At Three Basins Summit: 60 CSOs petition gov’t’s over impacts of harmful industries on rainforests.

The petition by the CSOs was on the sidelines of the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, which took place October 26 to 28. 
They said the solutions to tropical deforestation have to come from within tropical forest countries. 

In the petition, the CSOs said because threats to tropical forests are growing, indigenous and community rights must be at the centre of the Three Basins initiative.

“While the stated aim of the summit is to preserve and restore the planet’s three great rainforest basins, new research shows in practice many countries from the three rainforest basins are in fact advancing plans that will do exactly the opposite,” they regretted.

The petition stated that: “In the Amazon Basin: Existing or planned oil and gas blocks now overlap an estimated 65 million hectares, or 13 percent, of intact tropical forest and more than 31 million hectares of Indigenous Territories home to over 500 indigenous nationalities. In the Congo Basin: Planned oil and gas blocks overlap with more than 72 million hectares, or 39 percent, of intact tropical forests, which are home to more than 17,000 populated places inclusive of Indigenous and forest-dependent communities”.

It also added that: “In Southeast Asia: Oil and gas blocks designated for production or exploration cover more than 34.8 million hectares, or nearly 20%, of intact tropical forests. In Indonesia, more than 99,000 populated places inclusive of a high degree of Indigenous and forest-based people fall within oil and gas blocks”.

They highlighted the fact that indigenous people and environmental defenders are persecuted and killed in ever greater numbers for defending the forest lands the Three Basins Summit is calling to protect, noting that “…perpetrators use their power and influence on authorities to keep destroying lives and forests to act with impunity”. 

“It is also clear that continuing down the path of ever-expanding extractivism will make it impossible to meet global climate and biodiversity targets,” the petitioners said.

“We need a different pathway, one that is founded on a just energy transition, sustainable economies and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to defend and manage territories. The evidence is clear that forests under the custodianship of these groups store more carbon, harbour more biodiversity and benefit more people,” they declared.

“We are deeply concerned, however, that the Three Basins initiative appears to be more preoccupied with carbon markets than with the human rights of Indigenous People and of others on the frontlines of deforestation and forest degradation,” the CSO added.

They thus called on the Three Basins governments to: “Scale up rights based legal protection, demarcation and recognition of forest communities’ lands and territories as a prerequisite to more effective forest protection; uphold communities’ right to fully and effectively participate in decision-making on any developments planned in these areas; respecting Indigenous Peoples' right to free, prior and informed consent, as well as securing the protection of those living in voluntary isolation; empower and protect Indigenous Peoples and other frontline environmental and human rights defenders including by enhancing access to justice”.

The governments were also urged to: “Halt and reverse loss and degradation of all natural ecosystems from large-scale agriculture, mining, extractives and other industries, such as through a global moratorium on industrial activities in primary forests as well as priority forests; accelerate true low-carbon development in tropical forest countries through a just energy transition, protecting natural forests and the rights and food sovereignty of local communities and Indigenous Peoples and adopt timebound and measurable goals towards these objectives, for transparency and accountability”.

Appeal to international community

Meanwhile, to the international community and governments in the global north, the CSOs urged them to: “Reduce consumption of forest and climate destroying commodities; channel more and better quality investments to forest protection efforts in the three basins including to Indigenous-led funds in these regions; advance a new funding architecture for forests including through a global carbon levy, subsidy redirection, equitable payments for ecosystem services and debt relief, ensuring a far greater share of this funding goes directly to Indigenous Peoples, local communities and grassroots organisations and protect low-income individuals and groups from potential regressive impacts of the global energy transition through social protection measures, grants and tax reforms and ensuring their access  to affordable renewable energy”.