Carbon Offset Project in Uganda, lays bare the false solutions to climate change promoted by Western corporations and institutions in Africa. This scathing exposé reveals how Green Resources, a Norwegian industrial forestry and carbon-offset project, continues to undermine food security and livelihoods by excluding people from their own land in Kachung, Uganda. The project, supported by a number of international financial institutions, illustrates how climate change is increasingly misused as a pretext to impose a new form of colonialism in Africa.
Following the Institute’s exposé in 2014, revealing the mistreatment and violence perpetrated by the company in Uganda, Green Resources’ only carbon credit buyer, the Swedish Energy Agency, suspended funding in 2015 and outlined ten actions for the company to undertake to reinstate payments. The following year, Green Resources’ major shareholder, global forestry investment firm Phaunos Timber Fund, divested from the company.
As the Swedish Energy Agency reassesses whether to resume payments to Green Resources in early 2018, Carbon Colonialismis an irrefutable indictment on the failure of Green Resources to address the harmful impacts on local communities as a result of its project.
“Our field research reveals that communities surrounding the plantation face an on-going hunger crisis resulting from restrictions placed by the project on access to land, water, firewood, along with perilous working conditions for Green Resources’ workers,” explained Kristen Lyons, lead author of the report and Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute. “It is simply unacceptable that a Norwegian company seeks to extract a profit in the face of such dire conditions,” she continued.
The firsthand accounts presented in the report debunk recent audits of Green Resources that present the company as being compliant in most areas of reform demanded by the Swedish Energy Agency. Such audit findings are difficult to reconcile with Green Resources disregard for the desperate conditions local communities face.
“Green Resources continues to misrepresent their negative impact in the region,” commented David Ssemwogerere, co-author of the report. “They champion the meager impacts that they’ve had, while downplaying the fact that their project is threatening the very survival and livelihoods of villagers.”
“The industrial monoculture plantation forestry run by Green Resources at its Kachung site is incompatible with the needs of local people who rely upon the same land for their livelihoods and existence,” stated Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director at the Oakland Institute.
“In the wake of our latest findings, it is imperative that the Swedish Energy Agency suspend all future payments to Green Resources and cancel the deal for purchase of carbon credits. This is the only viable response in the face of the worsening impact of Green Resources on the livelihoods of local villagers in Uganda.”
Access the full report on our website: www.oaklandinstitute.org/carbon-colonialism-failure-green-resources-carbon-offset-project-uganda
Our Research and Advocacy Helps People Stand Up to Big Money and Power
Since 2004, the Oakland Institute has supported the struggles of communities around the world for their land and livelihoods. In the face of repression, corruption, and injustice we reframe the debate, raise the voices of the most impacted, and mobilize for change. With your support, we can continue to win major victories on behalf of pastoralists and fisherfolk, the indigenous, and smallholder farmers.
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