The threat of climate change on Indigenous Latin American Populations

A report by the UN FAO affirms that the climate crisis and deforestation are lower in Indigenous territories.

Indigenous peoples of Latin America see their territories and forest homes more and more at risk as threats deriving the ever-increasing demand for beef, soy, oil, and minerals multiplicate. Defending their territories is also becoming more challenging. Hundreds of their leaders have been killed, in the context of disputes over lands, in the past recent years. Those efforts are, however, not in vain. A UN FAO report, basing its findings on a 12- year study of deforestation in the Bolivian, Brazilian, and Colombian Amazon, highlights that the best protection of the Amazonian forest is provided by peoples with collective legal titles to their lands. Because Indigenous peoples see the forest as a space to live rather than a place where you take out resources, they have developed ancestral knowledge of environmental protection. Accepting their help in safeguarding one of the great treasure of our planet should no longer optional but rather a necessity

We, at CD4Peace, strongly believe that indigenous voices should be listened to and their vision adopted when designing Global Initiatives relating to climate action and the protection of biodiversity and forestry.

You may read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/25/indigenous-peoples- by-far-the-best-guardians-of-forests-un-report

http://www.fao.org/americas/noticias/ver/en/c/1380819/