PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc, Justice and Peace at meetings in Buenaventura with Canadian Embassy

On January 31, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“We accompany @Nomadesc [the Association for Research and Social Action] at a meeting with @CanadayColombia and leaders of Buenaventura. They shared about the control of armed groups in river basins and the humanitarian crisis they are suffering. Also, that companies acquire their land illegally to sell carbon credits.”

PBI-Colombia adds:

“In a meeting with leaders of the Naya Community Council who are accompanied by @Justiciaypazcol [Inter-Church Commission on Justice and Peace] they shared the situation of abandonment that they find on the part of the institutionality. They have high hopes in the face of Total Peace but there is still great control by armed actors.”

Earlier in the day, Nomadesc also tweeted:

“In meeting #PalenqueElCongal @renacientes [the Black Communities Process (PCN) Buenaventura office, Palenque el Congal] with @CanadayColombia and @PBIColombia territorial authorities and @Nomadesc They carry out x-rays of the socio-environmental, economic and armed conflict in Buenaventura and propose steps to overcome #humanitarianemergency threat and persecution.”

They also tweeted:

“Legal clarification of the territories, prior free and informed consultation, care and defense of nature, collective protection, strengthening of autonomy and empowerment of women, urgent and necessary steps to walk towards #TotalPeace #InYurumanguiWeAreMissing”

The Yurumanguí is a river in Buenaventura.

“Companies acquire their land illegally to sell carbon credits”

On July 4, 2022, NOMADESC, a Canadian labour delegation, PBI-Colombia and PBI-Canada also attended a meeting with the Black Communities Process at the same office in Buenaventura and heard about displacement, forced disappearances, “free trade” and a forest-related carbon offset scheme (as noted in the PBI-Colombia tweet above).

Tangara REDD+

This may refer to the TANGARA REDD+ project.

As noted here: “The project TANGARA REDD+ is the only project that is developed on private land to the south of the bay of Buenaventura, in the Valley of the Cauca, Colombia, and aims to protect 8.558 hectares of tropical moist forest. Its name is a homage to one of the main species of fauna that are protected through the activities of this project: the bird tanager.”

It reportedly started in 2010 and its “year of validation” was 2018.

Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga REDD+

There is also the Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga project.

The International Database on REDD+ projects and programmes provides some details about the Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga (BCBM) REDD+ Project.

In July 2021, the FTX Foundation Group said it had “publicly committed to spending a minimum of $1 million this year to offset the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and storage” and had “already purchased over $1 million (or 100,000 tons) in carbon offsets through two organizations, BurnStoves and Pachama” and that Pachama “allows corporations to buy forest based carbon offsets from projects around the world” including the “Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga project in Colombia”.

The “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” (REDD+) programme has been denounced by many climate justice groups as a “false solution” to the climate crisis. The Swift Foundation has explained: “REDD schemes have denied Indigenous Peoples their territorial and legal rights, leading to food insecurity, illegal land grabs, the increase of monoculture farming, and invasive stakeholders.”

We continue to follow the issues raised in these meetings.

Further reading: Global Biodiversity Framework to be discussed in Montreal amid concerns about Afro-Colombian ancestral rights and title (August 2022)