Carbon Credits Limit Growth for Global South

For developed countries in the global North, climate change is a problem. Not because we feel the most direct impacts of the changing climate, but because we are causing it. Yet a solution has been developed that puts the responsibility to mitigate those changes in the hands of those in the global South – which raises an issue of class structure on a global scale. Environmental justice includes equality and inclusion in regulation and policy, yet for many rural groups living in South America, their traditional environmental knowledge is not being included in the land-use decisions.

I am referring to something called “carbon credits” that can be purchased by organizations to save trees elsewhere in the world and offset their “carbon footprint.” Large companies like Chevron buy huge tracts of land (in the Amazon rainforest for example) to preserve the trees and ensure that a “carbon sink” exists to catch the emissions they produce. Instead of changing habits or regulations, the effects are merely offset by saving trees elsewhere. Sounds like a reasonable idea, except when you consider the residents of those far-off countries.

For subsistence farmers, cutting down a few trees per family is necessary for building basic infrastructure and providing food (such as heart of palm). However if they live in an area that has been purchased by someone in a developing country, this becomes a crime and is enforced brutally. As discussed in the framing of climate justice, often the countries polluting the most aren’t feeling effects, while the countries who contribute fewer emissions are suffering the most. This is a perfect example of the negative implications of class imbalances between nations and exclusion of minority groups in decision making.

In terms of development, there is a complete imbalance here between developed countries and developing countries. The Western world (developed nations like the U.S.) is continuing with unrestrained economic development that strains the environment through the use of fossil fuels. The developing world is limited in developing further because they are restricted from utilizing their own resources (trees protected by carbon credits). They remain forced in poverty, as those countries who are already developed can continue unsustainable, unrestrained growth.

Although saving trees from being cut down is positive for the environment, there are social injustices associated with those decisions. The people needing trees for their survival are not causing massive deforestation; they are merely surviving. On the other hand, the developed countries causing emissions are passing the responsibility of reducing impact to those who are not causing it.

For more information on carbon credits, check out PBS's piece called "Brazil: The Money Tree" or read the article here: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/carbonwatch/2010/05/carbon-credits-for-preserving-forests-how-does-it-work.html