Indigenous participation to reduce emissions from deforestation
A rights-based approach is an approach to avoiding deforestation. The indigenous territorial management program in the Madidi Landscape of Bolivia demonstrates that the recognition of indigenous land rights, local autonomy, and internal regulations of access and use of natural resources can significantly reduce forest loss over large forest areas. A recent study by WCS has shown that forest conservation strongly depends on local capacities of land management.
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Impacts
Tacana indigenous peoples land management prevents deforestation of connectivity corridors between Madidi protected area and the Tacana Indigenous Territory, which are critical for maintaining wildlife populations, especially endangered species with large spatial requirements, such as the jaguar and white-lipped peccary. They are also crucial for the sustainability of subsistence hunting by indigenous communities. Forest loss is also reduced in areas at risk of erosion on the last foothills of the Andes and along the course of main rivers and streams of the Iturralde province in areas susceptible to flooding. The Tacana people have rights of tenure over their territory, granted by the Bolivian state, and have developed skills for internal regulation of land management and natural resources, which has helped to prevent overexploitation and destruction of the collectively owned forest, while allowing the development of various productive activities to ensure sustainable livelihoods of the indigenous communities.