- NGO: Green misuse of 'prior consent' on land use will limit
economic growth in developing countries
DOHA, Qatar and JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pro-development NGO
World Growth has warned against a campaign by groups such as
Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network to require prior consent
by local people for forestry and agriculture projects that generate
greenhouse emissions. The NGO says the campaign is a ruse to ensure
that international climate change policies will limit economic
growth.
World Growth's new report - Who Decides: Community Consent and
Land Use -- examines recent demands by Green groups for the "Free
Prior and Informed Consent" (FPIC) of local people as a
precondition for land developments. It includes a case study of
Indonesia where land disputes are
common because of overlapping laws.
"Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network are now demanding that
FPIC also be a condition for actions by developing countries to
reduce emissions. This report shows FPIC is being used as a
political tool to stymie development," said World Growth Chairman
Ambassador Alan Oxley.
"Free, prior and informed consent' (FPIC) has become a campaign
goal of environmental campaigners in recent years. The FPIC
narrative for environmental campaigners is simple: the private
sector is engaging in projects that adversely impact on local
communities and the solution is to ensure local people exercise
FPIC before large-scale projects commence.
"FPIC was originally intended to apply to arrangements between
governments and indigenous groups based on their customs.
Environmental campaign activists such as Greenpeace and WWF have
taken FPIC In a different direction. They want FPIC to apply to all
resource projects, not only for indigenous groups, but also all
"affected" communities. This is not about supporting indigenous
rights, but about stopping development altogether."
"A number of Western Green campaign groups have seized upon land
disputes in Sumatra, exploiting
them to protest against private sector investments in agriculture
and forestry."
"In the past two years there have been a number of high-profile
land-conflict cases that have led to injuries and fatalities.
Sensationalist claims such as beheadings were even reported to the
media, and later found to be false."
"Research shows Indonesia
already has both legal and regulatory mechanisms for dealing with
land disputes. Western activists have ignored this and instead
demanded that customary landowners should have the right of "free,
prior and informed consent." (FPIC).
"Applying FPIC beyond indigenous groups can potentially
undermine the rule of law. The implication of the Greenpeace-WWF
model is that established land tenure and property rights within
legal frameworks should be disregarded, and made subordinate to an
over-arching concept of FPIC that would sit over the top of
existing legal frameworks.
"This would seem to have more to do with halting development
projects altogether by disrupting operations and increasing
perceptions of risks associated with these projects."
Read the report at:
http://worldgrowth.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/FPIC_DEC12_web_sm.pdf
To contact World Growth's experts email:
info@worldgrowth.org or
phone +61-3-9614-8022