Avoided Deforestation (REDD) and Indigenous ... - Amazon Fund

agricultural regions and metropolitan areas of Brazil’s Center-South, Northern Argentina, Uruguay
and Paraguay, by means of “Flying Rivers”, which is also the name of a project involving a large
number of researchers (see: http://www.riosvoadores.com.br/).
Estimates of these carbon stocks indicate the importance of their impact on climate and
can also be used as variables to determine monetary values in compensatory projects in carbon
markets and international grants for forest protection. But it should be remembered – with
necessary estimates – that behind these stocks there are complex processes which affect climate
and which add value to any project results.
With regard to indigenous lands, specifically, fundamental cultural values – even those
affected by acculturation processes – favor conservation of forests and will play a crucial role in
determining their future availability. Therefore, even if the value of projects is established based
on market fluctuations relative to carbon stocks, it should be kept in mind that what matters
for climate is long-term conservation of these stocks, at costs which are, at the very least, the
real cost of any project. And, of course, conservation cannot be achieved in indigenous forests
without the direct involvement of its inhabitants.
Forest Carbon in the Amazon
When talking about the Amazon, it is wise to first agree on its boundaries. The Amazon
basin has a total area of 6.5 million km2 , 60% of which are located in Brazilian territory, and the
remainder is in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana. A large variety of forest
phytophysiognomies covers this basin which are mapped, researched, and classified in varying
manners in each country and traditional culture. Dense rainforests – most commonly associated
with the image of the Amazon tropical rainforest – cover 60% of the basin’s total area and 39%
of its area in Brazilian territory (considering only the dense rainforests in the Legal Amazon)
(Armenteras & Morales, 2008). It is also connected with tropical forests in neighboring river basins,
such as the Orinoco (Venezuela) and others in Suriname and French Guyana.
The boundaries of the Brazilian Legal Amazon are established by political and juridical
conventions, covering, in addition to the total area of the Amazon basin in Brazil, territories located
in the southern state of Mato Grosso and the western state of Maranhão, in addition to most of
the Araguaia-Tocantins basin, considered independent of the Amazon basin. The area monitored
by the National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - Inpe) in
order to calculate deforestation rates in the Amazon corresponds to the part of Brazilian Legal
Amazon which is covered by dense rainforest and other associated formations, also known as
10 Av o i d e d d e f o re s t A t i o n (redd) A n d i n d i g e n o u s p e o p l e s: experiences, chAllenges A n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s in t h e A m A zo n c o n t e x t