New writing on climate “multitasking” — “5 Strategies that Achieve Climate Mitigation and Adaption Simultaneously,” by Isabella Suarez at the World Resource Institute.

Her five suggestions:

• Protection of coastal wetlands
• Promotion of sustainable agroforestry
• Decentralized energy distribution — and production
• Securing indigenous people’s land rights
• Improving mass transit

The fourth is worthy of highlight, especially since last year’s Amazon fires and the Bolsonoro administration’s counter-productive response (with my emphases added):

Indigenous and local communities manage almost 50% of land on the planet, which up to 2.5 billion people depend on for their livelihoods. These communities have practiced adaptation principles on their lands over generations, developing a deep body of traditional knowledge that can help others understand how to adapt to a changing environment.

What’s more, places where indigenous people have legal rights to their land have at least two times lower deforestation rates than similar areas without secure tenure, as seen in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia. Indigenous people and local communities have protected forests that hold a quarter of all above-ground carbon in tropical forests. Yet these communities legally own less than one-fifth of this land. Securing indigenous peoples’ rights will ensure they can hold onto their land, protect natural resources and better sustain their livelihoods in the face of climate change.