If you want to tackle carbon emissions let indigenous people control their land

Global leaders must acknowledge that land and forests owned and managed by local communities are more likely to prevent deforestation and deliver greater carbon storageLeer este artículo en españolIn my native Colombia, the cloud forests of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have been described as holding the most important concentration of threatened wildlife on Earth. These forests are also the ancestral home of the Koguis, an indigenous group now numbering around 10,000 individuals. In their cosmology, Koguis are the elders of humanity, living in the heart of the world, while outsiders are the “younger brothers” who were banished because of how they abused the land in the past – an accurate description of a planet where 160,000 acres of tropical rainforest are destroyed or damaged every day. Related: Indigenous rights are key to preserving forests, climate change study finds When local communities have no legal rights, or very few, their forests are more vulnerable to deforestation Related: An indigenous community's battle to save their home in the Amazon – in pictures Continue reading...