Most of the deforestation in the world occurs in Brazil” the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Indonesia” says specialist Jeffrey Hatcher.

By Fabíola Ortiz (Inter Press Service)

RIO DE JANEIRO” Apr 9 (Tierramérica)- Brazil is one of the most advanced countries in the world when it comes to legally guaranteeing the rights of forest communities and reducing deforestation” says economist Jeffrey Hatcher in this interview.

One of the initiative’s goals is to advance the rights of poor communities who live in the forests” and in this regard” Brazil’s progress in community and indigenous rights is noteworthy” said Hatcher” the director of global programs at RRI.

TIERRAMéRICA: What results have been observed in the evolution of forest ownership in recent decades?

In Africa today” legally almost all the forests are the property of the state” but since 1992 they have created special legal regimes that could provide rights to communities that live there. There are a lot of people who live in the forest but they have no rights to stay there. They lived there before the state was created.

TIERRAMéRICA: What is the role of indigenous peoples in the conservation of forests?

Most of the deforestation in the world occurs in Brazil” the DRC and Indonesia. But over the past few years” deforestation has gone down dramatically in Brazil.

Indonesia produces 20 percent of the world’s deforestation-related carbon emissions. And in both Indonesia and the DRC” communities that live in the forest have no rights” no legal way to secure their land.

JH: That is very possible. There are a lot of arguments saying that indigenous people are claiming too much forest” but because they live there” they are very good at managing it. There is a study that came out recently showing that if you take a protected area managed by the government and if you compare it to protected areas managed by the indigenous communities” there was eight times more chance of fire in the protected area managed by the government” because in that area there are no people.

TIERRAMéRICA: The delineation and homologation of indigenous lands in Brazil could take decades.

TIERRAMéRICA: The Brazilian Congress is about to vote on reforms to the Forest Code” which are opposed by environmentalists because they would grant an amnesty to agricultural and livestock producers who have illegally cleared forests and relax controls on deforestation. How do you see this from abroad?

TIERRAMéRICA: What can you tell us about the publication that RRI plans to launch at the end of May” before Rio+20 (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development)?

TIERRAMéRICA: What are your expectations for Rio+20?

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