In Panama, forest cover on Indigenous lands has remained stable at almost double the rate of protected areas — including government parks — due in great part to deeply-ingrained cultural values, a new study led by researchers from McGill University has found.

The findings challenge a longstanding assumption about conservation: that in order to protect biodiversity, people must be kept out.

“Local land use emerges from peoples’ worldviews and values regarding nature,” the authors of the findings wrote. “[D]eforestation and disturbance in Indigenous lands exhibit a low density, spatial concentration on forest edges, and temporal stability, explaining forest cover stability.

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