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Views on the use of carbon markets under a post-2020 climate deal
Carbon Market Watch argues that international carbon markets must be supplementary to domestic action and governed by strict eligibility, accounting, and integrity rules to avoid the failures of previous mechanisms like the CDM and EU ETS. The organization recommends excluding REDD-plus and agriculture from carbon markets, implementing a 'negative list' of ineligible project types, and establishing a UN-led standard-setting body to prevent double-counting and ensure net atmospheric benefits.
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Document type: Statement
The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests
The document reviews Claude Martin's analysis of tropical rainforests, highlighting the shift from viewing commercial logging as the primary driver of deforestation to recognizing the central role of agriculture and agro-industrial land conversion. It details the importance of biodiversity, the role of protected areas and remote sensing in conservation, and the emerging threat of climate change, which risks turning forests into net greenhouse gas sources. The text also emphasizes the human rights risks faced by environmental advocates and the need to integrate natural capital into economic policy.
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Document type: Briefing
From Policy to Practice and Back
The report examines the challenges and successes of implementing Western sustainability and development agendas within Vietnam's highly centralized party-state. It analyzes how historical legacies, including Chinese influence and the impact of the US war, shape current governance and social dynamics. Through various case studies—including hydropower strategic environmental assessments, poverty reduction programs like Chia Sẻ, and research on Agent Orange—the author demonstrates that while the Vietnamese state is open to experimental pilot projects, it remains resistant to reforms that challenge its monopoly on power or its paternalistic view of ethnic minorities. The document concludes that long-term engagement and an understanding of local cultural contexts are essential for effective policy advice in Vietnam.
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Document type: Report
Taking Deforestation out of Commodity Supply Chains
The program targets the global supply chains of palm oil, soy, and beef, which are identified as primary drivers of approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation. It employs a 'whole of supply chain' theory of change, arguing that deforestation can be eliminated if production is localized in the right areas (avoiding natural forests) and follows sustainable practices. The program is structured into four child projects: Support to Production, Generating Responsible Demand, Enable Transactions, and Adaptive Management and Learning. Key geographic focuses include the Amazon and Cerrado in Brazil, the Chaco in Paraguay, and palm oil production in Indonesia and Liberia. The program seeks to leverage a total cost of $443.2 million, including $40.3 million from the GEF Trust Fund, to shift the market from voluntary niche sustainability to a mainstream norm.
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Document type: Report
The Land Sector in the First INDCs Intended Climate Contributions of the United States, the European Union, and Mexico
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) evaluated the land sector (AFOLU) plans within the initial INDCs of the US, EU, and Mexico. The analysis finds a stark contrast between developed and developing nations: while the US and EU provide reasonable accounting standards, they lack specific action plans to realize their substantial mitigation potentials. In contrast, Mexico provides a highly transparent and ambitious plan, including a goal of zero deforestation by 2030 and a target for emissions to peak and decline by 2026. The report emphasizes that the land sector is critical for closing the global emissions gap, but current INDCs from developed nations are insufficient in detail to determine if their ambitions match their capacities.
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Document type: Report
REDD: A Collection of Conflicts, Contradictions and Lies
The publication examines 24 REDD projects or programmes, concluding that their structural characteristics often harm forest communities and fail to reduce overall global emissions because they function as offsets.
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Document type: Report
Analysis of the Expected Role and Impact of the Green Climate Fund
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) identifies five high-impact investment priorities: climate-compatible cities, sustainable climate-smart agriculture, forest finance, resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and transforming energy generation and access. The analysis emphasizes a holistic approach that integrates mitigation and adaptation, particularly in Africa and Asia. It highlights the role of the Private Sector Facility (PSF) in mobilizing capital for adaptation—a historically underfunded area—and suggests using targeted calls for proposals to balance the investment portfolio.
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Document type: Report
CLIMATE CHANGE: TACKLING THE GREATEST HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGE OF OUR TIME
The document asserts that climate change is a major human rights challenge, threatening rights to life, health, and food security, particularly for vulnerable groups. It criticizes the UNFCCC for slow progress in operationalizing rights protections and recommends that the 2015 climate agreement include explicit human rights obligations, establish institutional safeguards, create a dedicated work programme on human rights and climate change, and implement a grievance mechanism to address harms caused by mitigation and adaptation activities.
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Document type: Briefing
CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES: RELEVER LE PLUS GRAND DÉFI DE NOTRE TEMPS EN MATIÈRE DE DROITS DE L’HOMME
The document positions climate change as a major human rights challenge, noting that environmental degradation threatens fundamental rights such as life, health, and food security. It criticizes the UNFCCC for failing to operationalize human rights protections despite recognizing them in 2010. The authors propose a human-rights-based approach to climate action, emphasizing the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, provide compensation for loss and damage, and establish institutional safeguards, including a formal complaints mechanism and a dedicated work program on human rights and climate change.
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Document type: Briefing
The carbon footprint of traditional woodfuels
The research estimates that 27–34% of woodfuel harvested in the tropics was unsustainable in 2009, contributing 1.0–1.2 Gt CO2e per year to global emissions. It identifies approximately 275 million people living in depletion 'hotspots' primarily in South Asia and East Africa and suggests that the deployment of 100 million improved stoves could reduce these emissions by 11–17%.
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Document type: Research paper
Increasing the Economic Value and Contribution of Protected Areas in Africa
The policy brief advocates for a shift in how protected areas (PAs) in Africa are valued, moving beyond biodiversity to include measurable economic contributions. It suggests that integrating ecosystem services into national development planning and adopting innovative financing—such as payment for ecosystem services (PES), carbon offsets, and 'wildlife-friendly' product certifications—can secure investment and improve local livelihoods. The authors emphasize that PAs must be co-managed with local communities to ensure equitable benefit sharing and sustainable resource use.
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Document type: Policy brief
LIMA COP 20: ANOTHER SMALL STEP ON THE LONG ROAD TO PARIS
The Lima COP 20 summit focused on defining the instructions for a legally binding global agreement to be finalized in Paris in December 2015. Key achievements included the agreement that Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) be presented by October 2015 and the shift away from the Kyoto Protocol's industrialisation-based differentiation, with major emitters like the USA and China showing willingness to reduce emissions. The summit also saw new contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which reached US$10.2m, and progress on the REDD+ mechanism and gender-responsive climate policies. However, issues regarding the International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, market mechanisms, and the Technology Mechanism remained unresolved.
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Document type: Policy brief
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: INSTRUMENTAL FOR CONSERVING NATURAL RESOURCES
The document examines the relationship between environmental justice and the success of conservation strategies, specifically Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). It argues that ignoring social dimensions—such as distributive equity, recognition of rights, and inclusive decision-making—increases the risk of project failure through social conflict and sabotage, whereas integrating these criteria improves ecological outcomes and long-term efficiency.
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Document type: Policy brief
Financiarisation de la nature
The document critiques the 'Green Economy' and the financialization of nature, specifically the creation of markets for environmental services. It argues that by dividing nature into measurable units, these markets allow corporations to use 'offsetting' as a 'permit to pollute or destroy' in one area by promising protection elsewhere. The author contends that this process ignores the complex, dynamic nature of ecosystems and the social, cultural, and spiritual values of land. The report highlights the negative impacts on indigenous peoples, who lose control over their territories through restrictive contracts, and provides examples of the failure of biodiversity offsets in the EU, Australia, Brazil, and Costa Rica.
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Document type: Report
Financierización de la Naturaleza
The document critiques the 'green growth' paradigm and the financialization of nature, specifically the creation of markets for ecosystem services. It argues that these mechanisms, such as biodiversity offsets and carbon credits, do not stop environmental degradation but instead provide corporations with a 'social license to destroy' by allowing them to compensate for damage in one area by protecting another. The report highlights the negative impacts on Indigenous territories, the failure of existing offset programs in the EU and Australia, and the risk of 'devaluation' when economic priorities shift, as seen in Costa Rica. It concludes that these financial tools are instruments for capital accumulation and cost reduction rather than genuine ecological protection.
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Document type: Report
Financialization of Nature
The document critiques the 'Green Economy' and 'green growth' frameworks, asserting that they redefine nature as a collection of 'ecosystem services' to create new financial markets. It argues that these markets, particularly biodiversity and carbon offsets, serve as cost-cutting tools for corporations to bypass environmental regulations and maintain industrial production. The report highlights the risks to indigenous and traditional communities, including loss of territorial control and the imposition of opaque contracts. It provides examples of failed offsetting programs in the EU, Australia, Brazil, and Namibia, concluding that financialization is a 'false solution' that exacerbates ecological crises.
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Document type: Report
Fourth Report of the Green Climate Fund to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The Green Climate Fund reached operational effectiveness in May 2015 after securing signed contribution agreements totaling US$ 5.47 billion, exceeding the 50 per cent threshold of its US$ 10 billion in pledges. The Fund has accredited seven initial entities and is implementing a Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme to assist over 120 developing countries in nominating national designated authorities and developing climate strategies. It has also established initial investment, risk management, and results management frameworks to begin funding mitigation and adaptation projects by its third meeting in 2015.
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Document type: Report
Financing readiness: insights from the Amazon Fund and Congo Basin Forest Funds' efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation
The document examines the evolution of 'readiness finance' for REDD+, arguing that the transition from readiness to performance-based support is not a static endpoint but requires ongoing investment in governance and institutions. Comparing the Amazon Fund and the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF), the authors find that while both have funded policy and governance efforts, the level of support has been modest and coordination between regional REDD+ initiatives remains a challenge, particularly in the Congo Basin.
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Document type: Research paper
The Lima Declaration
The Lima Declaration, issued during the Peoples Summit on Climate Change in December 2014, rejects market-based climate solutions and the 'capitalist-patriarchal system'. It demands the recognition of territorial property rights for indigenous and peasant communities, the reparation of 'historical ecological debt' owed by developed countries to the global South, and a transition to a communal, feminist economy based on food sovereignty and agro-ecology. The document specifically denounces the influence of transnational corporations on the UNFCCC and calls for the cessation of extractive industries and agrofuel production.
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Document type: Statement
Declaración de Lima
The Lima Declaration, issued during the 2014 People's Summit, rejects market-based climate mechanisms and the 'green economy' as false solutions driven by capital. It demands the recognition of historical ecological debts owed by developed nations to the Global South, the protection of ancestral territories from extractive industries, and a transition to a feminist, communal, and agroecological economic model. The statement specifically calls for a global financial transaction tax and compensation for non-industrialized countries that avoid exploiting fossil fuels, while criticizing the Peruvian government's role as COP 20 president for prioritizing private investment over human and environmental rights.
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Document type: Statement