Amazon rainforest could recover from climate change thanks to indigenous people

Researchers indicate that indigenous communities are a fundamental part of the Amazon’s recovery from climate change.

A study released in Quito by the Ecuadorian EcoScience Foundation revealed that the indigenous communities that are settled in the Amazon and in the protected areas of that extensive South American jungle are an important key to protecting the biomass as a factor in the fight against climate change.

According to what was published in the official journal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from different countries analyzed the impact of forest conversion, degradation and disturbance, which reveal the state of losses and gains of forest carbon.

They suggest that the loss recorded between 2003 and 2016 is 1.29 billion tons of carbon, added the researcher, pointing out that the Amazon has become a carbon dioxide emitter.

Carmen Josse, scientific director of EcoCiencia, said that although it has been said that this region is a lung of the planet, it has already become an emitter of greenhouse gases, especially due to the processes of deforestation and forest degradation to which it has been subjected in recent years.

Researchers consider that, in the indigenous territories, the result of losses and gains is almost nil, and even remains stable in the emission of gases and their absorption.

It is worth mentioning that despite the importance that indigenous communities represent for these areas, they have no protection whatsoever and represent almost half of the surface of the Amazon rainforest, that is, the relationship is beneficial for the protection of the forest itself.

The study suggests that it is for this reason that the international community should put pressure on Amazonian governments to better protect the forest and its most important custodians: the indigenous people, and that there should be a concern for the care of the forest as there is deforestation and degradation of its biomass.

However, governments are weakening environmental protections, violating existing indigenous rights and encouraging impunity for violators.

The Yucatan Times
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