RRI Datasets: A Primer

Forest Tenure Database

Through the quantitative methodology associated with this database, RRI tracks and classifies forest area in 58 countries covering nearly 92% of the world’s forests (which includes 33 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) comprising over 80% of LMIC forests) that is either: (1) government administered, (2) designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, (3) owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, or (4) owned by individuals and firms under national law. Database covers RRI does not collect geospatially delineated data.

Key publications

• Our existing database includes data from 2002 (Who Owns the World’s Forest?), 2008 (From Exclusion to Ownership), 2013 (What Future for Reform?), and 2017 (At a Crossroads).

Key messages

• The forest area legally recognized for Indigenous Peoples and local communities has increased by nearly 40% since 2002, to 15% of all forests. [Source: Database covers 41 countries comprising 85% of the world’s forest.] Over 98% of progress occurred exclusively in developing countries: communities now have legal rights to 28% of the developing world’s forests in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

• By simply implementing existing legislation in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, and Indonesia, the world could double the gains made in the past 15 years and benefit 200 million people. Much more could be achieved if other countries followed their lead. [Source: RRI 2018 (At a Crossroads)]

Land Tenure ("Global Baseline") Database

This database employs a quantitative methodology similar to RRI’s Forest Tenure Database to measure the land area either designated for or owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities across all terrestrial ecosystems in 64 countries comprising 82% of the world's land.

Key publications

• This data was first presented in the 2015 publication, Who Owns the World’s Land?

Key messages

• 2.5 billion people use and rely on community lands. Yet while Indigenous Peoples and local communities customarily hold and use 50% of the world’s lands, they only have legal ownership rights to 10% of lands globally. [Source: RRI 2015 (Who Owns the World's Land?)]

Bundle of Rights ("Depth of Rights" Database)

This qualitative database reflects RRI’s legal analysis of the bundle of rights (access, withdrawal of timber and non-timber forest products, management, exclusion, duration, due process and compensation, and alienation) legally held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in 32 countries.

Key publications

• Includes data from 2012 (What Rights?), 2013 (What Future for Reform?), and 2016 (data underpinned analysis in Power and Potential, and will be later presented in a standalone brief).

Gender Database

RRI’s Gender Database captures qualitative data on indigenous and rural women’s legally recognized tenure rights to community forest, focusing on eight legal indicators: 1) Constitutional Equal Protection; 2) Affirmation of Women’s Property Rights; 3) Inheritance in Overarching Laws; 4) Membership; 5) Inheritance in CBTR-specific Laws; 6) Voting (Governance); 7) Leadership (Governance); and 8) Dispute Resolution. The database features 30 LMICs for which Bundle of Rights data was also collected in 2016.

Key publications

• RRI's gender database is featured in the 2016 report Power and Potential.

Key messages

• Over 1 billion indigenous and community women rely on community held lands, yet these women are historically under-represented in discussions of women’s property rights. Securing indigenous and community women’s tenure rights is not only vital to gender justice, but also to global climate and development goals. [Source: RRI 2017 (Power and Potential)]

• Despite having ratified CEDAW, none of the 30 low- and middle-income countries examined (covering 78% of the developing world's forests) are adequately respecting indigenous and community women's tenure rights as established by the convention. There is a particularly pressing need for legal recognition of women’s community-level governance (voting and leadership) and inheritance rights. [Source: RRI 2017 (Power and Potential)]

• The study finds that the legal advancement of women and their communities can, and often does, go hand in hand, demonstrating that community-based tenure need not be at odds with protecting the rights of women. [Source: RRI 2017 (Power and Potential)]