Case study: Titling of Indigenous territories protects and increases tropical forest cover in the Peruvian Amazon.

This case study from Peru illustrates the importance of Non-Carbon Benefits (NCBs) to REDD+, and particularly the effects of land demarcation and titling of indigenous communities, its impact on governance and democracy, on social structures and livelihoods, and on environment and forest cover. The case shows that NCBs are both land tenure rights as well as subsistence and coffee production, illustrating the synergy between rights, carbon and economic benefits for the indigenous population. This case presents evidence from a study measuring land use over a 50-year period in the Peruvian Amazon and shows how demarcation and titling of indigenous community territories has led to increased forest cover, due to the sustainability of the indigenous production system. This is compared with non-indigenous cattle raisers’ production in the same location over the same time span, which has led to high deforestation rates and a self-destructive and stagnating economy.