STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
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more clearly in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007). Also other ethnic groups with firm bonds
to the land have rights associated with land and land use.
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Their
customary rights are based on their historical use of the forest. On
the national level however, customary land rights are often found
to be in conflict with formalized land rights, as established in
national land registries.
Tenure
Most forest communities are characterized by collective
management of resources, often in combination with individual
plots of land to each family. Their land claims often involve a
claim for collective land for the community, rather than individual
rights to private land, and as such they are based in customary
and ancestral rights.
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Even if most of the world’s tropical forests
are used by local communities, the state is usually the formal
owner. According to Sunderlin,
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in the 30 most forested countries
(containing 85 per cent of the global forest), governments control
about 75 per cent of forest land. Only approximately 11 per cent of
the forest is owned or designated for use by local communities and
indigenous peoples.
The finding that there is less deforestation in areas where local
people have their rights recognized shows that indigenous
territories and collective rights to land for local communities can
be effective measures against deforestation. A study by the World
Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) shows that, globally,
forest reserves that allow for sustainable use by local populations
are more effective than strictly protected areas focused exclusively
on conservation. Most effective of all are the indigenous areas.
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This is also supported by a recent report by RRI and WRI,
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based
on studies of legally-recognized community forests in 14 countries,
including five Amazon countries as well as Indonesia and Papua New
Guinea. The report finds that deforestation rates inside community
forests with strong legal recognition and government protection are
dramatically lower than in forests outside those areas.
Traditional knowledge and forest management
Several studies have argued that the indigenous peoples, through
their practices, may increase the biological diversity within their
lands, by management of landscapes and knowledge of a wide
range of species.
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As our examples show (see section 3), the lives of
forest peoples is intimately linked to the maintenance of the forest
and its biodiversity. Sacred forests, mountains or rivers, as well as
managed patches of forest or gardens, can serve as vehicles for
forest and biodiversity protection. Home gardens and agroforestry
systems, common in tropical forests regions of the world, can
function as human-made refuge areas for species of plants and
animals, notably in areas heavily affected by deforestation.
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Knowledge about rainforest resources help forest dependent
societies to be prepared for crisis. Their knowledge about the
resources in their environments, the extensive range of products
and practices – small-scale agriculture, hunting and gathering,
forest extraction, agroforestry, fishing, and handicrafts – results
in the maximum utilization of landscapes, and low-intensity usage
makes it compatible with forest protection.
