Recognition of land and forest rights

Key Related Visuals

Overview

Up to 2.5 billion people rely on community lands for their livelihoods and cultures. Indigenous Peoples and local communities customarily own more than 50% of the world’s land, but only have legal ownership rights to 10%. This gap drives land-grabbing, environmental destruction, and threats to the lives and livelihoods of the world’s communities, especially in the world’s forests. Laws are already in place to help close this gap, and recognition of community forest rights has increased by 40% in the last 15 years (nearly 150 million hectares, or 3 times the size of Spain). We could more than double that progress—and directly benefit 200 million people—if existing legislation was implemented in just four countries.

Key messages and data points

Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights are still insufficiently recognized by governments.

• Indigenous Peoples and local communities customarily own more than 50% of the world’s land, but only have legal ownership rights to 10%. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

• Indigenous Peoples and local communities play a key role in managing and protecting the world’s forests, but only have legal rights to 15% of all forests (Data from 41 countries representing 85% of the world’s forests) and 28% of the developing world’s forests (Data from 33 countries representing over 80% of the developing world’s forests). [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• Over two-thirds of forests remain controlled by governments – a significant portion of which is contested by indigenous and local communities who traditionally own, manage, and depend on these forests. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

But there has been a significant increase in recognition in the last 15 years, and many legal frameworks are in place to scale up recognition of rights.

• Recognition of community forests has increased by nearly 150 mha—or 40%—since 2002. Over 98% of progress occurred in 33 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• The world could more than double this progress if existing legislation was implemented in just four countries (Colombia, DRC, India, Indonesia)—benefiting 200 million people. In India and Indonesia alone, the estimated potential for community forest recognition exceeds a total of 80 million hectares. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• The best opportunities for rights recognition are in countries with adequate legal frameworks; demonstrated political will; and an informed network of civil society/indigenous organizations. At least 54 countries have legal systems in place to recognize community forest owners, and others are developing these frameworks. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• Despite limited progress overall, forestlands recognized over the four-year period from 2013-2017 have much stronger protections for community rights than those recognized in the previous 5 years, pointing to a potential upswing in recognition of community forest ownership. The continuation of this recent shift in favor of community ownership is essential for Indigenous Peoples and local communities—and in particular women within those communities—to meet their livelihood needs and protect their forests. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

Regional findings of community forest recognition

Latin America

Forest area owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities across 9 countries increased from 171 mha (21%) in 2002 to 236 mha (30%) in 2017. Since 2013, Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ ownership rights have been recognized over an additional 11 mha of forestland (including 7 mha in Brazil, 3 mha in Colombia, and nearly 1 mha in Honduras). [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

Africa

Community forest rights recognition across 11 countries continues to lag behind progress made in Asia and Latin America, despite positive steps by some countries. Less than 31 mha of forests are recognized as “designated for” or “owned by” communities as of 2017, much of which is in Tanzania. Notably, there is insufficient data to determine the amount of forestland owned by communities in Kenya, Mali, and Mozambique—three countries that recognize customary forest ownership without requiring formal registration. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

Asia

The forest area legally recognized as owned by communities across 13 countries in Asia increased just under 25 mha over the last 15 years, with over 85% of these gains in China. Outside of China, progress has been limited: India, Indonesia, and the Philippines each had an increase of less than 1 mha of forest recognized as owned by communities since 2013. Given that the potential for rights recognition in India and Indonesia collectively exceeds 80 mha, the current rate of recognition is relatively quite low. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

Country Findings

Brazil

• In Brazil, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure legal ownership rights to 118 million hectares of forestland as of 2017, an increase of over 40 million hectares since 2002, including a 7 million hectare increase in Indigenous Lands and Quilombola Territories since 2013. An additional 40 million hectares are also designated for communities. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• 114.63 million hectares of land was formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Brazil as of 2015 (13.72% of total country area); and communities have more limited rights to an additional 77.19 million hectares (9.24%), for a total of 22.95% of total country area. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

Colombia

• In Colombia, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure legal ownership rights to 32.93 million hectares of forestland as of 2017, representing a 3 million hectare increase in Indigenous Reserves and Afro-Colombian Community Lands since 2013. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• 37.58 million hectares of land was formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2015. Colombia stands out for the amount of land held under community-based tenure—34% of its total continental land area of 110.95 million hectares. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline), CIFOR 2018]

Peru

• In Peru, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure legal ownership rights to 12.78 million hectares of forestland as of 2017, representing a 2 million hectare increase since 2002. An additional 4.98 million hectares are designated for their use, an increase from 1.57 in 2002. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• 35.29 million hectares of land was formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2015, or 27.57% of the total land in Peru. An additional 9.27 million hectares are designated for communities, bringing the total recognition to 34.81% of Peru’s total land area. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

DRC

• In DRC, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have 226,149 hectares of forestland designated for their use as of July 2018; 56,149 hectares of this was recognized in the first half of 2018. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• No land was recognized for Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2015. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

Kenya

• Comprehensive forest data is not available for Kenya. While we were able to identify at least 380,000 hectares of forestland as designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2007, given the prevalence of customary land tenure in the country, a substantial portion of Kenya’s forestland is likely owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The 2016 Community Land Act provides an avenue for communities to register their lands, and in particular to protect the rights of indigenous and community women. However, as of 2017 the government had not yet passed regulations necessary for the law to be effective. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• 3.3 million hectares of land were formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2015 (or 5.8% of total country area); an additional 210,000 hectares were designated for communities (.37% of total country area), for a total of 6.17% of total country area. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

Liberia

• In Libera, Indigenous Peoples and local communities owned 580,000 hectares of forestland as of 2017. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)] In 2018, Liberia passed the Land Rights Bill, which codifies communities’ rights to their lands.

• 3.06 million hectares of land were formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities as of 2015 (or 31.73% of total country area). [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

India

• In India, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure legal ownership rights to 1.1 million hectares of forestland as of 2017 under the Forest Rights Act, all of which was recognized after 2002. However, this is significantly less than the over 40 million hectares to which communities have customary rights. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• Only 130,000 hectares of land were formally recognized as owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in India as of 2015—or 0.04% of total country area—despite the fact that communities have customary rights to at least 40 million hectares. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]

Indonesia

• In Indonesia, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure ownership and designation rights to 1.36 million hectares of forestland as of February 2018; over 500,000 of these hectares were recognized between March 2017 and February 2018. This is still significantly less than the over 40 million hectares to which communities have customary rights. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• 350,000 hectares of land was formally recognized as designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Indonesia as of 2015—or only .19% of total country area—despite the fact that Indigenous Peoples have customary ownership rights to at least 40 million hectares. [Source: RRI 2015 (A Global Baseline)]