Communities in Brazil and Indonesia would be willing to help mitigate climate change if they received assistance, according to research by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

CIFOR Forests News blog outlines how in Brazil’s eastern Amazon region, landowners are required by legislation to maintain 50 to 80 per cent of natural vegetation on their property, or restore tree cover to that level if the forest has become degraded.

While it is difficult for large-scale farmers to comply with this legislation, small-scale family farmers have said they are happy to implement the measures but do not have the knowledge and resources to do so. Many of these farmers operate a fallow system but temporary forest regrowth does not comply with the legislation.

“CIFOR and the World Agroforestry Centre are looking at agroforestry to address this issue, but there are not enough resources,” explains Émilie Coudel, a scientist with the French agronomic research institute CIRAD and CIFOR. The farmers want recognition of their own systems which are forest-friendly.

In Indonesia, communities living in forests are conducting efficient monitoring of carbon stored in forests, but to sustain this monitoring, the communities need to receive something in return.

Local communities’ rights to manage their own forests “would be strengthened if monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) data showed that it had achieved results in terms of carbon storage,” said Manuel Boissière, a scientist with CIRAD and CIFOR.

Read the full story: Communities willing to mitigate climate change — with a little help, research shows