Developing countries and human rights groups will clash today at a key UN climate change meeting intended to arrest the destruction of tropical forests. The felling is responsible for almost 20% of annual global carbon emissions, making it a crucial target in the battle against global warming.
Diplomats from more than 100 countries are meeting in Accra, Ghana, to open negotiations on whether tropical forests should join the emerging global carbon market. This would allow countries and companies to earn money from not cutting down their trees.
The move, backed strongly by many developing countries and the G8, is expected to greatly increase the financial value of forests. It would encourage governments and corporations to protect them and would potentially transfer hundreds of millions of pounds a year to some of the poorest countries in the world.
But human rights and environment groups from three continents are warning that the over-hasty inclusion of forests in the post-Kyoto carbon market could trigger a "land grab" leaving tens of millions of people worse off.
According to the groups, which include Friends of the Earth International, the Rainforest Foundation and the Rights and Resources Initiative, a coalition of environment and justice groups from around the world, it would:
· Undermine the world price of carbon, damaging the effectiveness of the market
· Drive indigenous peoples from the forests
· Benefit only a wealthy elite and increase the risk corruption
Without clear guidelines on land ownership and the involvement of local people, the groups say, the money poured into preserving forests could also fuel violent conflict.
"Sixty million indigenous peoples are dependent on forests for their livelihoods, food and medicines," said Belmond Tchoumba, Friends of the Earth international coordinator of the forest and biodiversity programme.
"These people have already been severely impacted by deforestation. If the value of their forests increases, governments and corporations may be willing to go to extreme lengths to wrest forests away from indigenous peoples and others."
He added: "Delegates are focusing on finance but to stop deforestation, land rights must be centre stage. These UN climate talks shamefully continue to take place without any meaningful participation by indigenous peoples."
Slashing the price of carbon could even lead to a failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall, say the campaigners.
"The US could say that it will only join a post-Kyoto agreement on condition that they it can offset emissions by buying deforestation credits. It would be a catastrophe," said Simon Counsell, director of the Rainforest Foundation in London.
"It could crash the price of carbon and would mean the reduction of pollution in rich countries would be come quite uneconomic."
The proposal to use the global carbon-market to stop deforestation has split some of the world's environment and conservation groups which have long disagreed over the relative importance of people and nature.
Conservation groups are strongly supporting the carbon-market plan in Accra. But many justice groups are disturbed that logging, soy and palmoil companies – which have been responsible for large scale deforestation and which own vast tracts of the tropical forests in Asia and Africa – could now demand compensation for every tree they do not cut down.
"These concerns are legitimate and need to be heard and respected. We strongly support we have to learn from the past," said Tom Cohen, media director of Conservation International, the world's largest conservation group, based in Arlington, Virginia.
"Without quick and robust investment in securing forest-community rights, these carbon markets will further marginalise the poorest of the poor," said Kyeretwie Opoku, of Civic Response, a Ghanaian justice group.
"Even the World Bank is saying that this is the social justice issue of our generation."
The meeting is regarded as key to the success or failure of the UN's ongoing climate talks which are expected to culminate next year in Denmark with a global agreement to slow and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A full agreement, not expected in Accra, will encourage developing countries to sign up, but could also allow rich countries to buy credits and thereby avoid reducing their own emissions.