Side event about the hydroelectric dam BELO MONTE (Brazil, Amazon, Xingu River ) took place April 2010, at the World’s Peoples Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights, in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The goal of the event was to build international solidarity to stop the dams in the amazon, and to raise awareness. The Belo Monte Dam would be one of 258 new dams, that Brazil is planning to build in the Brazilian amazon. Belo Monte would be the 3rd largest dam of the world ! Videos by Rebecca Sommer.

VIDEO: part 1
part 2
part 3

CLICK to PLAY:VITAL SIGNS OF WARMING WORLD

Companies, including your utility company and even some environmental groups are lobbying for a mandatory “cap and trade” system that would penalize heavy polluters and reward companies that invest in clean power. Under the plan companies whose emissions are under their “cap” would get credits that could be sold to producers who go over their limit.

LEARN HOW THE “CAP AND TRADE” SCHEME WORKS -Play along as a company making investment decisions in a simulated market using such a system.

CLICK to PLAY:PAYING TO POLLUTE

CLICK: By Chris Lang, 14th December 2009

…Late on Friday night a draft REDD text was leaked to observers in Copenhagen. The draft REDD text has no mention of targets for ending deforestation and includes only weakened language on safeguards….

CLICK here to download pdf:
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES GUIDE:
“False Solutions to Climate Change”UNA GUIA PARA LOS PUEBLOS INDIGENAS:
“Falsas Soluciones al Cambio Climatico”

The following chart is a summary record of the decade long official opposition against the Carbon Market of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change IIPFCC. IIPFCC is the Caucus of Indigenous representatives from all regions of the world in the UN Climate Change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol.

CLICK:read CHART

Click here (pdf file):
Information about REDD from EARTH PEOPLES - ENGLISH

english text below:
DECLARACIÓN DE LA COORDINADORA DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES INDÍEGENAS DE LA CUENCA AMAZÓNICA-(COICA)
Written by COICA
Friday, 13 February 2009
Los Pueblos Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA), con nuestra cosmovisión, diversidad de idiomas, historia, culturas, espiritualidad, territorios, economía, existimos desde tiempos inmemoriales. Hemos adoptado distintas formas de organización y de identidad bajo el marco de los estados nacionales que establecieron normas y leyes de acuerdo a sus intereses, desconociendo los derechos ancestrales de los primeros habitantes del territorio amazónico.

Buscando un consenso entre los 390 pueblos, representando una población de 2,779,478 habitantes, en los 10,268,471 km2 de Amazonía, estuvimos reunidos en el Forum Social Mundial en Belem do Para, Brasil, del 27 de enero hasta el 01 de febrero de 2009. En estos dias sostenimos intensas reuniones y un profundo debate y análisis de las realidades de los pueblos indígenas que vivimos en la Amazonía y en otros biomas, haciendo de eso nuestro apoyo y aporte al proceso del FSM.

Considerando los propósitos y principios de la Declaracion de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas (UNDRIP) y la buena fe en el cumplimiento de las obligaciones contraídas por los Estados que la han adoptado, Afirmamos los derechos de los pueblos indígenas a considerarse a sí mismos diferentes y a ser respetados como tales, y que contribuimos a la diversidad y riqueza de las civilizaciones y culturas que conforman la humanidad; Condenamos a todas las doctrinas, políticas y prácticas basadas en la superioridad de determinados pueblos o nacionalidades y personas que la propugnan aduciendo razones de origen nacional o diferencias raciales, religiosas, étnicas o culturales son racistas, científicamente falsas, jurídicamente inválidas, moralmente condenables y socialmente injustas. Los pueblos indígenas tienen derecho a la libre determinación de su condición política y deben persiguen libremente su desarrollo económico, social y cultural. Por lo tanto:

• Exigimos la demarcación y titulación inmediatas de nuestros territorios
ancestrales utilizados desde siempre por sus habitantes legitimos. Denunciamos y condenamos las intimidaciones violentas con muertes de nuestros líderes por la defensa de los territorios y derechos de los pueblos indígenas.

• Denunciamos el avanze de la frontera agrícola y agropecuaria (agronegócios), responsables por la violación a nuestros derechos referido a la discriminación, despojo de nuestros territorios, deforestación, quema de los bosques y pastizales, contaminación de suelos y rios y uso de agroquímicos y transgenicos y expansion de los monocultivos, la biopiratería, contrabando de madera, los residuos y deshechos de la industria, todos fatores que ponen en riesgo la Soberania Alimentaría, la pérdida de ecosistemas y, luego, la pérdida de nuestra identidad y cultura. Ademas, estos impactos agudizan la vulnerabilidad de nuestros hermanos de pueblos indígenas en aislamiento voluntario, no contactados o en contacto inicial: por ellos exigimos la garantía integral de sus territorios por parte de los estados.

• Denunciamos al mundo que los mega proyectos como IIRSA y PAC (conducida por los estados y gobiernos) son responsables del genocidio de los pueblos indígenas y la depredación de los bosques de la Amazonia: ¡exigimos la abolición de los mismos!

• Rechazamos, el proceso y los niveles de decisiones políticas que obstruyen y manipulam la participación de los pueblos indígenas referido al tema del Cambio Climático: exigimos la amplia difusión de la información y un debate critico entre los pueblos indigenas acerca de los mecanismos y negociaciones en curso relativos a la captación y mercantilización del carbono en territorios indígenas.

• Sobre REDD entendemos como principio que todas las concertaciones sobre mecanismos financieros para la protección de los bosques en nuestros territorios debera reconocer incondicionalmente los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, de acuerdo con la Declaracion de las Naciones Unidas (UNDRIP); nuestros derechos no son negociables. Al momento estamos en processo de información y debate interno a cada organización miembro sobre los potenciales impactos negativos o riesgos que vayan a imponer-se sobre nuestros territorios (como fue el caso de MDL, mecanismos de desarrollo limpio, sobre muchos de nuestros pueblos). Además, las experiencias e interpretaciones de nuestros pueblos indígenas sobre los cambios climáticos, según nuestra cosmovisión, es que este interactúa con multiples factores ambientales y sociales que deben ser integralmente considerados y que no son reductibles al mercado.

• Rechazamos toda la mineria, explotacion de petroleo e hidrocarburos, asi como denunciamos el avanze de producción de agrocombustibles en la Cuenca Amazónica (palma, cana de azucar y soya), emprendimientos altamente destructivos a nuestros ecosistemas. Refutamos el modelo productivo sustentado en el consumismo de los países “desarrollados” y las elites de los países “en desarrollo” de nuestros estados que dependen de las industrias extractivas.

• Instamos a las organizaciones conservacionistas y demas ONGs que depongan actitudes de imposición; mas bien exigimos que el apoyo sea a través de nuestras propias organizaciones indígenas por su representación legítima e institucionalizada. Finalmente, comunicamos al mundo entero que los Pueblos Indígenas Amazónicos,. conducidos por nuestros guías espirituales e inspirados por nuestra historia, procesos y experiencias, mantenemos y reforzamos sociedades respetuosas de la diversidad, de los derechos colectivos de los pueblos y hemos sabido renovar nuestras iniciativas para la promoción, protección y exigibilidad de nuestros derechos, contribuyendo asi para la sobrevivencia de la humanidad.

Mediante esta declaración hacemos un vehemente llamado sobre el respeto a las organizaciones miembros de la COICA, en este caso para con la organización de la COIAB por ser la organización anfitrión, juntamente con estas otras organizaciones indígenas Brasileras y organizaciones indigenas de la region en el presente Foro Social Mundial, Belém, Brasil 2009.

Firmada por los miembros presente de la COICA, al 01 de febrero de 2009.

=============== ENGLISH ========================

DECLARATION OF THE COORDINATOR OF THE AMAZON BASIN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ORGANIZATION (COICA)

Written by COICA   
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
 
The Amazon Basin Indigenous Peoples Organization (COICA) with our worldview, diversity of languages, history, cultures, spirituality, territory, economy, have existed since before recorded time. We have adopted different forms of organization and identity under the framework of the nation states which have established laws and regulations according to their own interests, not recognizing the ancestral rights of the first inhabitants of the amazon region.
Attempting to arrive at a consensus between 390 ethnic groups, representing a population of 2,779,478 people in the 10,268,471 square kilometer Amazon basin, we gathered in Belem do Para, Brazil from Jan. 27th through Feb. 1st for the World Social Forum. While at the forum we held intense meetings and in-depth debate and analysis about the reality of the indigenous peoples living in the Amazon and those from other biomes, offering our support and leadership in the process of the World Social Forum.
We affirm the rights of Indigenous peoples, considering the principles of the declaration by the U.N. in regards to the rights of indigenous peoples (UNDRIP) and the good faith and follow through on the obligations by the nation states that have adopted said declaration, to be considered different, and to be respected as different, and that we contribute to the richness and diversity of civilizations and cultures that make up humanity.
We condemn all doctrines, policies and practices based in the superiority of a determined people or nationality, and the persons whom perpetuate said doctrines, policies and practices through use of rationality based on national origin and racial, religious, ethnic, or cultural differences which are socially unjust, scientifically false, morally condemnable, judicially invalid and otherwise racist. We affirm that indigenous peoples have the right to self determination over their political condition and must freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Therefore:
We demand the immediate zoning and title over our ancestral territory, which has been used as alway by its legitimate inhabitants. We denounce and condemn the violent intimidation through the murders of our leaders for the defense of our territories and rights as indigenous peoples.
We denounce the advance of the agricultural border and agricultural development (agro-industry) responsible for the violation of our rights in reference to discrimination, the plundering of our territories, deforestation, burning of the forest and grasslands, the contamination of soils and rivers, the use of transgenetics and agrochemicals, the expansion of monoculture, bio-piracy, illegal timber traffic, industrial residues and waste, all factors that put at risk our food sovereignty, the lost of ecosystems, and finally the the lost of our cultural values and identity.
Furthermore, these impacts deepen the vulnerability of our sister indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, living without outside contact or in the early phase of outside contact- we demand, on there behalf, the integral guarantee of there territories by the part of the nation states concerned.
We denounce to the world the genocide of indigenous peoples and the depredation of the amazonian forests by mega-projects of South American Regional Infrastructure Integration Initiative (IIRSA) and PAC, which are operated by the nation states and governments. We demand abolition of these mega-projects.
We reject the levels and processes of policy decisions that obstruct and manipulate the participation of indigenous peoples in regards to the subject of climate change. We demand the broad diffusion of information and critical debate by indigenous peoples in relation to the financial mechanism and negotiations underway relative to the use and marketing of carbon in indigenous territories.
In regards to UN-REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries) we understand that as principle any and all concer on financial mechanism dealing with the protection of forests in our territories must unconditionally recognize the rights of indigenous peoples, in agreement with the U.N. declaration of indigenous peoples rights (UNDRIP): Our rights are non-negociable. We are currently in the process of information gathering and internal debate with our members in regards to potential negative impacts and risks within our territories of this program (as was the case with MCD, Mechanism of Clean Development, with many of our communities). Furthermore, the experiences and interpretations of climate change by our indigenous peoples, according to our worldview, is that this change interacts with multiple factors, both social and environmental and therefore must be consider in an integral way and not merely reduced to market concerns.
We reject all mining, petroleum and hydrocarbon exploitation, the same way that we denounce the advance of agriculture based fuel (ethanol) production in the Amazon Basin (palm oil, sugarcane, and soy), all of which are highly destructive to our ecosystems. We refute the model of production that is sustained by by the consumerism of the “developed” world and of the elites of the “developing” world in our nation-state which depends on the extracting industries.
We insist that conservation organizations and other n.g.o’s dispose of any imposing attitudes and rather we demand that the support be made by the legitimate and institutional representation by our own indigenous organizations.
Finally, we communicate to the entire world that we the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, lead by our spiritual guides, inspired by our history, processes, and experiences, maintain and reinforce societies that respect the collective rights of peoples and diversity, and we have had the wisdom to renew our initiatives to promote, protect, and enforce our rights and by so contribute to the survival of the human race.
By means of this Declaration we enthusiastically express our respect for all the member organizations of COICA, and in particular the COIAB organization for hosting this event, together with the other indigenous organizations from Brazil and all indigenous organizations present here at the World Social Forum, Belém, Brazil, 2009.
Signed by present members of the COICA, on the 1st of Febuary, 2009.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO:

(filmed by Rebecca Sommer © SommerFilms for EARTH PEOPLES)

Below the statement, which was not read in the Plenary room:
Statement of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change
SBSTA
December 10, 2008
Chair,
We acknowledge the efforts of some Parties who have supported and worked with us to reflect our rights and our full and effective participation in this COP14. However, we DENOUNCE those Parties, including Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia who continue to exercise, outmoded, outdated colonial power structures that the rest of the world left behind decades ago.
We remind the parties that UNFCCC is NOT a consensus document AND perhaps a time has come for a simple majority vote that lets these four nations know how isolated their position is.
On the 60th Anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights IT IS APALLING that any UNITED NATIONS BODY is still denies extending the Rights enshrined in this document to the Indigenous Peoples of the planet. It is a abrogation of BOTH the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Reference to the draft text ON SBSTA 29 agenda item 5, on REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action]. In the annex of this document, 1 (c ), we are profoundly disappointed that the Indigenous Peoples fundamental rights, INCLUDING the UNDRIP and other existing Human Rights instruments (Convention ILO169) are not included in the operative paragraphs of the latest document of SBSTA29 .
We, are just not ONE SINGLE indigenous people, as the document states. WE ARE a multitude of indigenous Peoples from multiple countries, with multiple languages, diverse cultures and background and experiences. TO REDUCE all this, to the concept of a singular unitary experience IS A DENIAL OF THE RICHNESS OF DIVERSITY THAT EXIST WITHIN, the framework of indigenous peoples as a collective of individual nations.
For this reason, WE, appeal to the UNFCCC and Parties take affirmative action to reaffirm the rights of Indigenous Peoples as codified in UNDRIP and other relevant Human Rights instruments (EG. Convention ILO 169). Any decision or measure that will be adopted at this COP, in particular the REDD process, must reaffirm the principle of free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples AND OUR RIGHT of the Indigenous Peoples TO SAY NO,. In that regard, Indigenous Peoples must be included as parties to official decisions, should be centrally involved in and benefit from, all climate change and forest programs and policies at all levels to ensure that they deliver justice and equity and contribute to sustainable development, biodiversity protection, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
We, demand an IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION of all REDD initiatives and carbon market schemes in Indigenous Peoples territories UNTIL Indigenous Peoples Rights are fully RECOGNIZED, PROTECTED AND PROMOTED.
Thank you.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND NGOs OUTRAGED AT THE REMOVAL OF RIGHTS FROM UNFCCC DECISION ON REDD

Click for more photos

Poznan, Poland– 9 December 2008

We, the undersigned representatives of indigenous peoples, local communities and non-governmental organizations monitoring the progress of negotiations in Poznan are outraged that the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted today by government delegates at the UN Climate Conference.

These four countries (often known as the ‘CANZUS Group’) want to include REDD in the future climate agreement, but they oppose protecting the rights of the indigenous and forest peoples who will be directly affected by REDD measures. In discussions today, these countries insisted that the word “rights” and references to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples be struck from the text.

This is totally unacceptable for indigenous peoples, local communities and supporting NGOs, as the forests which are being targeted for REDD are those which indigenous peoples have sustained and protected for thousands of years. The rights of forests peoples to continue playing this role and being rewarded for doing so has to be recognized by the UNFCCC Parties. Any REDD mechanism that does not respect and protect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities will fail.

We therefore demand that an unequivocal reference to rights and to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples be reinserted into the Draft COP14 Decision text on REDD.

Poznan, December 9, 2008