Coal is the single biggest contributor to man-made climate change, while deforestation accounts for up to one-sixth of carbon dioxide emissions.
Beyond the ‘double whammy’ that razing forests to burn coal poses to the climate, there is its devastating impact on forest-dependent communities. The solution, in part, also lies with them. Protecting their tenure rights should be a key part of the strategy to keep forests standing and, where coal lies beneath them, keeping it in the ground.
Fern has created a map highlighting forests and forest peoples at risk of coal mining and continues to investigate examples of EU consumption of coal dug from under indigenous peoples’ forests.
