Is Nature Based Solutions greenwashing-numerous organizations write an open letter
From the conservation industry’s perspective, the idea is simple: corporations pay them to enclose forests or plant trees on land they claim is “degraded” and which could absorb more carbon if restored. In return, the corporations claim that the climate damage from their ongoing greenhouse gas emissions is being cancelled out.
Big climate polluters like Shell and Nestlé are peddling a dangerous scam. They say they can bring their greenhouse gas emissions down to zero and keep burning fossil fuels, mine more of the planet, and increase industrial meat and dairy production. They call this reducing emissions to “net-zero”.
Planting trees, protecting forests and tweaking industrial farming practices, they claim, will store enough extra carbon in plants and the soil to cancel out the greenhouse gas emissions they pump into the atmosphere.
What corporations and big conservation groups call “nature-based solutions” is a dangerous distraction. Their marketing concept is dressed up with unproven and flawed data and the claim that the idea can provide 37 percent of reductions in CO2 by 2030.
More and more corporations, from Total to Microsoft to Unilever, are making “nature-based solutions” the core of their climate action plans while the conservation industry taps into corporate “nature-based solutions” funding to expand their control over forests.
From the conservation industry’s perspective, the idea is simple: corporations pay them to enclose forests or plant trees on land they claim is “degraded” and which could absorb more carbon if restored. In return, the corporations claim that the climate damage from their ongoing greenhouse gas emissions is being cancelled out.
Often, a document referred to as a carbon credit is used to market this offsetting claim.
When corporations and big conservation groups talk about “nature”, they mean enclosed spaces devoid of people. They mean protected areas guarded by armed rangers, tree plantations and large monoculture farms. Their “nature” is incompatible with nature understood as territory, as a life space inseparable from the cultures, food systems and livelihoods of the communities who care for it and who see themselves as intrinsic parts of it. What’s more, behind a marketing front of genuine agroecology and natural regeneration initiatives, backers of “nature-based solutions” are preparing to advance yet more harmful practices such as monoculture tree plantations and industrial agriculture. “Nature-based solutions” are thus not a solution, they are a scam. The purported solutions will result in “nature-based dispossessions” because they will enclose the remaining living spaces of Indigenous Peoples, peasants and other forest-dependent communities and reduce “nature” to a service provider for offsetting corporations’ pollution and to protect the profits of those corporations most responsible for climate chaos. Indigenous Peoples, peasants and other forest-dependent communities whose territories are being enclosed will face more violence, more restrictions on their use of their lands and more outside control over their territories. “Nature-based solutions” are a repeat of the failed REDD+ tree planting and forest conservation schemes that the same conservation groups have been promoting for the past 15 years.
REDD+ has done nothing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions or reign in the big food and agribusiness companies driving deforestation. Its enduring legacy, however, is the loss of lands and forests for peasant and forest-based communities and heavy restrictions on how they can use their land. REDD+ has also birthed an industry of “sustainability and safeguards” consultants and project proponents who profit from declaring REDD+ projects ‘sustainable’, despite the violations of rights that such projects cause. The proponents of “nature-based solutions” are now utilising the same tactics of certification schemes and safeguards to deflect criticism and to obscure their corporate take-over of community lands and forests. The companies with “nature-based solutions” in their climate action plans intend to increase their production of highly polluting products. In the flawed logic of corporate “nature-based solutions”, more pollution means that corporations will need to claim more land as their carbon storage facility; it will mean more dispossessions and more restrictions on peasant farming and community use of their territories. It will also mean even more corporate control over lands and forests.
The Italian energy company Eni says by 2050 it will still be using fossil fuels to generate 90% of its energy. To offset these emissions, it will have to claim the entire potential of all the forests in Italy to absorb carbon-8 million hectares for Eni’s “net-zero” claim!
According to the NGO Oxfam, the net zero targets of just four of the big oil and gas corporations (Shell, BP, Total and Eni) alone could require an area of land twice the size of the UK.
That is just a couple of the big energy companies. The “net-zero” plan of world’s largest food company, Nestlé, could require 4.4 million hectares of land per year for offsets. And the plans of Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon are also based on enclosure of similarly large areas of land. Corporations and the large conservation NGOs are peddling this latest false corporate solution not just in the climate talks; they are also pushing the idea into governmental meetings of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In connection with the Food Systems Summit in September 2021, “Nature positive production” is being used as a similar concept to NBS to further industrialise agriculture and expand corporate control.
If these attempts are successful, the result will be more climate chaos and an even quicker loss of biodiversity, while corporations continue to profit from destruction and the burning of fossil carbon.
Governments need to know that there is a growing movement of frontline communities, organisations and activists for climate justice.
The signatories of this statement, which includes 364 organizations states that they will stand together to resist attempts to grab peoples’ territories for nature-based dispossessions and carbon offsetting. We call on climate, environmental and social justice movements to unequivocally reject “nature-based solutions” and all offset schemes. Such schemes are not designed to address the climate crisis. Their primary function is to buy another decade or two of unrestrained corporate profiteering from fossil carbon extraction and industrial agriculture while increasing outside control over community territories. Climate neutrality amounts to little more than paper reductions, achieved through creative book-keeping and unverifiable claims to have prevented of hypothetical emissions. Time has run out for such distractions. Only a rapid, time-bound plan to leaving the remaining coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground and industrial agriculture overhauled will avert catastrophic climate chaos.
Frontline communities opposed to fossil fuel extraction, pipelines, mines, plantations and other extractive industry projects are showing the way.
Opposition to “nature-based solutions” and community resistance against the destruction of underground carbon deposits, corporate mining and agroindustry must be understood as part of the same larger struggle to stop the corporate take-over of community territories. Grassroots communities are also at the forefront of struggles for food sovereignty and agroecology which are necessary to resolving the manifold crisis afflicting the planet. We recognize and support the struggles led by grassroots communities for control over the territories on which they depend, today and in the future.
Initial signatories
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)
Alianza Biodiversidad
Asian Pacific Movement on Debt and Development
ETC group
Focus on the Global South
Global Grassroots Justice Alliance (GGJ)
GRAIN
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
Indigenous Climate Action (ICA)
Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
World March of Women (WMW)
World Rainforest Movement (WRM)
Movements, regional and international organisations
ActionAid International
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), Europe
FIAN International
Gender Action
Global Forest Coalition
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Land Rights Now
La Via Campesina
WoMin African Alliance
NGO Forum on ADB
No REDD in Africa Network
Oilwatch Latin America
Plataforma Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Justicia Climática
Society for International Development (SID)
Stay Grounded
Third World Network
National organisations
Asamblea Mercedina por la Agroecologia (AMA), Argentina
Asamblea Rio Cuarto sin agrotóxicos, Argentina
Asociación Manekenk, Argentina
Asociación de Parques Nacionales, Argentina
BIOS Argentina, Argentina
Fundación “Dr. Ramón Carrillo” Chaco, Argentina
Fundación Vertientes de Saldan, Argentina
Movimiento Nacional de Salud LAICRIMPO, Argentina
Naturaleza de Derechos, Argentina
Observatorio del Agua – Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia
SJB, Argentina
Proyecto Producción, circulación y consumo de alimentos y
plantas medicinales en situaciones de resistencia y subalternidad Secty Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Siete Agendas, Argentina
Tendencia Revolucionaria Peronista Seccion Prensa, Argentina
Unión de Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad y la
Naturaleza de América Latina – UCCSNAL, Argentina
XR Argentina
Aid/Watch, Australia
Climate Justice Programme, Australia
Sidereal Press Pty Ltd., Australia
ÖBV-Via Campesina Austria
Participatory Research Action Network-PRAAN, Bangladesh
Beaulieu G, Belgium
CETRI – Centre Tricontinental, Belgium
Food & Water Action Europe, Belgium
Green Finance Observatory ASBL, Belgium
No Deal For Nature, Belgium
Nature Tropicale, Benin
Bolivia Libre de Transgenicos, Bolivia
Centro de Mujeres Candelaria, Bolivia
Consumidores Conscientes, Bolivia
Aliança RECOs – Redes de Cooperação Comunitária Sem
Fronteiras, Brazil
Alternativas para Pequena Agricultura no Tocantins/APATO,
Brazil
Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho, Brazil
Amigos da Terra Brasil, Brazil
Aqua Lazuli, Brazil
Articulação Agro é Fogo, Brazil
Campanha nem um poço a mais, Brazil
Centro Ecológico, Brazil
Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI) Regional Amazônia
Ocidental, Brazil
Dossiê Acre, Brazil
FAMA – Forum Alternativo Mundial da Água, Brazil
FAOR – Fórum da Amazônia Oriental, Brazil
FASE -ES, Brazil
Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Socioambiental, Brazil
Fundo DEMA, Brazil
Grupo de Pesquisa “Territorialidades e imaginários na
Amazõnia”, Brazil
Instituto de Direitos do Terceiro Setor, Brazil
Movimento Mulheres pela P@Z!, Brazil
Núcleo de Pesquisa e Apoio à Agricultura familiar, Brazil
NUPESDAO-UFAC, Brazil
Observatório da Mulher, Brazil
Pastoral Social da Arquidiocese de Santarem – PARA, Brazil
Rede Brasileira Ecossocialista, Brazil
SOF Sempreviva Organização Feminista, Brazil
Solo Fértil/Base Colaborativa, Brazil
Propreté Environnement et Santé (PES), Burundi
Social Action for Community and Development, Cambodia
Ajemalebu Self Help (AJESH), Cameroon
Mamour Consulting, Cameroon
RADD, Cameroon
Flow Natural Ltd, Canada
Hunter Honey Kamloops, Canada
Mapuche Nation support Committee, Edmonton, Canada
Northern Touch Consulting Corp., Canada
Shaping Change Collaborative, Canada
Silva Forest Foundation, Canada
Union paysanne, Canada
Villa St. Joseph Ecology & Spirituality Centre, Canada
Colectivo VientoSur, Chile
Estero Vivo Quilpué, Chile
Exige Vivir Sano, Chile
Yanapanaku, Chile
Agencia Prensa Rural, Colombia
agua, semillas de vida, Colombia
Asociación Memoria Raizal, Colombia
Censat Agua Viva – Amigos de la Tierra Colombia, Colombia
Colegio Distrital Carlos Arturo Torres, Colombia
Comité Ambiental en Defensa de la Vida- Tolima, Colombia
Defensa Humedal El Cortijo, Colombia
Fundacion CREACUA, Colombia
Grupo Semillas, Colombia
Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar-ICBF, Colombia
Instituto Latinoamericano para una Sociedad y un Derecho
Alternativos – ILSA, Colombia
Junta de Acción Comunal en Bolivia, Colombia
Observatorio de Expansión Minero Energética y Reexistencias, Colombia
Semillero Ciencia de la Información, Sociedad y Cultura,
Colombia
Bloqueverde, Costa Rica
MARBE, Costa Rica
Movimiento Conservación Ambiental Fincas 3y4UCR, Costa
Rica
Red de coordinación en Biodiversidad , Costa Rica
Stibrawpa Asociación indígena, Costa Rica
APEM, Democratic Republic of Congo
Biso Peuple, Democratic Republic of Congo
CERAMES, Democratic Republic of Congo
Construisons Ensemble Le Monde, Democratic Republic of
Congo
Réseau CREF, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reseau Ressources Naturelles, Democratic Republic of Congo
Solidarité Communautaire pour le Développement et la Paix
(SOCODEP asbl), Democratic Republic of Congo
VIVAT International, Democratic Republic of Congo
NOAH – Friends of the Earth Denmark, Denmark
Transform!Danmark, Denmark
Wo-Mi, Denmark
Acción Ecologica, Ecuador
Red Agroecológica Loja, Ecuador
CESTA, Amigos de la Tierra El Salvador, El Salvador
Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Ethiopia
ACT4DEM, Finland
Suomen maanystävät/Friends of the Earth Finland, Finland
Adéquations, France
Aitec, France
Alliance of Mother Nature’s Guardians, France
ATTAC France, France
Editions Estaimpuis, France
Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF), France
ICRA International, France
Kerouanton, France
Maiouri Nature Guyane, France
Planète Amazone, France
Sciences Citoyennes, France
Smithers and Kemp, France
Stop Precarité, France
TierrAmorOyo, France
Varan, France
Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
Association for Farmers Rights Defense (AFRD), Georgia
ARA (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald & Artenschutz),
Germany
Bella Terra, Germany
Colectivo Mawvn, Germany
denkhausbremen, Germany
FIAN Germany, Germany
Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
Fossil Free Lüneburg, Germany
Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), Germany
Lebende Samen Living Seeds e.V., Germany
Rainforest Rescue (Rettet den Regenwald e.V.), Germany
SAN Germany / Seeds Action Network, Germany
ΚΟΙΝΟΒΙΟ -Cooperating Organic Farms, Greece
Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria en
Guatemala REDSAG, Guatemala
Haiti Survie, Haiti
ANAFAE, Honduras
Coalicion de Redes y Organizaciones Ambientales de
Honduras, Honduras
Equipo de Colaboración y Reflexión ECORE, Honduras
Ofraneh, Honduras
All India Union of Forest Working People AIUFWP, India
Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch, India
Chetana Society, India
Food Sovereignty Alliance, India
Himdhara Collective, India
Indian Social Action Forum, India
Indigenous Perspectives, India
Movement for Advancing Understanding on Sustainability
And Mutuality (MAUSAM), India
TISS Mumbai, India
Top Quark Films, India
ToxicsWatch Alliance, India
debtWATCH Indonesia, Indonesia
Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), Indonesia
Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (JATAM), Indonesia
Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak atas air (KRuHA), Indonesia
KONPHALINDO, Indonesia
School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia
TKPT – Ruang Baca Puan, Indonesia
Cobh Zero Waste, Ireland
Elders for Earth, Ireland
Just Forests, Ireland
Nexus Research Coop, Ireland
ReCommon, Italy
Yasuko Shimizu, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
Forest Protection Group in Japan, Japan
Galken Permaculture, Kenya
Grail, Kenya
Consumers’ Association of Penang, Malaysia
Initiative for Agriculture and Rural Development in Mali, Mali
Aula Verde AC, México
Centro de Investigación y Recursos para el Desarrollo, México
Colectivo Encino, México
Comité Nacional para la Defensa y Conservación de Los
Chimalapas, México
Editorial ALIDRA, México
Investigacion y Acción Biocultural, Anima Mundi, A.C., México
Lab-ETA (ENES-UNAM, Morelia), México
Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC, México
Mujeres y maíz, México
Observatorio Universitario de Seguridad Alimentaria y
Nutricional del Estado de Guanajuato, México
ojoVoz.net, México
Otros Mundos Chiapas- Amigos de la Tierra México, México
Red de Agricultura Urbana y Periurbana de la Zona
Metropolitana de Guadalajara, México
Regeneración Social MX, México
Semillas de Nuestra Tierra, AC, México
Unidad de l Fuerza Indígena y Campesina, México
Inra, Morocco
ALTERNACTIVA – Acção Pela Emancipação Social, Mozambique
JA! Justica Ambiental, Mozambique
Missao Tabita, Mozambique
Plataforma nacional da mulher e Rapariga
Cooperativistas/AMPCM, Mozambique
South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), Nepal
Atelier CCG, The Netherlands
globalinfo.nl, The Netherlands
Landelijk Netwerk Bossen- en Bomenbescherming, The
Netherlands
Stichting Gast, The Netherlands
Transnational Institute, The Netherlands
Water Justice and Gender, The Netherlands
Working Group Food Justice, The Netherlands
Akariro Films, New Zealand
Casa Congo, Nicaragua
Association Nigérienne des Scouts de l’Environnement, Niger
Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
Wise Administration of Terrestrial Environment and
Resources, Nigeria
Spire, Norway
Pakistab Kissan Rabita Committee – PKRC (Pakistan Farmers
Coordination Committee), Pakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan
Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee – PKRC, Pakistan
Asociacion Indigena Ambiental (AIA), Panama
Oro Communities Environmental Awareness Network
(OCEAN), Papua New Guinea
Unión de Organizaciones y Ciudadan@s de Ñeembucú
(UOCÑ), Paraguay
Alturas de la Amazonía, Perú
Ambientalistas Perú, Perú
Red Ambiental Peruana – RAP, Perú
Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA), Philippines
Community legal help and policy center, Philippines
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center – Friends of the
Earth Philippines, Philippines
Living Laudato Si’ Philippines, Philippines
National Food Coalition, Philippines
Peoples Development Institute, Philippines
Climáximo, Portugal
MartinGreens Innovation, Portugal
Nature-D-Congo, Republic of Congo
AfrosRD, Dominican Républic
Centro Montalvo, Dominican Républic
Papaméhiva, Réunion Island
amicsarbres, Spain
Amigas de la Tierra / Friends of the Earth, Spain
Arran de terra, Spain
Comité Internacional del Corredor Biológico Mundial, Spain
Ecologistas en Acción Almería, Spain
Ecologistas en Acción de El Ejido, Spain
Federacion de Comites de Solidaridad con Africa Negra –
UMOYA, Spain
Fundación Galicia Verde, Spain
Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts Observation
Network, Spain
Proyecto Gran Simio, Spain
Ruralitzem, Spain
Unión Universal Desarrollo Solidario, Spain
Universal global de ediciones, Spain
Vall de Can Masdeu, Spain
Centre for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka
Bread for all, Switzerland
Cardamom Hill Research, Switzerland
Pro Natura – Friends of the Earth Switzerland, Switzerland
semnar / saatgutpolitik & wissenschaft, Switzerland
SUHODE Foundation, Tanzania
Thai Climate Justice for All, Thailand
Les amis de la terre-Togo, Togo
The Association of Rural Environment and Forestry, Turkey
RAREF, Turkey
New Horizons Women’s Education Centre, Uganda
Aberdeen Climate Action CIC, United Kingdom
Action on Climate Change Teignbridge (ACT), United Kingdom
Adio Health Ltd, United Kingdom
Extinction Reality, United Kingdom
Flourishing Diversity, United Kingdom
Fresh Eyes, United Kingdom
Global Justice Herts and Beds, United Kingdom
Global Justice Now, United Kingdom
Rainforest Foundation UK, United Kingdom
Survival International, United Kingdom
The Corner House, United Kingdom
War on Want, United Kingdom
Colectivo TÁ, Uruguay
RAPAL, Uruguay
REDES-Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay, Uruguay
Voces de América, Uruguay
350 New Orleans, USA
ActionAid USA, USA
Amazon Watch, USA
BCMAC, USA
Berks Gas Truth, USA
Biofuelwatch, USA / United Kingdom
Central Park Gallery, USA
Campaign to Stop GE Trees, USA
Cibnor News, USA
Coastal Environmental Alliance to Stop Ecocide (CEASE), USA
Community Alliance for Global Justice, USA
Denver Peace Council, USA
Dreams United/Sueños Unidos, USA
EarthCorp Foundation Inc, USA
Eden Foods, USA
Environment Matters (envmatters.org), USA
Ethical Markets Media Certified B. Corporation, USA
Extinction Rebellion New Orleans, USA
Food & Water Watch, USA
FoodFarmsDemocracy.net, USA
GeoEsse, USA
Gettysburg Environmental Concerns Organization, USA
Global Justice Ecology Project, USA
Human Nature, USA
Institute for Social Ecology, USA
Just Food and Water, USA
Live Zero Waste, USA
Maple Hill Garden, USA
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, USA
MN350, MN Divestment Coalition and Walker Community
United Methodist Church, USA
National Family Farm Coalition, USA
New York Row and Grow: Boat House and Garden Group, USA
OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, USA
Parable of the Sower Intentional Community Cooperative,USA
PLANT (Partners for the Land and Agricultural Needs of
Traditional Peoples), USA
PeoplesHub, USA
Popular Resistance, USA
Rainforest Relief, USA
Ríos to Rivers, USA
Rising Tide Wenatchee, USA
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, USA
SAFES, USA
Sanctuary at Sunrise Hill, USA
Seattle Solidarity Network, USA
Shalom Mennonite Congregation, USA
Sunflower Alliance, USA
SustainUS, USA
Tasting Awareness, USA
Texas Drought Project, USA
The Hive Tribe, USA
UC Davis, Indigenous Research Center of the Americas, USA
Until Justice Data Partners, USA
Water Climate Trust, USA
Whole Community as Methodology, USA
Windrose Fund, USA
Yoga For Peace, Justice, Harmony With the Plane, USA
Coalición de Tendencia Clasista (CTC-VZLA), Venezuela
Comuna Socioproductiva Corozo Dulce y Revolucionaria,
Venezuela
Fundacion Instituto de Ingenieria, Venezuela
Fundación Tierra Vermelha, Venzuela
Observatorio de Ecología Política de Venezuela, Venezuela
Plataforma de Lucha Campesina, Venezuela
PNFAE Agroecologia, Venezuela
Red de Cooperación Amazónica REDCAM, Venezuela
TV Caricuao, Venezuela
In addition to the 364 organisations, 128 individuals from 19 countries signed the declaration
