Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change

The executive summary argues that strengthening legal forest rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities is a vital tool for mitigating climate change. It finds that forests under strong legal recognition and government protection experience significantly lower deforestation rates than those without such protections. The document emphasizes that legal rights alone are insufficient if governments undermine them through the allocation of resource concessions or failure to prevent illegal encroachments.

• Deforestation rates are significantly lower in community forests that possess strong legal recognition and government protection compared to forests outside these areas.
• In the Brazilian Amazon, community forests with strong legal recognition and government protection had deforestation rates 11 times lower than other areas.
• Legal forest rights are associated with the maintenance or improvement of carbon storage, but government actions that weaken these rights—such as granting mining, gas, and oil concessions—can lead to high deforestation and CO2 emissions.
• Community forests currently hold legal or official rights to at least 513 million hectares, which represents approximately one eighth of the world's total forests and contains 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change. https://www.wri.org/research/securing-rights-combating-climate-change

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/securing-rights-combating-climate-change.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change |url=https://www.wri.org/research/securing-rights-combating-climate-change |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendsecuring, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/securing-rights-combating-climate-change}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }