The Amazon is not only essential to addressing the climate and biodiversity crises, it is also the ancestral territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Forest conservation efforts, therefore, cannot be separated from the rights of those who have lived in and managed these lands for centuries.
In 2010, at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a milestone was reached with the adoption of the Cancun Safeguards. These safeguards are guidelines commonly designed to prevent the potential social and environmental impacts of an activity—in this case, REDD+…