Amazon indigenous peoples hold key to forest’s future

In Ecuador, GCF is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to create alternatives to livelihood dependence on measures that destroy the environment. GCF is providing funds for local people such as Ushpa to enhance their agricultural practices. This improves their incomes and reduces the need to gouge out parts of the Amazon. This support is particularly welcomed by the many indigenous peoples, like Ushpa, who want to pass on their role in protecting the forests to future generations.

“Of course, something must be done about reforestation, because sometimes when you almost cut away everything, the sky is left too open and too much sun comes through,” he said. “We then begin to be hit by illnesses. I cut the trees down, and now you can see this area is collapsing. I would have been better off not to do anything. So, I am not clearing anymore, I am conserving.”

Ushpa has been able to shift his livelihood from one based on natural exploitation to conservation thanks to a GCF-financed project which includes employing Ecuadorian agricultural experts to provide cultivation advice to farmers. In Ushpa’s case, this means making more money by improving the cultivation of his lowland cacao plants rather than clearing the forested mountains. He has improved his ability to prune and fertilise cacao bushes to achieve much higher crop yields, while also enhancing the treatment of cacao nuts after they are gathered to increase their market value.

These small-scale efforts belie the importance cumulative measures to halt deforestation have in stopping the planet from cooking.  Measurements in the latter part of the last decade showed that if tropical deforestation was a country it would rank third in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions, only behind China and the United States. Despite international efforts, the alarming loss of tropical primary forests has continued. The world lost a football pitch of primary rainforest every six seconds in 2019, while primary forest loss was 2.8 percent higher in 2019 than in 2018.

Disturbingly, recent analysis shows the world’s tropical forests are losing their ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, mainly because of deforestation. This has wide implications, as about 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are absorbed by land cover – making it a potentially important carbon sink. Tropical tree cover alone could provide 23 percent of the climate mitigation needed over the next decade to meet goals set in the Paris Agreement, according to one estimate.

There are now concerns that, added to the threat of deforestation, climate change itself could spell the end of the Amazon. With some climate models suggesting that by the year 2050, temperatures in the Amazon will increase by 2–3°C, there is a fear the rainforest will reach a tipping point where Amazonian forests die and are progressively replaced by fire-prone bush and savanna.

Indigenous peoples are playing a key role in preventing this from happening. A recent study shows that indigenous lands and protected areas in the Amazon contribute far less to climate change than areas in other parts of the world’s largest rainforest – they account for only 10 percent of carbon emissions while covering 52 percent of the region.  The World Resources Institute has found that In the Amazon, deforestation rates (along with corresponding forest carbon emissions) are two to three times lower in legally recognised indigenous territories compared to lands outside them. 

Patricia Serrano, the manager of PROAmazonia - a national programme designed to protect the Ecuadorian part of the Amazon - said about 47 percent of Ecuador’s forests are located within indigenous territories.

“They are also beneficiaries of the ecosystem goods and services and play a vital role in ensuring forests continue to offer society a constant source of food, medicine, water, as well as climate regulation and sustainable economic alternatives." said Serrano.

PROAmazonia was set up in 2017 to conserve and restore the forest through strengthening land planning and supporting deforestation-free and sustainable natural resource production – while upholding social and environmental safeguards that include extensive consultations with those who live in and around the Amazon. Its establishment was part of Ecuador’s implementation of national policies, programmes and projects that have reinforced legislation contributing to the reduction of national deforestation rates during the past two decades.

Supported by the UNDP, PROAmazonia is led by Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) and its Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG). GCF is aiding PROAmazonia’s work through its project to support sustainable agricultural practices that have benefitted Ushpa, and restore degraded ecosystems, as well as making REDD+ results-based payments - recognising Ecuador’s past ability to reduce its emissions through reduced deforestation.

Matilde Mordt, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Ecuador, said the role of indigenous peoples has been vital in the success of Ecuador´s REDD+ Action Plan. “Without their participation, involvement and leadership, the actions implemented will not have a lasting impact,” she said.

GCF is working closely with UNDP to ensure that messages learned in Ecuador can be shared with other endeavours empowering indigenous peoples to save forests and combat global heating. “The worldview of Amazonian indigenous peoples and nationalities emphasises the interdependency between people and nature, which is crucial to opt for alternatives that promote forest conservation and combat climate change,” said Mordt.