Forests management has become a central issue of the United Nations negotiations on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to fight against global warming.

The Kyoto protocol encourages the developed countries, that committed themselves to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, to preserve or to increase their forests. On the other hand, these countries (and the associated national industries) can achieve, in the Southern countries, plantations of trees in order to get some carbon credits in the setting of the « Clean Development Mechanism » (CDM). The creation of new forests, considered as “carbon sinks”, would theoretically compensate the industrial emissions of these countries, and would create new « rights to pollute », exchangeable on the official carbon credits markets. In the same way, the forest projects that are not controlled by international protocols permit to exchange some carbon credits on the so-called « voluntary markets ».

Later on, international negotiations aiming to prepare the “post-Kyoto” period focused on the setting up of new mechanisms that would allow to fight against global warming. These mechanisms of “avoided deforestation" includes stimulation of the Southern countries to preserve their forests, in return for compensations (often financial). They already permit to exchange some carbon credits on the voluntary markets of CO2 reduction. We still ignore how the REDD mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries) will be integrated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but several pilot projects are already implemented, notably in the state of Amazonas (Brazil), and lead to question the major stakes of this politics.

How to protect efficiently our forests without reinforcing the commercial pressures on land ?

Preserving the forests seems to be a goal to reach, since forests are supposed to absorb greenhouses gases and since about 17% of carbon emissions to the atmosphere are due to deforestation processes. But are these mechanisms (creation of “carbon sinks” and “avoided deforestation”) really efficient to fight against climate change or are they only used to hide the responsibilities of “real” polluters? Whatever is the answer to that question, it seems necessary to wonder if the carbon sinks policies don’t stimulate private investors and polluting industries to privatize huge rural areas in Southern countries, without taking in consideration the rights of people who traditionally live there. It also seems essential to wonder how dangerous it could be to encourage a forests privatization process in order to avoid deforestation, since space competitions have never been stronger. Finally, are we not reinforcing commercial pressures on land all around the world, whereas the efficiency of carbon sinks projects and REDD mechanisms is far to be proved, and the creation of forest carbon credits can generate important political, socioeconomic and environmental risks?