The Importance of Indigenous People in Preserving Forests

By Fitri Arianti

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. September 18, 2024: Forests are essential for life on Earth. Because they produce oxygen and help regulate the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, forests are known as the “lungs of the Earth.”

For millions of local and indigenous people, forests are also homes, hunting grounds, and traditional cultural and ceremonial spaces. These communities have cared for the forests for countless generations because doing so ensured their survival and the preservation of their societies. Yet despite scientific evidence showing that recognizing indigenous land rights is essential to halting deforestation, governments and corporations often fail to do so.

Carbon sinks

Trees and forests are among the best carbon sequestration technologies in the world. Excess carbon is stored in tree trunks, roots and the surrounding soil. On average, global forests absorb 7.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, or about 1.5 times the emissions of the United States.

Deforestation removes these essential carbon sinks, increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, the destruction of tropical forests contributes to about 20 percent of annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.

Beyond functioning as carbon sinks, forests are essential to environmental health, providing invaluable ecosystem services to human and nonhuman animals. These services include preventing soil erosion, improving water quality, helping watershed development, and creating a barrier against high winds, heavy rain, and flooding.

Healthy forests also promote biodiversity. Although they cover only 31 percent of the globe, “they are home to more than 80 percent of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects,” says the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Indigenous Forest Protectors

The fate of intact forests is closely linked to that of indigenous peoples. Many forest-dwelling communities have managed their homelands for centuries based on customary laws rooted in spiritual beliefs and conservation principles. Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, argued: “World leaders have a powerful solution on the table to save forests and protect the planet: recognize and support the world’s indigenous peoples “.

Indigenous peoples and local communities have managed some of the last intact rainforests for generations, and they have done so successfully. About 36 percent of the world’s remaining intact forests are on “land that is either managed or owned by indigenous peoples,” says a Mongabay article citing a 2020 study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. “The rate of tree cover loss is less than half on community and indigenous land than elsewhere,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

In a 2021 article in Ambio magazine, more than 20 researchers argued that “[b]non-diversity is declining more slowly in areas managed by [Indigenous peoples and local communities] than anywhere else.”

Several studies confirm that forests managed by indigenous and local communities with secure land rights have lower deforestation rates, greater biodiversity, improved livelihoods and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Nemonte Nenquimo, a leader in the Waorani community in Ecuador and a founding member of the Ceibo Alliance, says: “As our peoples go, so goes the planet… The climate depends on the survival of our cultures and territories.

These defenders face a constant threat

These communities, however, face constant threats from companies seeking to register and develop their lands. On the front lines of deforestation, they often suffer violence, intimidation and criminalization when defending their lands. The assassination of Honduran indigenous leader Berta Cáceres in March 2016 highlights such dangers. Between 2012 and 2021, the total number of environmentalists killed was at least 1,733. The maximum deaths occurred in Brazil, where a third of the 342 activists killed were indigenous or of African descent, according to a report by the nonprofit Global Witness.

The report further stated that in 2021 alone, 200 earth defenders were killed across the globe, with more than three-quarters of the attacks occurring in Latin America.

Indigenous resistance has successfully stopped pipelines, coal plants and deforestation. From Standing Rock to Amazon, these communities have challenged corporate power. Supporting indigenous and frontline communities is essential. By gaining legal rights to their land, they can protect and manage it, preserving their way of life and conserving biodiversity.

A Case Study: The Dayak Bahau Community’s Resistance to Deforestation

In Indonesia, the Dayak Bahau community of Long Isun on the island of Borneo is fighting to protect some of the country’s last intact forests. However, two-thirds of these forests are at risk from industrial development.

Dayak, roughly translated as “inland people”, refers to about 200 river and hill ethnic groups in Borneo. The Dayak Bahau people live mainly in eastern Borneo. During the late 19th century, a large group settled in Long Isun on the banks of the Meraseh River, a tributary of the Upper Mahakam River in East Kalimantan.

The long forests of Isun cover more than 80,000 hectares of rich forest, larger than the five boroughs of New York City combined, and the Dayak Bahau have managed most of this area. They manage this area through 11 forest functions and land use categories, including settlement areas, production forests, hunting grounds, medicinal plant areas, and cemeteries. They also have a forest reserve, Tana Peraaqprotected to support future generations.

They sustainably grow crops such as rice, cocoa and durian, rotating their farms so that the forest regenerates. While modern forms of mechanized agriculture can lead to desertification, the Dayak Bahau use flash farming (leaving a field fallow for some time to regenerate), foraging, and other traditional farming techniques designed to preserve the forest and biodiversity instead of destroying it.

Land use decisions are made through community processes led by indigenous leaders or Hippy. The community’s connection to its land is also spiritual, as reflected in the ongoing practice of customary rituals passed down through generations to honor its deities and ancestors. Because every element of nature is considered imbued with a spirit, the Dayak people strive to be in harmony with the natural world.

There are many common rules and rituals surrounding rice cultivation. For example, many Dayak Bahau villages celebrate Hudoqwhere masked dancers pay homage to “Quiet Hunyang,” a rice-guarding deity, and ask him to protect their rice fields and bring a bountiful harvest.

The community also commonly respects the Ulin tree, an ironwood tree native to Borneo. If a community needs to cut down an Ulin tree, a ritual must be performed as required by the original ancestral parents. The tall Isun believe that the spirits of their ancestors flow through the food they consume and the land, rivers and forests they depend on. In the words of spiritual leader Inui Yek, “Although we humans can give birth, the earth cannot. If we cut down the forest, what hope is there for our grandchildren? Dayaks cannot be separated from the forest; our lives are spent in the forest. Without it, we lose our identity.”

Despite the sustainable practices of the Long Isun community, the Indonesian government has allocated their land for logging and palm oil plantations. From 2009 to 2019, more than 487,631 hectares of forest were destroyed in East Kalimantan. The Harita group now controls the community land.

Harita Group’s timber concessions now cover more than a quarter of Long Isun’s territory. Borneo’s rainforests, home to many unique species, are rapidly disappearing, with only 50 percent of the forest remaining due to “decades of logging, land clearing and agricultural conversion,” according to a March 2023 article at Earth.org.

Global brands (including Mondelēz and Procter & Gamble) that source palm oil from mills operated by Harita can help protect these forests while respecting indigenous rights. The Long Isun community is seeking legal recognition of their land as a customary forest, which would give them ownership and management rights. Without this recognition, forests and their way of life remain at risk.

Indigenous Land Stewardship keeps forests alive

Having indigenous communities be the stewards of our forests is essential to combating the climate crisis. According to scientists, intact forests could reduce emissions by more than 30 percent by 2050, which is essential for keeping temperatures below the agreed 2 degrees Celsius to avoid a climate catastrophe.

“Climate change poses threats and risks to the survival of indigenous communities around the world, even though indigenous peoples contribute the least to greenhouse emissions,” the United Nations points out.

Emphasizing how their knowledge and understanding of the natural world is important to shaping a more sustainable world and combating the threat it faces due to extreme temperatures, the UN further adds, “[I]Indigenous peoples interpret and respond to the impacts of climate change in creative ways, drawing on traditional knowledge and other technologies to find solutions that can help society at large cope with impending change.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, project of the Independent Media Institute. Fitri Arianti is a senior forest activist at the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). A Jakarta native raised in California with a background in development studies, Arianti serves as a cultural translator. She works with RAN’s grassroots partners in Indonesia to profile the social impacts of the palm oil industry, build joint strategies and hold corporate wrongdoers accountable. She is a collaborator of the Observatory. Find it online @CuriousFitri.

Source: Independent Media Institute