WB launches financing for forest-saving scheme

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The World Bank launched Tuesday a US$160 million financing scheme to provide incentives to developing countries that protect their forests.

Called the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the scheme aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing countries for carbon dioxide reductions realized by maintaining their forests.

"The focus will be on indigenous people dependent on forests," said World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

The money is provided by nine wealthy countries. Germany has committed US$59 million, the United Kingdom US$30 million, the Netherlands US$22 million, Australia and Japan US$10 million each, France and Switzerland US$7 million each, Denmark and Finland US$5 million each.

In addition, the U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has committed US$5 million to the scheme.

The World Bank and some of the international ministers present highlighted the importance of consultation with indigenous people before a projects starts.

"We must ensure protection of the rights of the indigenous people," said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's federal minister for economic cooperation and development.

"Under the terms of the facility, governments will ensure that indigenous people dependent on forests, as well as other forest dwellers, will be meaningfully consulted during the drafting of their country's Readiness Plan and REDD Strategy, and benefit from capacity building," Zoellick said.

Thirty countries from Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region have requested an opportunity to participate, Zoellick said.

The FCPF will have two mechanisms. First is the "readiness mechanism" that will assist approximately 20 countries in preparing themselves to participate in a future, large-scale, system of positive incentives for REDD (reduce emissions from avoided Deforestation and forest degradation), a scheme proposed by 11 countries with large tracts of forest, including Indonesia.

The second is the "carbon finance mechanism", which will enable an initial group of these countries that will have successfully participated in the Readiness Mechanism to pilot incentive payments for REDD.

Dozens of activists from environmental groups like Friends of the Earth, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment and Global Forest Coalition, staged a protest outside the conference room where the launch took place.

They said the inclusion of forests in the carbon market would not help improve the climate and instead would only deprive forest dwellers of their rights.

"Carbon finance mechanisms in developing countries result in forests being transferred or sold to large corporations which hope to acquire profitable 'carbon credits' associated with those forests at some point in the future," World Rainforest Movement spokesperson Ana Filipini said.

The activists also said that past projects involving indigenous people in the forest carbon market had been guided by unfair contracts.

"Forest people in Uganda who got a reforestation project, for example, they were under the impression that it was a charity; they didn't ask for details in the contract," said Juta Kill from the European Union Forest Campaign.

She said the contract was so unfair that the indigenous people ended up buried in debt to replace several dead trees.