How to protect Peru's rainforest? Indigenous land titles, researchers say
Mon Apr 3, 2017 | 4:01pm EDT
By Chris Arsenault
RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Providing formal land ownership titles to indigenous communities is one of the most effective ways to preserve endangered rainforest in Peru's Amazon, said a study published on Monday.
Forest destruction dropped 75 percent on land once it was formally granted to indigenous communities, said the study by American researchers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Analyzing satellite data and land ownership certificates, the researchers compared forest cover on territory before and in the two years after it was formally titled to indigenous communities.
They make the case that granting land titles to indigenous communities who currently control about 10 million hectares of forests in Peru has direct, measurable benefits for Amazon preservation.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-landrights-environment-idUSKBN1752CC
