As the UN Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens in Cancun this week, Subhankar Banerjee explains why an agreement on the UN’s REDD programme would spell disaster for indigenous forest communities. ‘Is this the time to tinker with trading carbon by taking away the forests from the indigenous inhabitants and then selling the credits to the polluters – or is it possible to develop a common global vision of moving away from fossil fuel altogether and working with forest dwellers on sustainable solutions?’ Banerjee asks.