The certification of carbon credits in Guyana under a program designed without the participation and free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples is a troubling precedent that threatens the rights of Indigenous peoples and the social integrity of carbon markets everywhere. Learn more about the issues in a new case study.
Josh Lichtenstein, Program Manager at Rainforest Foundation US, expresses disappointment at the rejection of the appeal from the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana (APA) by carbon certifier ART. “The issues raised by APA’s complaint and appeal are serious and ongoing, and have, if nothing else, clearly demonstrated that the ART validation and verification process is deeply flawed, and the grievance mechanism does not work,” he says.
The final declaration of the Amazon Summit, referred to as the Belém Declaration, has fallen short of expectations for collectively implementing crucial measures to protect the Amazon rainforest, its peoples, and the global climate. It notably lacks a commitment towards zero deforestation by 2030 and fails to address halting oil exploration in the region. Read our full statement.
In her latest article, Akola Thompson, advocacy coordinator at Guyana’s South Rupununi District Council, delves into the impacts of carbon offsetting on the Indigenous peoples of Guyana. She highlights the government’s persistent refusal to acknowledge Indigenous communities’ claims to their customary lands.
Guyana has added almost all its forests to the carbon market, signing a $750 million carbon credit deal with petroleum company Hess Corporation, of which 15% will go to Indigenous communities. However, climate experts and Indigenous leaders are questioning the scheme’s accuracy in measuring carbon emissions and whether communities were properly consulted.
Indigenous women from rainforests around the world are uniting to fight for the health of the planet in their unique and powerful ways. Whether as activists, politicians, or mothers, they are bringing back ancestral knowledge and are determined to fight for their communities and the Earth.
As the year comes to a close, RFUS takes stock of the progress, victories, and lessons we learned in 2021.
New research shows indigenous peoples and local communities live on at least 3.75 million square miles of land spanning most of the world’s endangered tropical forests—yet have legal rights to less than half of these lands.
To blunt climate change, Guyana has pledged to aggressively expand the amount of rainforests protected within its borders. But as the threat of big oil looms, indigenous peoples’ land rights need to be recognized in order to meet this goal.
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ climate change panel released a report stating that global warming will inevitably intensify in the coming decades. The only question is: By how much? Here, we lay out the role RFUS will play in mitigating the damage.
RFUS supported the Amerindian Peoples Association to conduct a nation-wide assessment of indigenous lands in Guyana. The report exposes inconsistencies and injustices in the land recognition process.
Tomorrow, APA will release its findings of a nearly decade-long assessment of indigenous land rights in Guyana. The organization will also launch a new geographic database to map Guyana’s indigenous territories.
Will you listen?
Any amount makes a difference.
Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1713522066nffr@1713522066sreve1713522066dd1713522066
Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.
