Dear Friends”

The pressure on forest peoples’ lands continues but – asserting their right to self-determination – these peoples are far from being passive victims in the face of such impositions. As the articles in this newsletter show” they are active in defence of their rights from the ground up to the highest levels of the United Nations. While indigenous women in Asia organise to reconfigure both their own societies and their relations with outsiders in order to counter discrimination” communities in Indonesia continue to mobilise to defend their customary lands from oil palm developers. According to the Indonesian government there are some 3″100 land conflicts associated with oil palm in the country. Unfortunately” instead of acting to resolve these disputes by recognising that the communities have legitimate rights in land” the Government leaves it to the police who” acting on behalf of the companies that pay for their services” can be brutal in suppressing dissent” as the case of villagers in Jambi province facing PT Kresna Duta Agroindo shows.

This January” with the help of Forest Peoples Programme” indigenous peoples were able to travel all the way to a high-level meeting with conservationists in New Zealand to push for the establishment of a new mechanism to address the problems caused when protected areas are established on their lands without their consent. The need for conservationists to change their approach has long been admitted on paper. This new mechanism is meant to ensure indigenous peoples’ rights are recognised by protected area agencies in practice.

Meanwhile the push for paper standards has to continue. With Forest Peoples Programme staff in support” indigenous peoples were again very active in Cancun to ensure that the language related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)” adopted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change” continues to safeguard their rights. As we relate” there were some gains and some losses” but the need for such safeguards becomes more and more obvious as the reports from the ground come in. Working with our local partners” Forest Peoples Programme finds that again and again forest peoples’ rights to their lands and forests” to fair benefits and to free” prior and informed consent are brushed aside by REDD projects as case studies from Cameroon show. Meanwhile land grabs in Papua New Guinea have escalated to the scale of a national crisis. Sustained efforts are still needed to get the same rights recognised by the International Finance Corporation and the wider World Bank Group in both their 'Performance Standards' and their new strategy on palm oil.

As global food prices escalate and market demand for foods” fibre and biofuels rockets” the pressure on forest lands is again growing. The Annual Report of the Rights and Resources Initiative” of which Forest Peoples Programme is an active partner” details these pressures but also documents the ‘pushback’ by impacted peoples. Their will to assert their rights and press for change inspires and motivates us to continue our work of support. We thank you too for your solidarity.

Marcus Colchester
Director
Forest Peoples Programme
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REDD and rights: lost in translation

Important achievements on rights and safeguards in REDD at UNFCCC now risk being seriously watered down and reinterpreted in REDD policy debates and practices” posing significant threats to the environment and indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples gathered in Cancun in December 2010 to defend previous gains on rights and safeguards in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations. While some important commitments have been secured on paper” the current challenge is to ensure that these are properly translated and interpreted by those actors that are increasingly engaging in REDD readiness. A final assessment of how the Cancun outcome will impact on REDD is not possible at this stage” considering that policy processes and political positioning require time and resources to evolve and consolidate. However” evidence is starting to consolidate about the hiatus existing between rhetoric and practice” confirming that what was achieved in Cancun might turn out to be nothing but a strong political mandate to intensify support and proceed with REDD readiness while diluting some of the key requirements in terms of rights and safeguards. The convergence between the haste to access funds for readiness and start putting carbon credits on the market and the lack of political will to ensure stringent checks and balances might represent a major threat to indigenous peoples and the environment. REDD countries are resisting any additional commitments to Monitoring” Reporting and Verification while donor governments and agencies engaged in REDD are likely to translate the Cancun agreement as they see fit. Read more

9th RRI Dialogue on Forests” Governance and Climate Change” London” February 2011

The 9th RRI Dialogue on Forests” Governance and Climate Change” co-organized with Forest Peoples Programme” Tebtebba and Forest Trends” took place in London” UK on 8 February 2011. The Dialogue drew together a number of key actors involved in REDD” including representatives from Indigenous Peoples organizations” governments of UK Mexico and Norway” the banking sector” NGOs and researchers. The consensus emerging from the discussion was that REDD should not proceed before clear safeguards are put in place. Gregory Barker” British minister of State” Department for Energy and Climate Change outlined that before REDD projects take place” it is crucial to assess drivers of deforestation” secure clarity of land tenure and ensure equitable benefit-sharing for Indigenous Peoples. To that end” he assured that the UK government will apply safeguards in bilateral REDD agreements with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Despite this commitment he avoided mentioning whether the UK would push for stronger safeguards in the readiness processes of the World Bank’s FCPF initiative. Read more

International Union for the Conservation of Nature takes positive steps towards realising indigenous peoples’ rights in conservation

Over the last 10 years” governments and conservation organisations have made significant commitments at the international level to promote participatory conservation” and uphold the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in protected area policies and activities. But” on the ground” progress to implement these commitments has been very patchy. In many cases” protected areas are still imposed through top-down policies and approaches” leading to the displacement of indigenous peoples” curtailment of their livelihoods and conflict over resources. Read more

Gender and land rights in Asia

29 indigenous women from 10 different countries across the Asia Pacific region met in Manila” Philippines” in November 2010″ to discuss the challenges indigenous women and their communities face in relation to their land rights. The workshop was collaboratively held by the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN) and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP). Land rights across the region” indeed the world” are of central importance in ensuring that indigenous peoples are able to survive as culturally distinct peoples. Asia and the Pacific contain a huge array of circumstances for indigenous peoples” from indigenous majority countries like Fiji in the Pacific to countries in mainland Asia where indigenous peoples are not even recognized by their governments. Read more

New World Bank palm oil strategy under scrutiny

In January the World Bank and its private sector arm” the International Finance Corporation (IFC)” released a substantially revised draft of their framework and strategy for engagement in the palm oil sector. The text” circulated for 30 days of public comment” is due to be submitted for approval – after revisions based on any comments received – to the President and Executive Board in March or April 2011. If the text is approved” the World Bank will then end the worldwide funding moratorium for palm oil projects that it agreed to in 2009 after an internal audit (carried out in response to FPP and partners’ complaints) revealed major violations of due diligence and serious social and environmental impacts. Read more

Indonesia: police shootings in palm oil estates

The controversial palm oil producing company” Sinar Mas” was in the news again as a long standing land dispute on one of its estate escalated into a police shooting in which 5 local community members were seriously injured. The conflict occurred in the province of Jambi on the island of Sumatra when unarmed local community members were attacked without warning bymembers of one of the mobile police brigades called in by the Sinar Mas-owned subsidiary” PT Kresna Duta Agroindo. The Sinar Mas group is Indonesia's largest palm oil conglomerate and has been blacklisted by some major US and European palm oil processors” owing to reports of repeated violations of social and environmental standards. Read more

Ensuring respect for ‘Free” Prior and Informed Consent’ in Indonesia

Working closely with partners in Indonesia” Forest Peoples Programme helped convene a global meeting of The Forests Dialogue about how to make sure that the right to ‘Free” Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)’ is respected in Indonesia. The four day field dialogue held in Riau Province on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia” in October 2010″ brought together over 80 participants from a great variety of backgrounds including indigenous peoples” representatives of local communities” non-governmental organisations” international financial institutions” government agencies and the private sector. The meeting was the first in a planned series of field dialogues which have the main aim of exploring how in practice government agencies” commercial enterprises and non-government organizations should respect the right of indigenous peoples and local communities to give or withhold their free” prior and informed consent” as expressed through their own freely chosen representative organisations” to activities that may affect their rights. Read more

International Finance Corporation review – entering the final weeks

The IFC review of its safeguard framework (see FPP E-news July 2010 and October 2010) is entering its final stage. The new draft proposed policies include some strong gains and some serious continuing concerns. ‘Free” prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) has finally taken the place of the previous approach of ‘good faith negotiation’ that is ‘successfully concluded’” a step that takes the IFC out of the realm of jargon and into an arena in which the standards can be better understood and defended more easily. However significant problems remain” including: serious curtailment of the application of FPIC; different and weaker treatment of projects financed through financial intermediaries; staff still not being incentivized to use the safeguard system effectively; and a continuing lack of rigour in the changes to categorization of projects. Weak protection of basic human rights is also a matter of concern. See further information: from FPP and from the IFC