Forest is Life - A Story of Climate Change, Forest and Communities

Climate change has become an environmental problem affecting people throughout the world. Climate change is mainly the result of increasing global temperature, which results in shifting weather patterns such as unseasonal rains that affect agriculture, droughts, floods, plagues and diseases. Global warming is mainly the result of the increase of greenhouse gases, above all CO2, in the earth’s atmosphere. Scientists say that 17% to 20% of the global CO2 emissions are a result of the destruction and degradation of forests. REDD (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries) is one of the mitigation measures currently promoted for helping decrease emissions of carbon into the atmosphere.

This comics book discusses climate change and REDD from the perspective of indigenous communities. It is intended primarily for communities as a simple guide to help them understand climate change and REDD. It discusses the importance and the roles of forest in climate change, the concept of REDD and how it relates to and affects indigenous communities. It points at potential negative impacts of REDD for the recognition and exercise of the collective rights of indigenous peoples, especially on the right to land, territories and resources. Finally, it shows why and how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) can be used to uphold and protect the rights of indigenous communities in REDD.