A Critical Conversation on Climate Change ... - Green Choices

232 development dialogue september 2006 – carbon tradingPROFAFOR contracts demand even longer terms, of up to 99 years.)But the money runs out long before that. Nor are the communitiesgiven any information on where or how they might market the timber.But it’s not only a money matter. The PROFAFOR contract also ensuresthat the community turns over communal land and labour tothe company for free.How does that work?Well, take land first. Under the contract, PROFAFOR gets – rentfree– large tracts of community land, which then cannot be turnedto any other purpose than the production of carbon credits for theinternational market for 20 or 30 years.This is not farmland. Cultivation goes on in other zones of communalproperty where the land has already been divided up among families.But PROFAFOR is wrong to say that the land is ‘degraded’, ‘isnot being used’ or ‘is not suitable for subsistence activities’, and that itis idly waiting to be transformed into an asset by being ‘incorporatedinto the national economy’.In addition to having important hydrological functions, much of theland is used for grazing or could be rented out for that purpose. Whenthe plantations are set up, families owning cattle may have to rentother lands for their animals, purchase fodder, or reduce their herds.This has an impact on family savings, not only because the monetarycompensation villagers get from PROFAFOR is too small and mustbe used immediately for plantation expenses, but also because, by itsnature, cash cannot play the role of the more stable, less liquid, traditionalsavings embodied in family cattle. 19Small wonder that local people feel that they have essentially transferredthe land and its potential to generate savings for exclusivePROFAFOR use. As one said, ‘We cannot touch or do anything onthe area signed over.’And does PROFAFOR really also appropriate communities’ labour for free?PROFAFOR claims that it provides thousands of well-paid jobs to indigenouscommunities in Ecuador.A lot of these jobs are, in fact, onerous and unremunerated tasks thatthe communities find themselves unwillingly taking on because ofdebt. In fact, PROFAFOR has not only failed to provide the jobsit has offered, but has also forced communities to hire people fromoutside to carry out PROFAFOR work. Local people, it turns out,