During a discussion session at the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum in Lima, Peru, RRI, the World Resources Institute, and the Governance, Environment and Markets Initiative at Yale presented research linking secure community forest rights with decreased deforestation and increased carbon storage. The session focused on the recent RRI/WRI report Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change, the most comprehensive analysis to date demonstrating how strong land and forest rights for local communities and Indigenous Peoples are an effective strategy for climate change mitigation.
The session began with a short video highlighting the connection between Indigenous Peoples, local communities and climate change, and a summary of Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change. GEM presented findings on the processes and factors that underlie the emergence, diffusion, and effectiveness of community forest rights and institutions in developing countries. Policy-makers discussed the relationship between community forestry and the emerging landscape and climate policy agenda. During an open discussion, panelists and participants developed recommendations on how to strengthen the rights of Indigenous Peoples in REDD+, and forest and landscape governance.
By discussing how securing rights can serve as proven and cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy, the session built bridges between policy-makers, practitioners, and scholars.
PANELIST INFO:
Property Rights Specialist, Land & Resource Rights initiative, World Resources Institute
Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative
Tony La Viña
Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, Philippines
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Professor of Environmental Governance and Political Science, Yale University