The Surui Case: Indigenous Peoples and Carbon

The Surui Tribe, Forest Trends, the State of Acre, and other partners hosted two unique discussions on the complex array of ingredients for successful indigenous-led REDD+ projects. One on May 14 at The Aspen Institute in Washington, DC, and the other May 15 at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in Palo Alto, DC.

The Paiter Surui tribe, under the leadership of Chief Almir Surui, with technical support from Forest Trends and other partners, has been working for over 5 years to protect their territory in the Amazon Basin from illegal logging and mining threats. This initiative has recently become the first-ever indigenous-led REDD project to be validated by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Project Design Gold Standard (CCB Standard). The validation is pathbreaking news for the project, 'REDD for Conservation of Amazon Rainforest in the Surui Indigenous Territory, Brazil' and the progress of REDD worldwide.

Over 200 people participated to reflect on this important development. The panel included the following speakers:

• Chief Almir Surui, leader of the Paiter Surui People;
• Vasco van Roosmalen, Director of ACT Brazil;
  
• Monica de Los Rios, Institute of Climate Change , Government of Acre;
• Ludovino Lopes, Legal Advisor, Surui project and Co-Author, SISA framework; and
• Rodrigo Sales, Lead author of the legal analysis on the Surui's carbon ownership rights

Resources

• Agenda: Washington DC
• Agenda: Palo Alto CA
• Participants List: Washington DC
• Participants List: Palo Alto CA
• Hanging in The Balance: The Future of A Forest