A science panel will be held on 9 December hosted by Columbia Earth Institute to raise the visibility of a significant body of evidence supporting land rights as a solution to climate change, biodiversity loss and the threat of future pandemics. Click here for more information and to join the event.
A growing body of research shows that Indigenous Peoples and local communities outperform other forest managers in preventing deforestation and biodiversity loss, as well as the conditions that enable the emergence of potentially dangerous pathogens.
The recent report by the Global Forest Expert Panel (GFEP) "Forests, Trees and the Eradication of Poverty: Potential and Limitations,” found that forests not only have enormous potential to slash poverty and food shortages but that greater forest cover also protects humans from close contact with wild animals carrying unknown viruses.
