Indigenous Land Rights and the Paris Agreement

On Friday 4th November, the Paris Agreement entered into force. Although most indigenous leaders around the world support the ratification of the Paris Accord, is has not always been smooth sailing.

The Paris Agreement offered the chance to secure respect for Indigenous peoples' rights and amplify their voices.  During the drafting stage, however, pressure from the United States, EU and Australia led to the recognition of Indigenous rights being moved from the legally binding text of the climate accord to the non-binding preamble, due to a fear of legal liabilities.

“Right now, the talks are a failure. Our voices are not being heard,”  

-Jorge Furagaro Kuetgaje, climate coordinator for Coica

This doesn't seem to make much sense. It is now widely known that the fight for Indigenous rights is closely intertwined with the issue of climate change, and indigenous communities play a crucial role in safeguarding our global environment. So, here are a few things from two reports (one published by the World Resources Institute in October, and another by the Rights and Resources Initiative a few days ago) that we now know about indigenous land rights in the context of climate change mitigation:

• Average deforestation rates inside tenure indigenous lands in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia were up to 2.8 times lower than outside tenured indigenous forests

• Nearly a quarter of the carbon stored in tropical forests is under the care of indigenous communities

• Securing land for indigenous and traditional populations in these terrestrial tropical regions could keep up to 54,546 million metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere

• At least one tenth of the carbon stored in tropical forests is not formally protected

• The benefits of securing indigenous lands in the Amazon basin outweigh the costs by the ecosystem services they provide. For example, in Bolivia, it has been estimated that tenure-secure indigenous lands can generate a net benefit of up to $10,784 per hectare.

This isn't necessarily news, however. In 2013, Nolte et al. published their findings that when deforestation pressure is high, indigenous lands have lower deforestation rates than both protected areas and sustainable use areas. Indigenous communities manage approximately 50% to 60%  of the world's land, but only 10% is legally recognised. Securing tenure for indigenous lands would affirm the status of indigenous peoples, and in many cases is fundamental to the cultural survival of indigenous and traditional communities. It is also relatively inexpensive climate change mitigation strategy with the preservation of ecosystem services resulting in economic gains.  The Paris agreement is the largest piece of climate change legislation to ever be enacted, but for Indigenous rights at least, the ratification signifies a missed opportunity.