Indigenous peoples and rainforest protection

Rainforests provide essential ecological benefits to all of humankind. They are also home to a vast number of cultures and societies who have lived close to the natural world for millennia.The Rainforest Foundation was the first international nonprofit to support indigenous peoples as a strategy for promoting social justice and halting the destruction of tropical forests worldwide.

The rights-based forestry approach has proven effective. Brazilian government data from 1997 - 2000, for example, shows that the percentage of deforestation of the Amazon during that period was 1% in indigenous areas versus a 24% destruction rate outside of protected areas.

Indigenous lands, however, are under increasing pressure.While RF-US is making progress in a number of regions,the threat of large-scale infrastructure development projects and opening the land to agriculture and natural resource exploitation is constant and growing. Forest peoples the world over are struggling to preserve their cultures and environments.

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Rainforests and Climate Change

Climate change has recently entered the realm of conventional wisdom. We know it is occurring, we know that humans are a major cause, and we know that the consequences are likely to be catastrophic for large parts of the world for many generations unless something is done. What many of us struggle to understand, however, is what we can do to make a difference. Here is one idea: help protect the world’s rainforests.

Tropical deforestation around the world accounts for around 20% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.For this reason, forests have been an important part of international climate change negotiations. These same forests are home to hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples and other forest communities, who have lived in and protected them for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.Studies consistently show that indigenous peoples are most successful at protecting the rainforest.It is therefore critical that indigenous peoples be included in all climate negotiations, as well as in any programs designed to halt deforestation.

Today initiatives related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, commonly called REDD, can have an important role in protecting the world’s tropical forests. However, if not properly implemented, REDD initiatives have the potential to restrict the rights of forest peoples, and even evict them from their traditional lands. Therefore, it is crucial that REDD-related activities respect the land use and access rights of all forest communities. Moreover, the design and implementation of REDD initiatives has to take into account the diverse cultural practices, values and traditional production systems of forest peoples. Rainforest Foundation–US is involved in several initiatives to build a greater understating about climate change and REDD among indigenous peoples in several countries in Latin America, including in Guyana and Panama, where national REDD projects are moving quickly. We are working with local indigenous organizations to ensure that indigenous peoples’voices are incorporated in public policies and initiatives, and their rights are respected.

News

RF Program Manager, Marina Campos Participates in Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Conference.

Our Program Manager, Marina Campos, was invited to participate at the International Society of Tropical Forests Conference, at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on Jan 27-29. In this conference entitled Communities, Commodities and Carbon: Innovations in Tropical Forest Management, Marina will speak on the Communities Panel about our work and the effectively engaging forest communities in REDD initiatives.

Download a flyer for the event here

Read the abstract of Marina’s presentation by clicking below

Taking the REDD shortcut: The dangers of excluding social safeguards