Indigenous communities are the best guardians of Latin America’s forests

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https://www.zmescience.com/science/indig...-26032021/

EXCERPTS: Deforestation rates in Latin America are significantly lower in territories managed by indigenous and tribal groups that have been recognized with territorial rights, according to a report by the United Nations. The report suggests that indigenous communities are important wardens of local forests and improving the tenure security of these territories would be an effective and efficient way of reducing deforestation.

The report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) is based on a review of more than 300 studies published in the last two decades. It reveals for the first time the extent to which science has shown that indigenous and tribal people have been the best guardians of the forests across Latin America over the years.

[...] With generations of experience protecting nature, these communities have strong track records of guarding the forest. They favor smaller-scale and more diverse farming, taking less from the land. Unfortunately, they are also under constant threat from climate change and the expansion of beef and fossil fuel production as well as mining and logging... (MORE - details)

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Indigenous knowledge and the persistence of the ‘wilderness’ myth
https://theconversation.com/indigenous-k...yth-165164

INTRO: Aboriginal people in Australia view wilderness, or what is called "wild country," as sick land that's been neglected and not cared for. This is the opposite of the romantic understanding of wilderness as pristine and healthy—a view which underpins much non-Indigenous conservation effort.

In a recent paper for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we demonstrate how many iconic "wilderness" landscapes—such as the Amazon, forests of Southeast Asia and the western deserts of Australia, are actually the product of long-term management and maintenance by Indigenous and local peoples.

But this fact is often overlooked—a problem which lies at the heart of many of the world's pressing environmental problems. Indigenous and local people are now excluded from many areas deemed "wilderness," leading to the neglect or erasure of these lands.

The Anthropocene and Indigenous people. “Anthropocene” is the term scientists use to refer to the time period we live in today, marked by the significant and widespread impact of people on Earth’s systems. Recognition of this impact has sparked efforts to preserve and conserve what are believed to be “intact” and “natural” ecosystems.

Yet, the Anthropocene concept has a problem: it is based on a European way of viewing the world. This worldview is blind to the ways Indigenous and local peoples modify and manage landscapes. It is based on the idea that all human activity in these conservation landscapes is negative.

The truth is, most of Earth’s ecosystems have been influenced and shaped by Indigenous peoples for many thousands of years.

The failure of European-based “western” land management and conservation efforts to acknowledge the role of Indigenous and local peoples is reflected in recent scientific attempts to define “wilderness”. These attempts lay out a strict and narrow set of rules around what “human impact” is, and in so doing, act as gatekeepers for what it is to be human.

The result is a scientific justification for conservation approaches that exclude all human involvement under the pretence of “wilderness protection”. The disregard for the deep human legacy in landscape preservation results in inappropriate management approaches.

For example, fire suppression in landscapes that require burning can have catastrophic impacts, such as biodiversity loss and catastrophic bushfires... (MORE)