A new atlas by human rights groups assessed tree cover and biodiversity hotspots on lands belonging to Afro-descendant peoples in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Black Communities’ Process (PCN) and the Universidad Javeriana’s Observatory for Ethnic and Peasant Territories (OTEC) identified nearly 32.7 million hectares (80.8 million acres) of land where Afro-descendant peoples have settled. In total, only about 8.3 million hectares (20.5 million acres) have been titled. According to the study, around 80% of settled, non-titled lands, 72% of demarcated territories and 83% of officially titled lands are covered in forest and tree vegetation. However, without the legal safety that comes with collective land titles, environmentalists warn that actors seeking to exploit Afro-descendants’ lands, such as agribusiness and mining companies, may thwart conservation efforts. “Afro-descendant communities have been fundamental historically in protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change in those territories, and that’s through the existence of traditional knowledge and ancestral practices,” Esther Ojulari, programs director for the Baobab Center for Innovation in Ethno-Racial, Gender and Environmental Justice, who was not involved in the atlas, told Mongabay over a video call. The researchers used two methods to reach their findings. First, they analyzed the state of coverage by overlapping maps containing information on land use and land cover with those of titled, non-titled, and demarcated Afro-descendant lands. The second analysis was of biodiversity hotspots, for which they used Global Forest Watch data to determine areas with high levels of endemism,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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