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Afro-descendant Atlas

Ancestral Territories and Afro-descendant Peoples' Collective Lands in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author: Rights and Resources Initiative, Proceso de Comunidades Negras, Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas, and Observatorio de Territorios Étnicos y Campesinos (OTEC) at Universidad Javeriana

Date: September 24, 2024

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This Atlas of the ancestral territories, rural settlements, and collectively owned lands belonging to Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean is a product of organizations, leaders, activists, and academics involved in the Afro-descendant social movement in the Americas, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Black Communities’ Process (PCN), and the Universidad Javeriana’s Observatory for Ethnic and Peasant Territories (OTEC).

The Atlas maps the territorial presence of Afro-descendant Peoples in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the state of recognition of their territorial rights, their overlap with areas that are important for regulating and mitigating climate change, and their contributions to conservation efforts. We conceptualize Afro-descendancy as a collective agency subject with rights that extend beyond people.

Afro-descendant Peoples’ territories are currently violated and threatened, their natural resources are being plundered, and their traditional production practices and ancestral knowledge are being diminished. This Atlas attempts to give an account of the conditions in which these territories are found.

https://doi.org/10.53892/KKSL2510
  • Key Findings
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Key Findings

  • As of 2022, Afro-descendant Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean reached 153.7 million people, representing 23.7% of the region’s population.
  • In 15 countries, more than 32,690,589 hectares of rural lands corresponding to municipalities or cantons where Afro-descendant Peoples settle, not including Brazil, have been preliminarily identified.
  • So far, 8,301,343.8 hectares of collectively titled lands have been identified, while 5,211,699.4 hectares are identified as claimed territories or are in request of recognition and demarcation.
  • A total of 645 protected areas were identified, divided into 84 private areas: 445 under governmental management, 92 under non-governmental management, and 24 under community protection overlapping with Afro-descendant Peoples’ lands and territories.
  • Territories with Afro-descendant settlements are the most vulnerable to negative impacts since 75.8% of these territories will suffer an increase of more than 7°C. The study found that half of the demarcated territories will experience a temperature increase between 6 and 7°C, and 26.6% will exceed the 7°C increase.

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