Report on the Environmental Stewardship of Afro-Descendant Peoples and Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction

A peer-reviewed study published by Conservation International in Nature Communications Earth and Environment highlights the critical role of Afro-descendant peoples (ADPs) in conserving some of the Amazon region’s healthiest ecosystems. The report analyzes territories in Ecuador, Suriname, Brazil, and Colombia, demonstrating how these historically marginalized communities are effective guardians of biodiversity and vital contributors to global climate goals. Their stewardship directly supports the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to life on land, climate action, and social equity.

Key Findings on Environmental Performance

The study utilized spatial data to compare forest loss and carbon sequestration on lands managed by ADPs against similar adjacent areas. The results provide quantitative evidence of their successful conservation practices.

• Lands managed by ADPs exhibit 29% to 55% less deforestation.
• These territories sequester an average of 6.8 tons of carbon per hectare, significantly higher than the national average of 5.2 tons for the countries studied. The total carbon sequestered is estimated at 486 million tons.
• ADP territories serve as critical sanctuaries for biodiversity, hosting thousands of plant and animal species, including 370 listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
• The report found no evidence that conservation on ADP lands displaced deforestation to neighboring areas.

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The management practices and outcomes in ADP territories demonstrate a powerful, living model for achieving the SDGs. Their approach integrates environmental protection with social and economic well-being.

SDG 15: Life on Land

ADP communities are central to achieving SDG 15 by protecting, restoring, and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems. Their traditional management systems, which create highly agrobiodiverse landscapes, stand in stark contrast to monoculture and resource extraction models that lead to significant deforestation and land degradation. By preventing forest loss and protecting endangered species, they are key actors in halting biodiversity loss.

SDG 13: Climate Action

By sequestering vast amounts of carbon, ADP territories are a crucial natural buffer against climate change, directly contributing to the targets of SDG 13. The report underscores that the loss of these forests would release significant emissions that could not be re-sequestered for decades. Simultaneously, these communities are on the front lines of climate change impacts, facing extreme weather events like droughts and floods that threaten their livelihoods and cultural practices, highlighting the urgent need for climate adaptation support.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities & SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The report emphasizes the profound inequalities faced by ADPs. Despite their conservation success, many communities lack formal legal title to their ancestral lands, undermining their ability to protect these territories and achieve the justice mandated by SDG 16.

1. Land Insecurity: In Colombia and Brazil, unrecognized ADP lands cover over 1.76 million and 9.1 million hectares, respectively.
2. Legal Failures: The case of the Saramaka Maroons in Suriname illustrates a failure of institutional justice. Despite a 2007 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling requiring the government to title their lands, the decision has not been implemented.
3. Exclusion from Policy: ADPs have been historically excluded from national and global environmental decision-making, a critical gap in equity that hinders effective conservation policy.

SDG 1 (No Poverty) & SDG 2 (Zero Hunger)

The traditional management practices of ADPs are rooted in principles of autonomy and sustainability, directly supporting SDG 1 and SDG 2. Their diverse food systems and deep spiritual connection to the land ensure access to medicine, shelter, and food. These “escape agricultural practices,” developed by their ancestors, minimize land clearing and foster resilience, providing a sustainable livelihood that is now threatened by external economic pressures and climate change.

Threats and Challenges to Sustainable Stewardship

Despite their proven success, ADP territories face escalating threats that jeopardize both the ecosystems and the communities themselves.

• Resource Exploitation: Increasing pressure from infrastructure development, legal and illegal mining, logging concessions, and oil and gas extraction.
• Lack of Legal Recognition: The absence of formal land titles leaves communities vulnerable to land grabs and disregards their ancestral rights.
• Climate Change: Longer droughts and severe floods disrupt traditional agriculture, endanger food security, and cause health problems.
• Systemic Exclusion: Continued marginalization from policy-making forums prevents their knowledge and rights from being integrated into national conservation and climate strategies.

Recommendations for Policy and Action

The report’s authors call on policymakers to take decisive action to support ADP communities, recognizing their role as essential partners in achieving global environmental and development targets.

1. Guarantee Land Rights: Prioritize the demarcation and legal titling of Afro-descendant territories to provide security and empower communities to continue their stewardship.
2. Ensure Inclusive Governance: Actively include ADP representatives and their traditional knowledge in the planning and implementation of climate and biodiversity policies, including at major forums like the UN climate talks.
3. Invest in Community-Led Conservation: Direct financial and technical support to Afro-descendant communities to strengthen their sustainable management practices and build resilience.
4. Promote Further Research: Support additional research into ADP management systems to inform and improve mainstream conservation strategies.

Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 1: No Poverty

  The article addresses the economic well-being and rights of Afro-descendant communities, whose livelihoods are tied to their ancestral lands. The lack of legal land security and threats from extractive industries directly impact their economic stability and can perpetuate poverty.

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger

  The article highlights the diverse food systems and agrobiodiverse landscapes managed by these communities. It also points to threats to their food security, such as severe floods causing food insecurity in Ecuador and droughts leading to the discontinuation of certain rice varieties in Suriname.

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

  This goal is central to the article, which focuses on the marginalization of Afro-descendant peoples. It discusses their historical sidelining from decision-making processes and the fight for recognition and equal rights, particularly concerning land tenure.

• SDG 13: Climate Action

  The article connects the conservation practices of Afro-descendant communities directly to climate change mitigation, noting the significant amount of carbon their lands sequester. It also discusses their vulnerability to climate change impacts like extreme weather events.

• SDG 15: Life on Land

  This is a primary focus of the article. It details how lands managed by Afro-descendant communities show significantly less deforestation, protect biodiversity (including threatened species), and represent a model of sustainable forest management.

• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

  The article emphasizes the struggle for legal recognition of land rights, citing a landmark court case (Saramaka vs. Suriname) and the government’s failure to enforce the ruling. It calls for the inclusion of these communities in decision-making, which relates to building inclusive and just institutions.

What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 1: No Poverty

   • Target 1.4: By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property.
     
     The article’s central theme is the struggle of Afro-descendant communities for legally recognized ownership and control over their traditional lands, which are currently under threat. It explicitly mentions that “many Afro-descendant communities lack any form of legal land security.”

2. SDG 2: Zero Hunger

   • Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
     
     The article describes how these communities created “diverse food systems” and “highly agrobiodiverse landscapes.” It also mentions their vulnerability, citing how droughts in Suriname led to the “discontinuation of certain African rice varieties” and floods in Ecuador caused “food insecurity.”

3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

   • Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
     
     The article highlights that “Afro-descendant peoples have historically been sidelined from decision-making” and quotes a declaration calling on governments to “include Afro-descendant voices at upcoming United Nations climate talks.”
   • Target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.
     
     The article discusses the government of Suriname’s failure to implement a court ruling that required it to “demarcate and title Afro-descendant communities’ lands,” which is a clear example of a practice that perpetuates inequality.

4. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
     
     The article states that “Climate change also poses a direct threat, with Afro-descendant communities impacted by extreme weather events like droughts and floods that endanger their livelihoods and cultures.”
   • Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.
     
     The article implicitly supports this target by arguing that the traditional knowledge and successful conservation practices of these communities should be used to “inform governments’ conservation strategies” and mitigate climate change.

5. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.
     
     The study found that “Afro-descendant lands have 29 to 55 percent less deforestation” compared to similar areas, demonstrating successful sustainable forest management.
   • Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.
     
     The article states that these territories have become “sanctuaries” for biodiversity, hosting thousands of species, including “370 are listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”

6. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

   • Target 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
     
     This is directly addressed by the mention of the Saramaka Maroons winning a “landmark case against the Suriname government before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,” but also the subsequent failure of the government to respect the court’s decision.
   • Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.
     
     The article repeatedly calls for governments to “include those groups in environmental decision-making” and notes the historical exclusion of these communities from national and global climate processes.

Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Proportion of land with secure tenure

  The article provides data that can serve as a baseline indicator for Target 1.4. It states that legally recognized lands account for “just under half a percent of land in Brazil to 5 percent in Colombia.” It also quantifies unrecognized lands: “In Colombia, unrecognized Afro-descendant lands cover more than 1.76 million hectares, while in Brazil that figure exceeds 9.1 million hectares.”

• Rate of deforestation

  The study provides a direct comparative indicator for Target 15.2, finding that “Afro-descendant lands have 29 to 55 percent less deforestation” than similar nearby areas. This metric can be used to measure the effectiveness of their land management practices.

• Carbon sequestration levels

  As an indicator for climate action (Target 13.2) and ecosystem health (part of SDG 15), the article quantifies carbon stocks. It states the lands “sequester an estimated 486 million tons of carbon” and that they sequester “an average of 6.8 tons of carbon per hectare, while the combined national average of the studied countries is 5.2 tons.”

• Number of threatened species protected

  For Target 15.5, the article provides a clear indicator by stating that among the species living on these lands, “370 are listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.” Tracking this number over time would measure progress in protecting biodiversity.

• Inclusion in decision-making bodies

  While not a quantitative figure, the article implies a qualitative indicator for Targets 10.2 and 16.7. It notes that these communities have been “sidelined” and calls for their inclusion in specific forums like the “United Nations climate talks in Belém, Brazil.” Progress could be measured by their formal participation and influence in such events.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

Source: insideclimatenews.org