Well, Tessa of  the juden people's liberation Front, it seems it's not just 
me that objects to your scientificly inaccurate policies.
Graham Ennis

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barker, Tom" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: Via Campesina, Biochar, UN Durban Climate Change Conference - 
November 2011 and more


It reminds me of the Judean People's Front Crack Suicide Squad in Monty 
Python's 'Life of Brian', only sadder.

The agro-industrial model is indeed one of the key drivers of climate 
change, and much else, but to encourage much-needed grass roots activists to 
reject technologies that can help them is probably as bad as the 
multinational groups stealing their land and livelihoods in the first place.

Remember that the people who apply scientific principles to help them 
increase profits at whatever expense for others  are not scientists. They 
are governments and corporations. Rejecting the science that can achieve 
sustainability because the wrong people have all the power is shooting 
yourself in both feet with both barrels.

Tom
________________________________________
From: Discussion list for the Crisis Forum [[log in to unmask]] on 
behalf of Tessa Burrington [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 November 2011 00:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Via Campesina, Biochar, UN Durban Climate Change Conference - 
November 2011 and more

SOME PERSPECTIVES ON BIOCHAR AND MORE


VIA CAMPESINA
"Vía Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and 
medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural 
youth and agricultural workers. It is a coalition of around 150 
organisations, with an estimated 300 million members. Vía Campesina recently 
put out a statement about COP-16 in Cancún.

The statement rejects REDD, geoengineering (including biochar and 
genetically modified plants), all carbon trading mechanisms and rejects any 
participation of the World Bank in the management of funds and policies 
related to climate change. Here’s Vía Campesina’s position on REDD:...."

http://www.redd-monitor.org/2010/09/02/via-campesina-rejects-redd-and-carbon-trading/

"(Maputo, 21st November, 2011) - The International Peasant's Movement La Via 
Campesina will be at the 17th Conference of Parties, the UN summit on 
Climate Change, that will take place in Durban, South Africa, from the 28th 
of November to the 9th of December 2011. More than two hundred peasants, 
women and men, from Africa, Europe, Latin America and Caribe will represent 
millions of small-scale producers from around the world, practicing 
agroecology to cool down the Earth.

In Durban, members of La Via Campesina will denounce the industrial 
agriculture model as one of the main drivers of climate change. We will also 
expose agribussiness' aggressive land grabbing tactics globally, causing 
mass displacement of people for monoculture production.

Peasants globally oppose false solutions to climate change, such as 
monoculture plantations, REDD mechanisms, soil carbon markets, and the so 
called “Climate Smart Agriculture”, which instead of solving the climate 
crisis, are heating up the planet.

In Durban, LVC will participate on the Global Day of Action on the 3rd of 
December, to demand social and climate justice. On the 5th of December, all 
African peasants movements will celebrate the Agroecology and Food 
Sovereignty day to Cool Down the Earth, a symbolic manifestation to demand 
respect for the cause of peasants globally..."


http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1153:via-campesina-at-cop17-in-durban-industrial-agriculture-heats-up-the-planet-farmers-are-cooling-it-down&catid=48:-climate-change-and-agrofuels&Itemid=75


PAMBAZUKA NEWS
"...Biochar is without a doubt the geoengineering technology that already 
sees Africa as its preferred testing ground. Unused agricultural ‘waste’, or 
crops and wood from trees grown for this purpose, are burnt under low-oxygen 
conditions in a process known as pyrolisis (a type of gasification) and then 
added to the soil where they remain stored allegedly for ‘hundreds to 
thousands of years’.[11] In addition to supposedly safely sequestering 
carbon, the process delivers bioenergy as a by-product that can replace some 
fossil fuel uses. Already, biochar projects are underway in Burkina Faso, 
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, 
Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and 
Zambia.[12]

There is a huge amount of hype about biochar, and people who are desperate 
for solutions can be surprisingly credulous. Consider this interview with 
Laurens Rademaker from the Biochar Fund, a ‘social profit’ that is 
‘cash-flow positive’ offering ‘investment opportunities’:...."

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/67522


CARBON TRADE WATCH
"...Turning soils into a commodity is profitable to industry but disastrous 
for the poor.
Several patent applications have been made for charcoal use in soil and for 
pyrolysis with charcoal production.  If granted, those will ensure that any 
future profits from the technology will go to companies, not communities. 
Given that successful strategies for combining charcoal with diverse biomass 
in soils were developed by indigenous peoples, ‘biochar’ patenting raises 
serious concerns over biopiracy. The inclusion of soils in carbon markets, 
just like the inclusion forests in carbon trading will increase corporate 
control over vital resources and the exclusion of smallholder farmers, rural 
communities and indigenous peoples...."

ttp://www.carbontradewatch.org/take-action-archive/biochar-a-new-big-threat-to-people-land-and-ecosystems.html


TRANSNATIONAL INSTITUTE
"...A lobby group (the International Biochar Initiative) made up largely of 
startup 'biochar' and agrofuel companies and academics, many of them with 
related commercial interests, are behind the push for 'biochar'. Their 
extremely bold claims are not founded in scientific understanding..."

http://www.tni.org/archives/act/19389


GRAIN
"....Until now, agriculture has been largely excluded from global carbon 
markets, but this is set to change in December 2009 at the Copenhagen 
conference. Agribusiness companies are lobbying hard to make a range of 
farming activities eligible for future funding under the Clean Development 
Mechanism (CDM). As a result, billions of dollars will almost certainly be 
invested in agriculture, mainly livestock production and plantations. What 
makes this prospect so alarming is that this huge investment, carried out in 
the name of mitigating the climate crisis, will be channelled largely to big 
agribusiness. And it is precisely their approach to farming and food 
production that has created so many of the problems we face today..."

http://www.grain.org/article/entries/773-the-agribusiness-lobby-arrives-in-copenhagen

"...Real solutions require that we properly identify the causes of climate 
change, and that we challenge the industrial model, particularly 
agribusiness and the corporate food system, since they are responsible for 
half or more of global greenhouse gas emissions. Above all, real solutions 
require a defence of peasant agriculture, which produces food according to 
local need outside the global corporate food system. Cochabamba has made all 
of this much clearer than ever before, and has helped to open a horizon for 
long-term mobilisations and action..."

http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4045-from-cochabamba-to-cancun-the-urgency-of-real-solutions-to-the-climate-crisis


CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM
"...Overall, new pressures for Africa to engage further with the CDM, and 
particularly for landuse projects, could be highly damaging to the continent’s 
land rights, forests, communities, water and food security. Developed 
countries’ efforts to mitigate climate change through the CDM would in fact 
threaten the resources of land, seeds and water that Africa needs in order 
to ensure its climate change resilience.

African governments should take careful note of the problems inherent in the 
CDM and carbon offset system, learn from the problems experienced with CDM 
projects in Africa so far, and prevent new methodologies which exacerbate 
land grabbing from gaining UNFCCC approval..."

http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4061

ECONEXUS
"Biochar is biomass burned in the near absence of oxygen and it is basically 
identical to charcoal, but used for different purposes. It is being widely 
promoted by various interests as a soil amendment and to sequester carbon, 
often with little detailed argument or evidence in support of the claims 
made.
The book "Biochar for Environmental Management" provides of a large 
collection of articles about biochar by a total of some 50 researchers and 
specialists from a wide range of universities, government departments and 
companies. It demonstrates clearly that there are major gaps in knowledge. 
However, at the same time, some writers speak of biochar as a means to 
address climate change and propose it for carbon markets, in spite of these 
knowledge gaps."
   " This article reviews and discusses biochar with particular reference to 
the book Biochar for Environmental Management - Science and Technology, 
edited by Johannes Lehmann and Stephen Joseph, Earthscan 2009.
    For further information see Agriculture and Climate Change - Real 
Problems, False Solutions EcoNexus et al., December 2009, especially chapter 
5: Biochar: what can we expect from adding charcoal to the soil? and 
Biochar: A critical review of science and policy by Biofuel Watch. "
http://www.econexus.info/topic/biochar



WORLD PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH

"Climate Change negotiations are often deliberately made very complex, so 
normal people cannot understand what it is all about, even less be able to 
react, and ultimately can’t demand climate justice.

I will make a series of posts during the Durban climate change negotiations 
to make them understandable.
A first difficulty is understanding the UNFCCC webpage, and the documents on 
it. Everything is available, but finding them is like searching for a needle 
in the haystack..."

http://pwccc.wordpress.com/

Occupy COP 17

November 25, 2011 in UN climate change negotiations

The Occupy COP 17 Movement proposes the ‘Peoples Agreement’ of Tiquipaya as 
an alternative to start thinking from, in their opposition to the 
non-solutions being proposed by the official fora.

http://occupycop17.org/

"From 28 November to 9 December the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) 
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will 
be taking place in Durban, South Africa. This is where decisions on how to 
avert catastrophic climate change and protect our environment are meant to 
take place.

Instead the very same people responsible for the global financial crisis are 
poised to seize control of our atmosphere, land, forests, mountains and 
waterways. They want to institute carbon markets that will make billions of 
dollars for the elite few, whilst stealing land and resources from the many. 
We need to organise to protect the planet and safeguard those who depend on 
and defend our ecosystems.

Occupy COP17 can be a forum for those who wish to discuss and implement real 
and equitable solutions to climate change, with climate justice at the 
heart. It is open to all, operating on the principles of inclusiveness, 
openness, non-hierarchical organizing and consensus decision making."

http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/occupy-cop-17/

Final Conclusions working group 17: Agriculture and Food Sovereignty:

April 29, 2010 in 17. Agriculture and food sovereignty, Working Groups

"The social movements and popular organizations gathered at the CMPCC 
communicate that despite our constant protests and numerous mobilizations, 
the capitalist governments, international agencies and financial 
institutions continue on the path of exacerbating the destruction of the 
planet. Climate change is one of the most serious threats to food 
sovereignty of all peoples of the world.Once again we state that:..."

http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/final-conclusions-working-group-17-agriculture-and-food-sovereignty/#more-1722


CAMPAIGN AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
The funders of climate disinformation:
http://www.campaigncc.org/denialfunders

"This year the UN Climate talks ("COP 17") are in Durban South Africa. The 
location of the talks in Africa brings into sharp focus the issue of climate 
justice - the fate of poorer more vulnerable countries in a destabilising 
climate, for which the richer countries are largely responsible. In South 
Africa itself there are issues around a big dirty fossil fuel industry from 
which the poor suffer and the rich benefit - as this country which has borne 
witness to stupendous struggles for social justice now mobilises around the 
issue of 'climate justice'.  Rehad Desai is a  film-maker and activist from 
South Africa, who will talk about theclimate justice issues there and the 
South African mobilisation for COP 17."
http://www.campaigncc.org/rehaddesai

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