• Indigenous peoples are the guardians of Latin America's forests, which act as carbon sinks, reservoirs that absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
• It follows that, without their precious contribution, saving the climate is impossible. This is the conclusion of a study produced by researchers at the World Resources Institute and Climate Focus.
• If, for example, the CO2 absorption provided by indigenous-managed forests in Peru were to disappear, compensating for that loss would require removing every vehicle currently on the road.

Keeping the rise in average global temperature to within 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels: this is the key objective driving global climate action, enshrined in the Paris Agreement and subsequently reaffirmed by the Glasgow Pact. When the conversation turns to the solutions needed to achieve it, the debate shifts from one moment to the next between the energy transition, electric mobility, and emissions linked to the food system. Far less frequently are indigenous peoples mentioned. And yet it is they who are the guardians of Latin America's forests, which act as carbon sinks — "reservoirs" that absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. It follows that, without their precious contribution, saving the climate is literally impossible. This is the conclusion of a study produced by researchers at the World Resources Institute and Climate Focus.

Indigenous peoples are the primary guardians of forests

The fact that indigenous peoples are the guardians of forests is not merely a figure of speech, but a reality backed by scientific data. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Fao) and the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (Filac) demonstrates that, in areas of the Bolivian, Colombian and Brazilian Amazon where the law formally recognises the territorial rights of indigenous peoples, deforestation rates are more than halved compared with those of other forests with similar ecological characteristics.

Richard Pearshouse @RPearshouse

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Govts must respect rights because they’re also bound by laws.

New⁩ report gives another reason: without protecting the rights of Indigenous people + forest communities, the “most likely hypothesis” would be global temperature rises over 1.5C theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…

♥ 66💬 3 31 mar 2022 · Apri su X →

Not only that. The new study by Wri and Climate Focus focuses on indigenous lands in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, highlighting how as much as 80 per cent of them function as CO2 reservoirs, sequestering around 30 megagrammes of CO2 equivalent per hectare. This is partly because some of these forests are untouched, and partly because they are managed through traditional and more sustainable practices. As a result, these four countries generate only 5.1 per cent of CO2 emissions and, conversely, store 28 per cent of that same CO2.

Without indigenous peoples, saving the climate will be impossible

These four countries have submitted their emissions reduction plans (nationally determined contributions, ndc), as required by the Paris Agreement itself. Within them, however, indigenous peoples are mentioned only sporadically and incompletely. Guaranteeing their territorial rights fully and unequivocally is a matter of urgency, because doing so means ensuring they are consulted before any mining or infrastructure project is approved.

"It would be impossible for these countries to meet their ndc targets if indigenous rights were not protected and their lands were deforested or converted to other uses," explains Juan-Carlos Altamirano, an economist at the World Resources Institute and co-author of the report. One example above all: if the CO2 absorption provided by indigenous-managed forests in Peru were to disappear, compensating for that loss would require removing every vehicle currently on the road.