An animated video produced by Forest Trends summarizes the valuable contribution of indigenous territories in the fight against climate change that is currently not acknowledged.
Servindi, December 8, 2020. - The important contribution of indigenous territories to the mitigation of climate change deserves to be acknowledged, quantified and economically rewarded.
This is supported by a recent audiovisual product produced by Forest Trends, an international coalition that works with communities, governments and companies in favor of forest conservation.
The organization points out that, although the indigenous peoples of the Amazon avoid the potential emission of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere by talking about their forests, they are not duly acknowledged.
Indigenous contribution
In an animated video of almost eight minutes, Forest Trends summarizes the important contribution of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon in the fight against climate change.
They point out that these peoples own 240 million hectares and store 140,000 million tons of carbon, a figure equivalent to the planet's emissions for 140 years.
In addition, they point out that the deforestation rate in their territories is only 0.8%, being lower than that of the protected areas (1.1%) and the total deforestation registered in the Amazon (2.9%).
They state that, "By conserving their forests, indigenous peoples have avoided the potential emission of 42 gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, which would have accelerated global warming."
No Acknowledgement
Despite this important contribution —which is often achieved with difficulty due to the threats that affect their territories—, Forest Trends assures that indigenous peoples are not duly acknowleged.
They argue, for example, that the removal of millions of tons of carbon per year thanks to Amazonian primary forests is not taken into account by countries in their environmental accounting.
In addition, the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REED+), an international mechanism that rewards those who manage to reduce their deforestation rates, excludes indigenous territories.
In fact, they point out that, as these territories have been well preserved and have minimal or no deforestation, "they are excluded as they have nothing to reduce or mitigate."
Virtual Debate
For this reason, the organization maintains that it is important, not only to acknowledge the valuable contribution of indigenous territories to environmental service, but also to quantify and financially value it.
To address the issue, Forest Trends will hold a virtual debate on Thursday, December 10.
The virtual meeting will be in English and will begin at 10:00 a.m. Lima, Bogota and Quito time, and 12 a.m., Brasilia and Buenos Aires time.
For an hour and a half, six panelists will discuss the document published by Forest Trends, titled The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation in Indigenous Territories.
Acclaimed environmental journalist Andrew Revkin, director of the Columbia University Earth Institute Initiative on Communication Impact and Innovation, will moderate the event.
Juan Carlos Jintiach, leader of the COICA technical team; and Victoria TauliCorpuz, Executive Director of the Tebtebba Foundation, formerly UN Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples will also be participating.
Oliver Phillips, professor at the School of Geography at the University of Leeds in Great Britain, and Carmen Josse, coordinator of the Amazon Network for Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG) will attend.
As well as David Kaimowitz, senior advisor to the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), and Beto Borges, director of the Initiative for Territorial Governance and Communities, at Forest Trends.
To know more about the virtual meeting you can access this press release in English.
Registration to participate in the event is available at here.
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