Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Carbon Storage, and Conservation
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Carbon Storage, and Conservation
Recognizing the land rights of the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities is a crucial climate change solution. Communities have sustainably stewarded many of the world’s remaining forests and biodiversity hotspots for generations, and their lands provide a suite of benefits, from carbon sequestration to nutrient retention. Community lands store more carbon and biodiversity and have lower deforestation rates than lands managed by individuals, governments, and companies. Where rights are recognized, the difference is even greater; and research demonstrates that recognizing rights can have nearly immediate benefits for climate and conservation. Yet while Indigenous Peoples and local communities directly manage over half the world’s land, they only have legal ownership rights to 10 percent. This gap leaves community lands vulnerable to logging, mining, agriculture, and other industries that are driving climate change.
Numerous reports warn that we are running out of time to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The world is also losing biodiversity at an alarming rate, putting all humanity at risk. Protecting forests by recognizing the rights of forest guardians is the most promising path we have to meeting global climate and conservation goals, and the only large-scale, affordable solution that can be implemented immediately to protect both people and planet.
Recognizing the land rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and the women within these groups is a climate change solution.
Legally recognized and protected community forestlands tend to store more carbon and experience lower rates of deforestation than non-community forests, including protected areas. Strong community rights could prevent 27.2 million hectares of deforestation by 2050 [Source: WRI and RRI 2014 (Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change)]
Example: In the Brazilian Amazon, the deforestation rate is 11 times lower in Indigenous Peoples’ and communities’ forests. Community forests in Brazil also store 36 percent more carbon per hectare than other forests. [Source: WRI and RRI 2014 (Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change)]
Three 2019 UN reports recognize securing indigenous and community land rights and respecting communities’ traditional knowledge as climate change solutions.
The 2019 IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land was the first IPCC report to recognize that recognizing land tenure is critical to global climate efforts—including reducing deforestation and increasing carbon storage. It finds that “Indigenous and local knowledge can play a key role in understanding climate processes and impacts, adaptation to climate change, sustainable land management across different ecosystems, and enhancement of food security.” [Source: IPCC 2019]
The IPBES report on biodiversity found that 1 million species are under threat—and that recognizing indigenous and community land rights can help stop this devastating loss. [Source: IPBES 2019]
The UN’s report on forests finds that recognizing rights is not only vital for forest protection—it is also necessary for combating poverty and ensuring food security. [Source: United Nations Forum on Forests 2019]
Indigenous Peoples and local communities from 42 countries representing 76% of the world’s tropical forests issued a statement in response to the IPCC report, noting that science has confirmed what they have long known. [Source: IPCCresponse.org 2019]
Indigenous Peoples and local communities are the most effective and efficient guardians of the forest. They are investing substantially in conserving their forests—up to $US 1.71 billion in the developing world. They achieve at least equal conservation results with less than a quarter of the budget of protected areas, making investment in communities themselves the most efficient means of protecting forests. [Source: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz—Cornered by Protected Areas]
Titling indigenous lands can have immediate climate impacts: in the Peruvian Amazon, legal recognition of indigenous and community forest rights reduced deforestation by up to 81% in the year following titling. [Source: Blackman et. Al 2017 (Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon)]
Secure community forest rights in Brazil and Guatemala alone could prevent the release of 5.4 billion tons of CO2 over 20 years—the equivalent of emissions from 1 billion cars in a year. [Source: WRI 2015 (The Economic Costs and Benefits of Securing Community Forest Tenure)]
The rights of indigenous and community women are particularly important given their outsize role in managing and conserving community lands—both for conservation and for reducing poverty and improving food security. [Source: RRI 2017 (Power and Potential); IPCC 2019]
The IPCC finds that: “There is strong empirical evidence of the links between secure communal tenure and lower deforestation rates, particularly in intact forests. Securing and recognizing tenure for indigenous communities has been shown to be highly cost effective in reducing deforestation and improving land management in certain contexts.” [Source: IPCC 2019]
Indigenous Peoples and local communities store massive amounts of carbon in their forests. Where rights are not recognized, these forests and the carbon they contain is at risk.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage nearly 300 billion metric tons of carbon in their forests (at least 17% of total forest carbon stored in the 64 assessed countries accounting for 69% of forests globally). This is equivalent to 33 times global energy emissions for 2017. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
By protecting their forests, communities not only maintain the carbon stored in their trees, but also protect vast reservoirs of soil carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere if the overlying forests were destroyed. Forest soils hold 65% (113,218 Mt) of the total carbon found in community-managed tropical forests and nearly 90% (105,606 Mt) of the total carbon associated with non-tropical community forests. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
22% percent (217 billion metric tons) of the forest carbon found in 52 tropical and subtropical countries analyzed is stewarded by communities, and one-third of this (72 billion metric tons is in lands where communities lack formal recognition of their tenure rights—putting them, their lands, and the carbon stored therein at risk. Data is limited, meaning the real numbers are likely much higher. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
The IPCC finds that: “Land titling and recognition programs, particularly those that authorize and respect indigenous and communal tenure, can lead to improved management of forests, including for carbon storage.” [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and the women within these groups are among the most at risk from climate change—and even efforts to save the forests can deprive them of their rights.
Because they often live in remote areas, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are among the most at risk from the impacts of climate change, such as natural disasters and rising sea levels.
Even conservation and climate efforts themselves can harm Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as their lands may be appropriated for protected areas without their consent. Research finds that Indigenous Peoples face significant human rights abuses in the world’s protected areas; rather than being made partners in the effort to save forests, they are often treated as criminals for living on their own lands. [Source: Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria 2018 (Cornered by Protected Areas)]
The UN Forum on Forests background report finds that not only is recognizing tenure vital to forest protection—it is also necessary for ensuring food security and combating poverty.
The livelihoods of about 1.3 billion people depend to some extent on forests, while 300-350 million people depend on them for their daily subsistence. Secure tenure rights are therefore critical for “the very survival of forest communities.”
While there is increasing acceptance of the need to make communities part of climate solutions, their contributions have yet to be fully supported by states.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities customarily own more than half the world’s land, but only have legal ownership to 10 percent. [Source: RRI 2015 (Who Owns the World’s Land?)]
Women within community-held lands are particularly likely to lack adequate protection of their rights, despite their outsize role in both feeding their families and protecting the resources all humanity depends on. [Source: RRI 2017 (Power and Potential)]
Scaling up recognition of indigenous and community land rights is an achievable goal. Recognition of community forest rights increased by 40% in the last 15 years. We could more than double that progress if existing legislation was implemented in just four countries (Colombia, DRC, India, Indonesia)—benefiting 200 million people. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads).
At least 54 countries out of 58 studied currently have community-based tenure regimes recognizing communities as forest owners, and others are making progress in developing requisite regulatory frameworks and reform policies.
39.3 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
Of all countries assessed, forests held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Brazil store the largest amount of carbon.
15 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
9.3 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
2.3 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are collectively held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities but not legally recognized. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
0.07 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
19 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are collectively held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities but not legally recognized. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
Vast amounts of carbon stored in DRC’s community forestlands are under- or undocumented, as the full extent of lands held by indigenous and local communities in DRC remains unknown. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
0.6 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
0.2 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
0.2 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are legally owned or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
7.5 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are collectively held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities but not legally recognized. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]
5.4 billion metric tons of aboveground, belowground, and soil carbon is stored in forestlands that are collectively held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities but not legally recognized. [Source: RRI et al. 2018 (A Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands)]