Today is Human Rights Day.
The world has made progress since the United Nations General Assembly
established the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights 76
years ago today. However, in the face of an escalating climate crisis, we must
do more to protect all people — especially the most vulnerable in emerging and
developing economies.
For these countries, the need for climate
finance
is greatest. Despite COP29’s agreement for industrialized countries to
mobilize $300 billion per
year
for developing countries by 2035, this is nowhere near the trillions needed to
avert disaster.
When done well, the voluntary carbon
market (VCM)
can bridge the climate finance gap by funding effective mitigation and
adaptation tools. One such example is nature-based solutions, which can
contribute about 20 percent of the
mitigation needed between now
and 2050 to keep global temperatures below 2°C. The VCM can also channel
critical funding to support the community development, resilience and wellbeing
of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP & LCs) around the world.
Unfortunately, some nature-based carbon projects have had a troubling
history with human rights. In the worst examples of carbon offset projects,
there have been violations of Free Prior and Informed
Consent,
limits on land access and even unlawful land seizures.
In response to the many challenges, several entities have introduced measures to
improve the oversight, integrity and transparency of carbon credit projects to
ensure they produce credible carbon benefits while supporting local communities.
Many of these efforts — including the Integrity Council for the Voluntary
Carbon
Market’s
Core Carbon Principles, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s
guidance for listing
carbon credits, and the White House’s Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy
Statement and
Principles
— focus on environmental integrity
issues,
ensuring carbon benefits are accurately calculated, additional and durable.
These efforts are a step in the right direction; but in my view, we must go
further.
Therefore, I and an interdisciplinary team have been developing the Climate
Justice Standard — a
framework
that supports the social integrity of natural climate solutions. It is designed
for both carbon credit projects and a climate contribution
model
— ensuring flexibility and a commitment to high-quality projects that protect
biodiversity and deliver meaningful socio-economic benefits to IP & LCs while
mitigating climate change.
A promising example and pilot project of the Climate Justice Standard already
embodying these reforms is the Kawsay Ñampi (Way of Life): Conservation and
Preservation of the Living Forest
Project
in Ecuador. Led by the Kichwa People of Sarayaku
in the Ecuadorian Amazon, this initiative demonstrates how nature-based
climate projects can empower IP & LCs, advance climate action and protect
biodiversity
— offering a hopeful model for wealth transfers to the Global South amid growing
climate finance needs.
In the Kawsay Ñampi project, the Sarayaku people employ community-based forest
guards and a technical monitoring team who rely on ancestral ecological
knowledge as well as appropriate technologies. Together, they work to monitor
biodiversity and forest health, detect disturbances and threats to the
ecosystem, and control intrusions into their territory. I have seen the Sarayaku
people fight against oil development and illegal logging on their lands —
persistent threats that continue to endanger their territory.
Revenue from the project will fund forest patrols, ongoing carbon and
biodiversity monitoring, and empower the Sarayaku people to continue their long
history of forest stewardship that includes opposing extractive activities in
and around their land. It will also finance their community plans for
development and wellbeing. The project is seeking funding from socially
responsible companies and organizations that prioritize Indigenous-led climate
solutions and align with the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
To be clear, the Kawsay Ñampi project is not a carbon offset. While it has gone
through a rigorous certification and verification process similar to any other
carbon offset project, Kawsay Ñampi does not allow buyers to claim carbon
reduction or neutrality. This distinction is intended to ensure carbon projects
are seen as a complementary tool to necessary decarbonization action across the
value chain.
Instead, the project adopts a mitigation contribution
model that
recognizes a broader range of benefits. For companies keen to support broader
SDGs,
this model provides an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to climate action
by supporting projects with additional social and environmental
impacts.
By emphasizing both environmental and social potential, the Kawsay Ñampi project
provides a blueprint for the future of equitable, natural climate solutions.
To address the main drivers of deforestation, scale climate mitigation, enhance
biodiversity — and most importantly, uphold human rights — we need to embrace
all available tools, including a reformed voluntary carbon market. With
frameworks such as the Climate Justice Standard, nature-based solutions and
market-based mechanisms can effectively protect human rights while fighting
climate change.
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Founder, Climate Justice Standard
Tracey Osborne is founder of the Climate Justice Standard — a certification for high-quality, community-led climate and biodiversity projects. She is also an Associate Professor at the University of California – Merced, Founding Director of the UC Center for Climate Justice, Visiting Researcher at Google, and an advisor on Benefit Sharing to the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
Published Dec 10, 2024 2pm EST / 11am PST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET