Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.

Indigenous Territories (ITs) with less centralized forest governance than Protected Areas (PAs) may represent cost-effective natural climate solutions to meet the Paris agreement. However, the literature has been limited to examining the effect of ITs on deforestation, despite the influence of anthr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Camilo Alejo, Chris Meyer, Wayne S Walker, Seth R Gorelik, Carmen Josse, Jose Luis Aragon-Osejo, Sandra Rios, Cicero Augusto, Andres Llanos, Oliver T Coomes, Catherine Potvin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245110&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850239845820006400
author Camilo Alejo
Chris Meyer
Wayne S Walker
Seth R Gorelik
Carmen Josse
Jose Luis Aragon-Osejo
Sandra Rios
Cicero Augusto
Andres Llanos
Oliver T Coomes
Catherine Potvin
author_facet Camilo Alejo
Chris Meyer
Wayne S Walker
Seth R Gorelik
Carmen Josse
Jose Luis Aragon-Osejo
Sandra Rios
Cicero Augusto
Andres Llanos
Oliver T Coomes
Catherine Potvin
author_sort Camilo Alejo
collection DOAJ
description Indigenous Territories (ITs) with less centralized forest governance than Protected Areas (PAs) may represent cost-effective natural climate solutions to meet the Paris agreement. However, the literature has been limited to examining the effect of ITs on deforestation, despite the influence of anthropogenic degradation. Thus, little is known about the temporal and spatial effect of allocating ITs on carbon stocks dynamics that account for losses from deforestation and degradation. Using Amazon Basin countries and Panama, this study aims to estimate the temporal and spatial effects of ITs and PAs on carbon stocks. To estimate the temporal effects, we use annual carbon density maps, matching analysis, and linear mixed models. Furthermore, we explore the spatial heterogeneity of these estimates through geographic discontinuity designs, allowing us to assess the spatial effect of ITs and PAs boundaries on carbon stocks. The temporal effects highlight that allocating ITs preserves carbon stocks and buffer losses as well as allocating PAs in Panama and Amazon Basin countries. The geographic discontinuity designs reveal that ITs' boundaries secure more extensive carbon stocks than their surroundings, and this difference tends to increase towards the least accessible areas, suggesting that indigenous land use in neotropical forests may have a temporarily and spatially stable impact on carbon stocks. Our findings imply that ITs in neotropical forests support Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Thus, Indigenous peoples must become recipients of countries' results-based payments.
format Article
id doaj-art-5e61eeb886d944df89dba35828f09dec
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-5e61eeb886d944df89dba35828f09dec2025-08-20T02:01:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e024511010.1371/journal.pone.0245110Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.Camilo AlejoChris MeyerWayne S WalkerSeth R GorelikCarmen JosseJose Luis Aragon-OsejoSandra RiosCicero AugustoAndres LlanosOliver T CoomesCatherine PotvinIndigenous Territories (ITs) with less centralized forest governance than Protected Areas (PAs) may represent cost-effective natural climate solutions to meet the Paris agreement. However, the literature has been limited to examining the effect of ITs on deforestation, despite the influence of anthropogenic degradation. Thus, little is known about the temporal and spatial effect of allocating ITs on carbon stocks dynamics that account for losses from deforestation and degradation. Using Amazon Basin countries and Panama, this study aims to estimate the temporal and spatial effects of ITs and PAs on carbon stocks. To estimate the temporal effects, we use annual carbon density maps, matching analysis, and linear mixed models. Furthermore, we explore the spatial heterogeneity of these estimates through geographic discontinuity designs, allowing us to assess the spatial effect of ITs and PAs boundaries on carbon stocks. The temporal effects highlight that allocating ITs preserves carbon stocks and buffer losses as well as allocating PAs in Panama and Amazon Basin countries. The geographic discontinuity designs reveal that ITs' boundaries secure more extensive carbon stocks than their surroundings, and this difference tends to increase towards the least accessible areas, suggesting that indigenous land use in neotropical forests may have a temporarily and spatially stable impact on carbon stocks. Our findings imply that ITs in neotropical forests support Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Thus, Indigenous peoples must become recipients of countries' results-based payments.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245110&type=printable
spellingShingle Camilo Alejo
Chris Meyer
Wayne S Walker
Seth R Gorelik
Carmen Josse
Jose Luis Aragon-Osejo
Sandra Rios
Cicero Augusto
Andres Llanos
Oliver T Coomes
Catherine Potvin
Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
PLoS ONE
title Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
title_full Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
title_fullStr Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
title_full_unstemmed Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
title_short Are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions? A neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs.
title_sort are indigenous territories effective natural climate solutions a neotropical analysis using matching methods and geographic discontinuity designs
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245110&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT camiloalejo areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT chrismeyer areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT wayneswalker areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT sethrgorelik areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT carmenjosse areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT joseluisaragonosejo areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT sandrarios areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT ciceroaugusto areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT andresllanos areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT olivertcoomes areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns
AT catherinepotvin areindigenousterritorieseffectivenaturalclimatesolutionsaneotropicalanalysisusingmatchingmethodsandgeographicdiscontinuitydesigns