Protecting Community Forests Can Be Major Tool in Climate Fight

Expanding and strengthening the community forest rights of indigenous groups and rural residents can make a major contribution to sequestering carbon and reducing CO2 emissions from deforestation, according to a new report.  The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Rights and Resources Initiative said that indigenous people and rural inhabitants in Latin America, Africa, and Asia have government-recognized rights to forests containing nearly 38 billion tons of carbon, equal to 29 times the annual emissions of all the world’s passenger vehicles.  By enforcing community rights to those forests, the study said, governments can play a major role in tackling climate change.  In the Brazilian Amazon, for example, deforestation rates are 11 times lower in community forests than in forests outside those areas.  In areas where community forest rights are ignored, deforestation rates often soar.  The report made five major recommendations, from better enforcement of community forest zones to compensating communities for the climate and other benefits their forests provide.

Protecting Community Forests Can Be Major Tool in Climate Fight