A Rude Awakening

COP29 – False Solutions

COP29 - False Solutions Souparna Lahiri
COP29 – False Solutions Souparna Lahiri

COP29 – False Solutions

On today’s show, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – Conference Of Parties 29 started this week.  I’ll speak to Souparna Lahiri, Senior Climate and Biodiversity Policy Advisor for Global Forest Coalition about the false solutions being presented.

From the Global Forest Coalition Press Release:

“At UNFCCC COP29 in Baku, the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) is urging immediate action to end the financing of false solutions to climate change, such as carbon trading and offsetting, REDD+, monoculture plantations, bioenergy, and geoengineering. These projects, often carried out using bilateral and multilateral climate finance, avoid real emission reductions while displacing communities, damaging ecosystems, and exacerbating inequalities. GFC is calling for redirecting public funding to support genuine community-driven, rights-based, and gender-just, climate solutions.

GFC is also spotlighting the urgent need to transform global food and agriculture systems to foster climate resilience and justice. With industrial food systems contributing a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and heavily relying on fossil fuels, GFC is advocating for a shift from intensive, corporate-driven agriculture to agroecological systems that prioritize the rights of local communities, food sovereignty, and climate resilience.”

Description of REDD+:

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. The ‘+’ stands for additional forest-related activities that protect the climate, namely sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Link to GFC briefer on COP29:

New Report: The Great REDD+ Climate Illusion