In the Brazilian Amazon, indigenous peoples hold a significant portion of the local forest. Their Lands as a whole cover approximately 110 million hectares and contain about 30% of forest carbon in the region, which corresponds to something around 13 billion tons of carbon. This is equivalent to about a year of global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). These territories play a key role in stopping the encroachment of deforestation in the region. Therefore, they play an extremely important role in the conservation of biodiversity and to achieve the GHG emissions reduction targets undertaken by Brazil through the law that established the National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC, Law n° 12,187/2009).
Limits of Brazil’s Forest Code as a means to end illegal deforestation
Limits of Brazil’s Forest Code as a means to end illegal deforestation
While CAR land properties initially exhibited reductions in deforestation compared with unregistered landholdings, the difference diminished over time. Furthermore, only 6% of CAR landowners who were interviewed acted to restore illegally cleared portions of their properties, a key component of CAR and SICAR