In this issue:
The real finance problem is the trillions still flowing into destruction
Merel Van Der Mark, Forest and Finance Coalition - UNEP reports that USD 8.9 trillion in private finance is still being directed toward activities that harm forests and biodiversity, compared to just USD 7.5 billion toward forest protection. And even that tiny âpositive" slice is questionable â because it includes carbon offset schemes and supposedly âsustainableâ value chains that too often lead to land grabbing, green extractivism and rights violations. ...
Nature-based Solutions: Why are states not focusing efforts on systemic transformations to address the drivers of biodiversity loss?
Meenal Tatpati (Women4Biodiversity) & Valentina Figuera MartĂnez (Global Forest Coalition) - Over the past decade, the concept of âNature-based Solutionsâ (NbS) has been promoted within global environmental governance, with several big conservation NGOs and corporations (such as BP, Chevron, Shell, Bayer, and Microsoft) being strong proponents. Initially developed by IUCN, the term has since spread across climate and biodiversity fora, despite evidence showing that NbS can harm ecosystem functions, violate human rights, and justify greenwashing and offsetting schemes. Additionally, many NbS projects do not consider the risk of impermanence, as climate change and other anthropogenic factors can affect ecosystem health.
The Timber Industry's New Strategy: Gene-Edited Trees
Anne Peterman & Heather Lee, Global Justice Ecology Project - Biotechnology corporations and the pulp and paper industry are advancing a new front in industrial forestry: gene-edited trees. After decades of public opposition and international decisions like the 2008 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) call for the Precautionary Approach regarding genetically modified (GM) trees, industry and researchers are now attempting to sidestep regulationâand public scrutinyâby redefining what counts as âgenetic modification.â
UN experts: Corporate agribusiness imperils biodiversity, rights and food sovereignty
Third World Network - The UN Working Group on Peasants and Rural Workers and Special Rapporteur on the Right to food Michael Fakhri warn that corporate concentration in food systems deepens inequality, marginalises small-scale producers, and drives ecological collapse. Fakhriâs report Corporate Power and Human Rights in Food Systems shows how a few transnational agribusinesses dominate agricultural production, input markets and supply chainsâundermining peasantsâ rights, food sovereignty, and the right to food. The IPBES Transformative Change Assessment identified the same issue of concentration of wealth as an underlying cause of biodiversity loss, creating systemic barriers to transformative change by reinforcing profit-driven models that exploit people and nature.
ECO-72-3.pdf
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