Earth Equity News

Market-Based Solutions to Destruction of Rainforests are 'Backfiring'. By Oliver Balch, London Guardian, October 23, 2008. "Market-based mechanisms appeal because they appear a win-win, says Ronnie Hall, coordinator for Global Forest Coalition, an international coalition of environmental groups... [however] Market-based schemes fail the residents of Latin America's forests as much as the forests themselves... Business-based schemes also have a habit of generating unintended consequences. The Global Forest Coalition lists examples in a new report, Life as Commerce: The Impact of Market-Based Conservation, PDF, 88 pp]. Take tree plantations. Under the Kyoto protocol, the carbon captured by so-called carbon sinks can be sold to buyers in developing countries. As a result, companies across the continent have been fighting over themselves to plant fast-growing plantations for the profitable carbon market... Often complex and poorly explained, business mechanisms frequently leave local inhabitants sidelined and disenfranchised... Simone Lovera, author of the report, suggests an alternative: leave the forest communities of Latin America to protect their natural habitat. After all, the best-preserved forests today are found on indigenous territories, she points out. Indigenous-led conservation initiatives have proven to be very cost-efficient,' she says."