In Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous territories lacking formal conservation contracts demonstrated forest conservation comparable to officially designated protected areas, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed satellite data to assess forest degradation, abrupt disturbances, and resilience to the 2015-2016 El Niño drought across government-protected forests, community-managed areas with conservation agreements, and Indigenous territories.
The findings indicate that community-protected forests, often supported by financial incentives like Payment for Ecosystem Services programs, performed best in several metrics, particularly in post-drought resilience. Indigenous territories, where resource use is for subsistence and cultural preservation, also maintained forest conditions on par with other governance models and showed the highest proportion of areas with positive long-term vegetation greenness trends.
Source: Mongabay