Carbon Market Trainings with La Via Campesina and the Indigenous Environmental Network

On April 10 and April 24 2021, the North American Region of La Via Campesina (LVC) hosted a Training-The-Training Course on Carbon Markets and False Solutions to the Climate Crisis in partnership with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). Rural Vermont staff member Mollie Wills is a member of the Climate Justice Collective of LVC North America, and was responsible for co-organizing and co-facilitating the course.

We had 15 participants, all from member organizations of La Via Campesina, for two 3 hour training sessions. The participants came from Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, United States, Kenya, Canada, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. 

The course was delivered by Tamra Gilbertson and Thomas Joseph of IEN, who began with a discussion about the true root issues of the climate crisis: Patriarchy, Colonialism, Capitalism and Development. We learned about the history of Carbon Markets through various international treaties and summits since the 1992 Rio Declaration. We discussed how the language being used around carbon markets is often difficult to understand and heavily greenwashed, both of which are tactics corporations and industry have used to propel these policies forward. We dove into the science behind the fast carbon cycle versus the slow carbon cycle, and how the popular idea that one can offset the other is false; they are not interchangeable. We discussed how “net zero” does not actually mean zero, and does not encourage top polluters to reduce emissions, a necessary step in our collective survival of the climate crisis.

Thomas Joseph used his personal and people’s history to share some of the deep, lasting harm and destruction that false solutions like Climate Smart Agriculture continue to have on Indigenous peoples around the world, as their access to traditional lands and foodways is severely threatened by burgeoning carbon markets. 

We built relationships and heard from one another about what we are experiencing related to carbon markets in our communities. With the help of multiple translators, this connection brought nods of understanding and a strengthening of new friendships amidst our shared struggle.

We will continue working with IEN and LVC to further develop these trainings, and will bring them to Vermont as well as distributing this information broadly.  

For more information, check out the Carbon Pricing Booklets Volume One and Volume Two, available in English and Spanish, and the recently released Hoodwinked in the Hothouse publication by IEN, LVC, and others. If you’d like to learn more, contact mollie@ruralvermont.org