The publication also warns about the inefficacy of REDD+ to face the climate crisis and its negative role with reference to the “emission offsetting” mechanism that favors industrialized countries that buy carbon credits instead of reducing its polluting gases.
It is one of the main mechanisms of the carbon market that will be part of the negotiations of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 on Climate Change to take place in Paris, capital of France, from November 30 to December 11.

The new publication titled “How REDD+ projects undermine peasant farming and real solutions to climate change” explains why this mechanism is not a solution to the climate crisis and why it does not help peasants to reduce emissions. “The reality is that REDD+ programmes put the blame for deforestation and emissions on peasant farming practices that have nothing to do with climate change. REDD+ projects also undermine local food systems by preventing traditional farming practices and restricting people’s access to lands and forests”, states a press release issued by GRAIN and WRM on October 29.

The publication accounts for what is happening in Mozambique, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda and Kenya aiming to show five key patterns that make REDD+ so harmful for local communities.

According to GRAIN and WRM these patterns are: “1) how REDD+ blames peasant farming practices for deforestation and emissions; 2) how REDD+ rarely benefits local communities but is good business for carbon companies, international conservation NGOs, consultants and industrialised countries; 3) how REDD+ undermines food sovereignty and 4) community control over territories; and 5) how REDD+ facilitates the expansion of corporate agriculture”.