Carbon trading at COP28
While at COP28 in Dubai, Nigerian activist and poet Nnimmo Bassey met with Democracy Now and discussed how carbon trading markets and other “false climate solutions” are negatively impacting attempts to reduce emissions and prevent catastrophic global heating. During the interview Bassey stated:
“People are making deals rather than talking about how to cut emissions at source… …We’re seeing a sellout of the African continent…. We’re talking about millions of hectares being mapped out to be sold for carbon credit generative facilities. And, you know, some of this means reforestation or forestation. It means clearing the land and planting new trees. Now, that itself emits, releases a lot of carbon from the soil. And then, of course, these new trees are monocultures, and they don’t — they are not as efficient carbon sinks as natural forests. And so we’re seeing losses in every dimension.
Who is Nnimmo Bassey?
Nnimmo Bassey (Benin City, Nigeria) is on the Global Justice Ecology Project’s Board of Directors. He is also director of the ecological think-tank, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and on the steering committee of Oilwatch International. He was chair of Friends of the Earth International (2008-2012) and Executive Director of Nigeria’s Environmental Rights Action (1993-2013). He was a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” and in 2012 he received the Rafto Human Rights Award. His biography can found here.
Nnimmo Bassey at COP27
Nnimmo Bassey was also interviewed for the Breaking Green Podcast in October of 2022. The interview topic was “COP27 – Offloading Responsibility on the Victims of Climate Change’. The podcast, which is produced by GJEP, can be accessed here.