Kachabri residents, a community from Talamanca territory in the Costa Rican Caribbean coast, believe this market mechanism supported by their government within the UN climate negotiations, is damaging.

In the letter they say there are no consultation processes nor information on the implementation of the REDD mechanism in indigenous territories, despite there being a National Forestry Fund (Fonafifo), a state agency in charge of managing the resources to pay environmental services.

The letter warns about the serious damages that these mechanisms might cause to forests in indigenous lands: “Forests become an asset to REDD, i.e., a commodity for sale. But to the bribris peoples forests are a sacred place with sacred elements like plants, animals, water and air”.

They claim the solutions to climate change are neither based on financial markets nor on speculation “since rich countries do not want to commit to reduce their carbon emissions, but they want to turn native forests into a business. This means that the main problem of climate change is not solved and our forests are endangered”.

Lastly, they ask the government to stop implementing carbon markets in their lands until after information and consultation processes have been put in place. They also expressed their rejection to the implementation of REDD mechanisms in Talamanca territory.