REDD+ and indigenous peoples in Brazil

Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Search for Legal Remedies

Volumn , Issue , 2013, Pages 151-177

  Long, Andrew ^a  

^a Florida Coastal School of Law   (United States)

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EID: 84882022360     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (59)

1. Daniel C. Nepstad et al., 'Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 363, 1737-46 (2008).
2. This perspective on REDD is discussed in more detail in Andrew Long, 'Global Climate Governance to Enhance Biodiversity and Well-Being: Integrating Non-State Networks and Public International Law in Tropical Forests', 41 Envtl. L. 95, 126-30 (2011).
3. The achievements on climate change are reflected in the National Policy for Climate Change adopted by Brazil's National Congress in 2009 and in Decree 7.390 issued by President Lula daSilva in 2010. A common focus of these policies is Brazil's goal of reducing deforestation by 80% by 2020 and the reliance on REDD+ as a substantial element of the plan to achieve it. In the same period, Brazil rapidly decreased deforestation rates and finalized demarcation of indigenous lands constituting approximately 20% of the Brazilian Amazon.
4. See for example, P. Moutinho et al., 'The Emerging REDD+ Regime of Brazil', 2(5) Carbon Management: 587-602 (2011).
5. Alexei Barrionuevo, 'In Brazil, Fears of a Slide Back for Amazon Protection', N.Y. Times, 25 January 2012, at A6
6. see also Michael Kepp, 'Legislative Action in Brazil Likely to Favor Development over Environmental Concerns', 35(1) BNA International Environment Reporter, at s-25 (2012). As of this writing, controversial bills granting amnesty and potentially exempting small land holders from key antideforestation provisions have passed both the House and Senate, but significant differences between the bills exist.
7. Chris van Dam, 'Indigenous Territories and REDD in Latin America: Opportunity or Threat?', 2 Forests 394-414, 396
8. doi:10.3390/f2010394 (2011) (listing percentage of Amazon forest held as indigenous territory in Latin American countries).
9. After reviewing the literature, one commentator notes 'indigenous peoples can be the most effective stewards of the rainforest'. Nicholas Anderson, 'REDDy or not? The Effects on Indigenous Peoples in Brazil of a Global Mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation', 2 Journal of Sustainable Development 18, 21 (2009).
10. FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010: Main Report, xiii (2011).
11. See for example, Al Zachary Lazarus, Comment, 'A War Worth Fighting: The Ongoing Battle to Save the Brazilian Amazon', 9 L. & Bus. Rev. Am. 399, 400-401 (2003).
12. Rhett A. Butler, 'Deforestation in the Amazon', http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html (last visited 31 August 2012).
13. FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010: Main Report, xiii (2011).
14. C.F. [Constitution], art. 225 (Brazil).
15. 'Brazil indigenous Guarani leader Nisio Gomes killed', BBC News, 18 November 2011, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-amer ica-15799712 (last visited 31 August 2012).
16. One commentator describes the 1988 Constitution as 'perhaps the most environmentally sound and humane legal document concerning nonstate peoples (Indians) within the borders of a world nation'. William Bale´e, 'Language, Law, and Land in Pre-Amazonia Brazil', 32 Tex. Int'l L.J. 123, 127 (1997).
17. C.F. [Constitution], art. 232 (Brazil).
18. For a discussion of indigenous peoples' legal status and rights in Brazil, including practical implementation, see Siegfried Wiessner, 'Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples: A Global Comparative and International Legal Analysis', 12 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 57, 74-9 (1999)
19. see also Mres. Erica-Irene A. Daes, Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Report of the Seminar on the Draft Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People, Commission on Human Rights, UN Council (2000).
20. C.F. [Constitution], art. 231 (Brazil).
21. The earlier statutory scheme governing indigenous peoples has been undergoing extensive, and very controversial, revision within the Brazilian legislature since the early 1990s.
22. See generally Lisa Valenta, Comment: 'Disconnect: The 1988 Brazilian Constitution, Customary International Law and Indigenous Land Rights in Northern Brazil', 38 Tex. Int'l L.J. 643 (2003) (discussing the conflict between constitutional protections and the still extant statutory scheme enacted in the 1970s).
23. See Stephan Schwartzman and Barbara Zimmerman, 'Conservation Alliances with Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon', 19 Conservation Biology 721, 725 (2005), available at http://eebweb.arizona.edu/courses/Ecol206/Schwartzman%20%26%20Zimmerman% 202005%20A%20worthwhile%20alli ance.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
24. In the early 1990s, for example, an effort by FUNAI to protect indigenous peoples from encroachment by commercial interests (especially miners) ended with the FUNAI president's dismissal.
25. M. Hutchison, S. Nichols, M. Santos, H. Onsrud and S. Paixao, 'Demarcation and Registration of Indigenous Lands in Brazil', Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, Technical Report No. 238, 13-15 (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2005)
26. see also William Bale´e, 'Language, Law, and Land in Pre-Amazonian Brazil', 32 Tex. Int'l L.J. 123, 128-9 (1997) (characterizing Decree 1.775 as a threat to indigenous peoples, biodiversity preservation, and the overall realization of the policies established in the 1988 Constitution of Brazil).
27. For example, Gary Duffy, 'Brazil clears Indian reservation', BBC News,
28. May 2009, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8030223.stm (last visited 9 September 2012).
29. Barbara Zimmerman et al., 'Conservation and development alliances with the Kayapo´ of south-eastern Amazonia, a tropical forest indigenous people', 28(1) Environmental Conservation 10-22 (2001) provides a favorable analysis of the partnership in terms of environmental protection and tribal development.
30. For example, IUCN Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change/REDD: An Overview of Current Discussions and Main Issues (2010) 5, available at: http:// cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_briefing_ips_and_redd_march_2010.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
31. William F. Laurance, 'Forest-climate interactions in fragmented tropical landscapes', 359(1443) Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 345-52 (2004)
32. see also Yadvinder Malhi, et al., 'Climate Change, Deforestation, and the Fate of the Amazon', 319(5860) Science 169-72 at 169 (2008).
33. On the potential of REDD to support adaptation, see Andrew Long, 'Global Climate Governance to Enhance Biodiversity and Well-Being: Integrating Non-State Networks and Public International Law in Tropical Forests', 41 Envtl. L. 95 (2011).
34. P.H. May and B. Millikan. 'The context of REDD+ in Brazil: Drivers, agents and institutions', Occasional paper 55, at 39 (2nd edn, CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia 2011).
35. 'Additionality' refers to questions of whether GHG reductions are beyond those that would be expected in the absence of REDD+ measures. 'Leakage' refers to the concern that a reduction in deforestation in one area may result in a transference of deforestation to another area. 'Permanence' refers to the maintenance of carbon storage over time, with the assumption that GHG reductions should be maintained for long time periods. On these concepts, see for example, Randall S. Abate and Todd A. Wright, 'A Green Solution to Climate Change: The Hybrid Approach to Crediting Reductions in Tropical Deforestation', 20 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol'y F. 87, 103-5 (2010).
36. Leo Peskett et al., 'Making REDD Work for the Poor: A Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP)', Report 15 (2008), available at http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/2580.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
37. For example, Naomi Johnstone, 'Indonesia in the "REDD": Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples and Global Legal Pluralism', 12 Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 93 (2010) (discussing resistance to REDD by indigenous peoples in Indonesia).
38. Heike Schroeder, 'Agency in international climate negotiations: the case of indigenous peoples and avoided deforestation', 10(4) International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law, and Economics, 317-32 (2010).
39. See 'Position of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) on current climate change negotiations', Bonn, Germany, 5 August 2010, available at http://www.cadpi.org/CADPI/CADPI_files/10-06-10Fi nal%20Bonn%20IIPFCC%20statement.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
40. 'Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of Amazon Basin (COICA): Alternative Indigenous REDD+: Territories of Harmonious Life to Cool the Planet', Durban Climate Change Conference, Press Briefing, UNFCCC Webcast (2011), available at http://unfccc4.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop17/ templ/play.php?id_kongresssession=4324&theme=unfccc (last visited 31 August 2012).
41. 'REDD+ Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria: For development and implementation of programs and projects in the Brazilian Amazon' (multi-stakeholder collaboration) (IMAFLORA (ed.), 2010), available at: http:// www.imaflora.org/upload/repositorio/PC_redd_imaflora_english.pdf (last visited
42. Cristiane Prizibisczki, 'Indigenous Leaders Taking REDD+ Into Their Own Hands', Ecosystem Marketplace (2010), available at http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_ id=7611§ion=home (last visited 31 August 2012).
43. For example, 'Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Surui´ Carbon Project', Surui´ Carbono (2011), available at http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/ doc_2693.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
44. M. Cenamo, M. Pavan, M. Campos, A. Barros and F. Carvalhos, Casebook of REDD Projects in Latin America 41 (1st edn, The Nature Conservancy and Instituto de Conservac¸ao e Desenvolvimento Sustenta´vel do Amazonas 2009).
45. Peter H. May and Joao Paulo Soares de Andrade, ICV, 'Brazil - Mato Grosso Case Study', Policy Mix, available at http://policymix.nina.no/Casestudies/BrazilMatoGrosso.aspx (last visited 31 August 2012).
46. Janet Chernela, 'Structures of Participation: Indigenous Peoples in Two Projects in Reduced Deforestation (REDD) in the Brazilian Amazon', Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, 3 at 6 (2011), available at http://www.icarus.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/622-ChernelaIcarus2011.do c (last visited 31 August 2012).
47. Oliver Springate-Baginski and Eva Wollenberg (eds), REDD, forest governance and rural livelihoods the emerging agenda, at 62-3 (CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia 2010).
48. TNC, 'Climate Change: Where We Work: Confronting the Problem, Globally and Locally', available at: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentis sues/global-warming-climate-change/placesweprotect/guaraqueaba-climateac tion-project.xml (last visited 31 August 2012).
49. Hallie Boas, et al., 'No REDD Papers', Volume 1 at 45 (2011), available at: http://www.redd-monitor.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/noredd papers_download.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012).
50. See generally, PBS Frontline World & Center for Investigative Journalism, 'Brazil: The Money Tree' (air date 7 November 2009), available at: http://www. pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/carbonwatch/moneytree/ (last visited 31 August 2012)
51. PBS Frontline World & Center for Investigative Journalism, 'The Carbon Hunters' (10 May 2010), available at http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ carbonwatch/2010/05/the-carbon-hunters.html (last visited 31 August 2012)
52. see also Mark Shapiro, 'GM's Money Tree', Mother Jones (November/December 2009), available at http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/gms-money-trees (last visited 31 August 2012).
53. This appears to be the view of Surui´ leader Almir Narayamoga Surui´, who plays a prominent role in the Surui´ project, for example.
54. See Cristiane Prizibisczki, 'Indigenous Leaders Taking REDD+ Into Their Own Hands', Ecosystem Marketplace (2010), available at http://www.ecosystemmarketplace. com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7611§ion=home (last visited
55. August 2012).
56. As concerns about enforcement by the Force Verde illustrate, however, the state's support for REDD+ enforcement may also cause exclusion of indigenous peoples where they do not have clear tenure rights and are not among the project sponsors.
57. It is possible that the tribes themselves would enter a REDD+ arrangement that effectively excludes members from their own lands, but this exclusion would presumably either be voluntary or the result of cultural misunderstanding.
58. See Jaboury Ghazoul et al., 'REDD: A Reckoning of Environment and Development Implications', 25 Trends in Ecology and Evolution 396, 397 (2010), available at http://news.mongabay.com/publications/Ghazouletal_2010_ TREE_25_396.pdf (last visited 31 August 2012) (noting, however, that 'the latest draft text of REDD offers better prospects in protecting the rights of indigenous peoples').
59. As noted above, legal analysis commissioned to support the Surui´ Carbon Project concluded that the Surui´ have the right to engage in REDD+ activities and receive the benefits (including carbon credit sale benefits) under Brazilian law. Jacob Olander, Beto Borges and Almir Narayamoga Surui´, The Surui´ project: Building Indigenous Peoples' Capacity Avoided Deforestation (REDD) and for Informed Engagement with REDD Finance, in Indigenous Peoples: experiences, challenges and opportunities in the Amazon context, at 114 (Instituto Socioambiental and Forest Trends 2010).