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Local people partnership can combat climate change
One good example is the creation of village forests in Padang Tikar, Kubu Raya regency in West Kalimantan.
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Typical thick vegetation in Kalimantan. In Indonesia, the government acknowledges the importance of local and indigenous people and their role in managing forests. (Shutterstock/File)
K
eeping forests intact is key to climate change mitigation and sustainable development. This includes sustainably managing existing forests and restoring degraded ones, in which people, especially local communities, need to lead.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as the leading global platform for climate experts, consistently reports that the world’s forests have a central role in global carbon cycles, and effective management strategies are seen as prerequisites for reducing forest-carbon emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration.
At the 46th session of the IPCC meeting that took place in Montreal, Canada, on Sept. 6-10, a framework for the Sixth Assessment Report, which prominently features tropical forests, was approved by the experts.
The United Nations body emphasized the importance of forests and agricultural land in providing food, animal feed, fiber, wood, biomass energy and vital ecosystems for the planet.
This means that protecting, sustainably managing and restoring forests is vital for climate change mitigation, as well as protecting the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people, including more than 2,000 indigenous communities, and the economic wellbeing of various nations.
Protecting forests is stipulated for in the 15th UN Sustainable Development Goal, that calls “to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.”
Contributing to the health of forests is vital to reducing the risk of natural disasters, including flooding, droughts and landslides. Investing in forests means direct and indirect investment in local people and their livelihoods, especially the rural poor, young people and women.
