THE CARBON MARKET AND CALIFORNIA-ACRE-CHIAPAS COOPERATION

The report critiques the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between California, Acre, and Chiapas, which aimed to link jurisdictional REDD+ programs to California's cap-and-trade system. It argues that these mechanisms prioritize market logic over structural climate causes, leading to land grabbing, the criminalization of traditional practices, and the marginalization of indigenous peoples. In Acre, the report identifies methodological flaws in emission accounting and failures in community-level projects. In Chiapas, it highlights the expropriation of territories for agrofuel monocultures and increasing public debt. The document concludes that REDD+ safeguards are largely rhetorical and recommends the exclusion of carbon markets and offsets from environmental policy.

• The 2010 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between California, Acre, and Chiapas sought to create a REDD+ carbon credit system allowing California to compensate its emissions using credits from Acre and Chiapas, though as of 2017, this had not progressed beyond discussions and publications.
• California's cap-and-trade system, part of Assembly Bill 32, aims to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and has considered international sector-based offsets from REDD programs to cover up to 4% of an entity's obligations in the third compliance period.
• In Acre, the ISA-Carbono program under the SISA system used historical deforestation reference levels that allowed the government to receive payments from the KfW German Development Bank for emission reductions achieved before the contract was signed.
• REDD+ and forest management projects in Acre have been linked to community divisions, failure to improve living conditions, and the criminalization of traditional subsistence activities, such as the use of fire for farming.
• In Chiapas, REDD+ and Payment for Environmental Services (PES) initiatives have been associated with the expropriation of indigenous territories to make way for African oil palm monocultures and the creation of an elite group of landowners.
• The implementation of REDD+ in Mexico has contributed to significant public debt; by 2013, the Mexican government owed over US$678 million to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) for these programs.
• The report asserts that socio-environmental safeguards in REDD+ programs are merely rhetorical and consultative, failing to protect the rights of forest peoples and often being manipulated by governments and corporations.
• The document argues that the 'avoided deforestation' metric commodifies nature and transforms traditional communities into service providers, which undermines their autonomy and replaces collective rights with private market relations.

APA

Furtado, F. (2017). THE CARBON MARKET AND CALIFORNIA-ACRE-CHIAPAS COOPERATION. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/REDD_The-carbon-market-and-the-California-Acre-Chiapas-cooperation.pdf

Chicago

Furtado, Fabrina. THE CARBON MARKET AND CALIFORNIA-ACRE-CHIAPAS COOPERATION. Friends of the Earth International, 2017. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/REDD_The-carbon-market-and-the-California-Acre-Chiapas-cooperation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Furtado |first1=Fabrina |title=THE CARBON MARKET AND CALIFORNIA-ACRE-CHIAPAS COOPERATION |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=June 2017 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/REDD_The-carbon-market-and-the-California-Acre-Chiapas-cooperation.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{furtado2017carbon, author = {Furtado, Fabrina}, title = {{THE CARBON MARKET AND CALIFORNIA-ACRE-CHIAPAS COOPERATION}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/REDD_The-carbon-market-and-the-California-Acre-Chiapas-cooperation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }