Posts

Indigenous-Led Natural Climate Solutions

Natural climate solutions are climate change initiatives that “draw on the power of nature to reduce emissions, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and store it in natural systems.” According to a report by Nature United, “natural climate solutions could reduce Canada’s greenhouse gases by as much as 78 million tonnes a year in 2030.”

In 2020 the Government of Canada developed a funding program for Indigenous-led Natural Climate Solutions (INCS) with the intention to support Indigenous communities “to undertake on-the-ground activities for ecological restoration, improved land management, and conservation” to facilitate resilience to climate change and “human well-being.” The Indigenous-led Natural Climate Solutions map shows initiatives across Canada that have received funding in the first two years of the program. Natural climate solutions work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, desired outcomes of those initiatives funded by the program can also include:

  • increased community resilience and adaptation to climate change,
  • improvements in food security,
  • support for species at risk and/or species of cultural importance,
  • increased capacity and economic opportunities, and
  • the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.

As part of the INCS, the Government of Canada has committed to invest three billion dollars to support planting two billion trees, develop urban forest plans, and initiate measures that will facilitate carbon sequestration, “the practice of capturing and storing carbon dioxide.” Investments into Indigenous-led conservation and natural climate solutions in Canada are expected to create new jobs and revenue streams for Indigenous communities and expand protected areas by 30 percent by 2030.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

(Image Credit: Dave, Unsplash [Z9d7CYpBDqo]).

/by

Indigenous Land and Carbon Rights are Vital to Mitigating Climate Change

,

The protection of Indigenous land rights helps to secure the carbon stored by forests and soil on Indigenous traditional territories and treaty lands. Carbon capturing and storage or ‘carbon sequestration’ in the air, lands, and trees, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) world-wide and are crucial to mitigating climate change.

Tree cover loss continues to be a threat to climate change. “Indigenous peoples and local communities manage[d] at least 17 percent, or 293,061 million metric tons (Mt) of the total carbon stored”, in about 69% of the world’s forest cover, in 2017. If carbon held underground in forests and lands is released into the atmosphere, it would add to global CO2 emissions, the majority of which comes from road transport.

Forest protection and securing Indigenous land title are linked. Titling Indigenous community lands “significantly reduces both clearing and disturbance” in the short term. For example, in the Peruvian Amazon, deforestation was reduced by 81% in the year that followed titling. Drawing from the interactive maps available online by LandMark Global Platform of Indigenous and Community Lands, current users can see total tree cover loss from 2001-2019 on Indigenous and community lands.

Indigenous rights to land and recognition by governments of these rights may not only secure Indigenous rights to carbon but may also facilitate Indigenous access to carbon markets and reforms to regulatory processes. These interventions could more powerfully manage CO2 emissions and mitigate the global effects of climate change.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

(Image credit: Chuttersnap, Unsplash)

/by