The paper by the Rights and Resources Initiative, Woods Hole Research Centre and World Resources Institute aims to encourage governments to recognise indigenous land rights and include tribal input in national action plans. “When communities have secure forest rights, not only are forests better protected, but communities fare better. Five of the top 10 countries for forest carbon are in the continent. Having expanded indigenous land considerably since 2003, Brazil – and later Bolivia and Colombia – initially slowed deforestation. The World Research Institute estimates that tropical forests without such protection were two to three times more likely to be cleared.

Source: The Guardian November 02, 2016 13:44 UTC