Nature-based and net-zero solutions are again at the forefront of solutions offered by governments and businesses to deal with the climate crisis. These solutions include the creation of carbon market schemes and green energy production projects. We all know that nature-based solutions and net-zero solutions are false solutions, because they fail to address emissions reductions at source; instead they permit the destruction of ecosystems in one place for the promise of restoring ecosystems in another place. There are many documented and ongoing cases of so-called climate solutions infringing on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In many cases, carbon market initiatives involve the establishment of protected areas that restrict Indigenous Peoples' access to their ancestral lands, waters, territories and resources. Most of the time, this is done without obtaining their Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Yet, Indigenous peoples’ survival directly depends on the unrestricted access to their lands and they provide invaluable ecosystem services that allow ecosystems to thrive. Although conserved lands are presented as empty and untouched, actually, they are intensively managed landscapes. The loss of human managers with a multigenerational relationship to the land is a guarantee of ecosystem change.
Produced by Bryan Bixcul (Maya Tz'utujil)
Interviewee: Ghazali Ohorella (Alifuru)
"LIBRES Y VIVAS " by MARE ADVETENCIA, used with permission.
"Burn your village to the ground", by The Halluci Nation, used with permission.