Due to the finance this mechanism entails, the Nigerian government is telling communities, that have depended on forests for years, that REDD is a way of development and that they are going to be compensated, but that they cannot depend on those forests anymore. This is what Rita Osarogiagbon, member of Environmental Rights Action – Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said in an interview with Real World Radio.

In addition, the activist made reference to the role of questionable companies in terms of environmental care, such as oil giant Shell, a company that has been criticized due to the pollution caused in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta.

Environmental Rights Action is working to denounce the harmful practices of the mechanisms and of the companies that promote them, in a process that aims to make the members of affected communities know their rights.

The group has promoted the carrying out of workshops for communities to have access to the necessary tools to question these projects, and for them to have the possibility to reject the policies that do not benefit them and that are detrimental for the communities and the environment.

The activist highlighted the environmental problems related to the implementation of REDD and REDD+ in other parts of the world, since it has replaced forests with plantations to the benefit of private actors.

“It is like putting a price on our forests and resources”, said Osarogiabon, and she added that they were in favor of forest conservation, but against their inclusion in carbon markets, since that is not a real solution to climate change, but a way for polluters to profit.

Photo: http://www.eraction.org/