Public debate on REDD+ and forest justice

A public debate about the potential for emerging conservation initiatives to make international forestry fairer for local communities in developing countries will take place at UEA London on 20 July.

The event, ‘Does REDD+ make international forestry more just? [1]’, has been organised by DEV’s Global Environmental Justice [8] research group and is the first in a planned series of UEA London Debates on Environmental Justice and International Development.

The debate will bring the idea of global environmental justice to bear upon current debates about REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Event organiser Dr Thomas Sikor [9] (DEV) said: “REDD+ is a relatively novel scheme by which countries in the global North pay countries in the global South for the conservation of their forests. Yet REDD+ may also perpetuate or deepen forest people’s historical dispossession from their forests. Just as timber logging in the past, carbon forestry may work to the sole advantage of powerful state and industrial interests.”

The panel will include representatives from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) [10], London School of Economics [11], DFID [12], FERN [13], and RECOFTC (The Center for People and Forests) [14] and the debate will be moderated by John Vidal [15], the Guardian's environment editor.

The event takes place on July 20 from 6-8pm at the UEA London Study Centre, London E1 7EZ. For more information, visit the Global Environmental Justice [8] research group webpage or download an event flyer [16] (pdf)

To register to attend this free event, email Peter Quinn at p.quinn@uea.ac.uk [17] or tel: +44 (0)1603 59 2329