New study reaffirms Indigenous lands key to mitigating climate change in Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

New study reaffirms Indigenous lands key to mitigating climate change in Brazil
by Sarah Sax on 25 June 2024

• A recent study adds to growing literature showing that Indigenous lands and conservation units are much more effective at regulating climate than multiuse areas.
  
  
• The authors found that Indigenous lands and conservation units contribute more to climate regulation than multiple-use areas, underscoring the crucial role that protected areas play in regional water supply services and mitigating ongoing climate change.
  
  
• However, persistent degradation pressures from forest fires, deforestation and global climate change are increasingly challenging the capacity of protected areas to regulate climate.

In April, Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognized an additional two Indigenous territories, including one 32,000-hectare (more than 79,000-acre) territory belonging to the Karajá peoples in Mato Grosso. According to a new study published in the journal Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, this act alone could quite possibly be the best investment not just for Indigenous rights, but for securing the future climate stability of the state.

The state of Mato Grosso straddles two of Brazil’s largest biomes: The Amazon covers around two-thirds of the state, and the Cerrado covers the other third. Most of the remaining forest is protected within conservation units and Indigenous lands, which have stood as barriers to deforestation, forest fires and degradation. But Mato Grosso is also Brazil’s leading producer of soybeans and meat, and both have grown at the expense of the region’s native Cerrado and Amazon vegetation.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/new-study-reaffirms-indigenous-lands-key-to-mitigating-climate-change-in-brazil/