Status of Legal Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’, Local Communities’ and Afro-descendant Peoples’ Rights to Carbon Stored in Tropical Lands and Forests

This research provides a timely reminder of the global significance of community-held lands and territories; their importance for the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of tropical forestlands across the world; and the critical gaps in the international development architecture that have so far undermined progress towards the legal recognition of such lands and territories. Our findings indicate that Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Descendant Peoples, and local communities customarily hold and use at least 958 million hectares (mha) of land in the 24 reviewed countries but have legally recognized rights to less than half of this area (447 mha). Their lands are estimated to store at least 253.5 Gigatons of Carbon (GtC), playing a vital role in the maintenance of globally significant greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs. However, the majority of this carbon (52 percent, or 130.6 GtC) is stored in community-held lands and territories that have yet to be legally recognized.

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Report: Status of Legal Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’, Local Communities’ and Afro-descendant Peoples’ Rights to Carbon Stored in Tropical Lands and Forests

10.53892/mlqq5744 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Tropical Forests ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Local Communities ◽

Subtropical Forest ◽

Emissions Reductions ◽

Legal Recognition ◽

Carbon Offset ◽

The Status ◽

Natural Climate

This study reviews the status of the legal recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples to the carbon in their lands and territories across 31 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these countries hold almost 70 percent of the world’s tropical forests and represent at least 62 percent of the total feasible natural climate solution potential, and thus the bulk of nature-based emissions reductions and carbon offset opportunities in tropical and subtropical forest countries.

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Legal Recognition of Forest Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

Tropical Forestry Handbook ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-41554-8_292-1 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

Fernanda Almeida

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Local Communities ◽

Legal Recognition

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When Rights Embrace Responsibilities

10.1093/oso/9780199485154.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Giulia Sajeva

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Local Communities ◽

Economic Interests ◽

Group Rights ◽

Potential Applicability ◽

Protection Of Human Rights ◽

Relationship Of

The conservation of environment and the protection of human rights are two of the most compelling needs of our time. Unfortunately, they are not always easy to combine and too often result in mutual harm. This book analyses the idea of biocultural rights as a proposal for harmonizing the needs of environmental and human rights. These rights, considered as a basket of group rights, are those deemed necessary to protect the stewardship role that certain indigenous peoples and local communities have played towards the environment. With a view to understanding the value and merits, as well as the threats that biocultural rights entail, the book critically assesses their foundations, content, and implications, and develops new perspectives and ideas concerning their potential applicability for promoting the socio-economic interests of indigenous people and local communities. It further explores the controversial relationship of interdependence and conflict between conservation of environment and protection of human rights.

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Land tenure and agricultural expansion in Latin America: The role of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ forest rights

Global Environmental Change ◽

10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.09.010 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 35 ◽

pp. 316-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

M. Graziano Ceddia ◽

Ulrich Gunter ◽

Alexandre Corriveau-Bourque

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Local Communities ◽

Agricultural Expansion

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Reply to Bridgewater (2021), 'Response to Davies et al., 'Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands"

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf21132 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 72 (10) ◽

pp. 1401

Author(s):

G. T. Davies ◽

C. M. Finlayson ◽

E. Okuno ◽

N. C. Davidson ◽

R. C. Gardner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Local Knowledge ◽

Local Communities ◽

Universal Declaration ◽

Legal Rights ◽

Indigenous And Local Knowledge ◽

Rights Of Nature ◽

Areas Of Concern ◽

Management Approaches ◽

Conservation And Management

We reply to the main concerns raised by Bridgewater (2021) in his response to Davies et al. (2021a), ‘Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands’. We appreciate the contribution of Bridgewater (2021) to this emerging conversation and, although we disagree with some of his assessments and statements, we do not find his points to be incompatible with support for the Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands (ROW). This reply focuses on four areas of concern raised by Bridgewater (2021). First, we describe why a wetlands-specific declaration will add important value to other Rights of Nature declarations. Second, we discuss how the ROW does not detract from, but rather can contribute to and complement, existing conservation and management approaches and mechanisms. Third, we agree on the importance of weaving Indigenous and local knowledge with other knowledges and emphasise that the ROW should not be confused with or misused to undermine the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Finally, we explain how legal rights can and have been granted to non-humans, including elements of Nature, such as wetlands.

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