This report offers RRI’s latest assessment of the status and strength of Indigenous Peoples’, Afro-descendant Peoples’, and local communities’ statutory forest tenure rights across 35 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It finds that the tenure rights of these groups remain inadequately protected under national laws more than two decades since the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and 10 years after the inclusion of tenure security indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Unprecedented levels of violence and criminalization; displacement and land grabbing with causes ranging from resource extraction to organized crime; erosion of civic space; and rollback of aid, all put the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities at heightened risk, and highlight the fragility of the progress achieved so far in their recognition.

Summary of Regional Findings:

• Africa Factsheet
• Asia Factsheet
• Latin America Factsheet