Welcome to Big Ideas. In Brief—a new series from the Rights and Resources Initiative.
May 2020
Respect Indigenous and Community Isolation to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz; originally published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation
For the first time in living memory, the industrialized world understands what it is to be entirely susceptible to disease, as vulnerable as indigenous peoples once were to diseases brought by outsiders who colonized our lands. As vulnerable as many indigenous peoples still are to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indigenous peoples—and other local communities and Afro-descendants—do not have the same health services or government support as those in cities, even in developed countries like Canada…. Read more
November 2019
The Path to a Profitable and Protected Amazon
By Carlos Nobre; originally published by Scientific American
The Amazon is burning. Physically, the world has seen more deforestation and fires in Brazil’s portion of the Amazon this year than at any other point in nearly a decade. But figuratively, a conflagration over economic development in the region blazes even more fiercely.
In Brazil alone, the rain forest is more than 42 million acres smaller today than it was in 2010…. Read more
November 2019
Community land rights: An untapped solution to secure climate, biodiversity, and development goals
By Wael Zakout & Andy White; originally published by World Bank Blogs
Secure land rights play a key role in addressing the climate crisis. Yet billions of peoples’ rights to the lands and resources they live on and manage are unrecognized. This insecurity undermines global efforts to protect, sustainably manage, and restore ecosystems essential to the realization of global climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development goals.
While there is growing acceptance of the importance of land rights, those of millions of local communities and Indigenous Peoples…. Read more
June 2019
A new gold standard for people and planet
By Joan Carling; originally published by the Global Landscapes Forum
The climate crisis is worsening, and report after report warns that we are running out of time to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. We also know that the world cannot replace fossil fuels fast enough to keep warming to 2 degrees, much less 1.5 degrees. Our only hope is protecting the forests and wetlands that sequester vast amounts of carbon and regulate the world’s ecosystems. And we cannot protect forests if we ignore the rights of forest guardians.
Indigenous peoples and local communities have stewarded many of the world’s great forests, wetlands and drylands for generations…. Read more
June 2019
Stories of Progress that Underscope Women’s Agency, Power, and Potential
By Silene Ramirez and Lindsay Bigda; originally published by Women Deliver
Tackling the devastating effects of climate change and inequality requires a more inclusive approach—one that supports the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who manage and protect the worlds’ lands and resources, and in particular the women within these groups, whose unique knowledge plays a pivotal role in communities’ livelihoods and forest protection. Up to 2.5 billion people worldwide—more than half of whom are women—rely on community lands and resources. Women play an outsize role in managing these lands, simultaneously keeping the world’s forests standing and feeding their families and communities.
Yet limited land and governance rights undermine women’s ability to participate in decision-making affecting their personal agency and economic security, their children’s future, and the future of the planet…. Read more
May 2019
The struggle for land security in Liberia is just beginning
By Alfred Brownell; originally published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation
In 2016, I fled my native Liberia to avoid being arrested. My organization Green Advocates had recently filed a complaint before the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) against Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), one of the world’s biggest palm oil producing companies, for attempting to clear more than 500,000 hectares of rainforest without the consent of the local communities who live on and protect those lands.
Liberian forests act as essential carbon sinks and are one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet…. Read more
March 2019
In India, the specter of forced displacement hangs over the heads of millions of Indigenous Peoples
By Arun Agrawal; originally published by The Washington Post
In February, India’s Supreme Court ruled that Indigenous and local households whose land claims had not yet been upheld — roughly 2 million households, or an estimated 10 million people — would be evicted from their homes by July 24. The court then put a hold on the evictions until its next hearing in July, providing a brief respite to residents who are largely impoverished and cannot afford to move without grievous harm — but also extending their anxiety.
Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government must ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its unjust decision…. Read more
January 2019
Calling for a new narrative: Indigenous and rural women as agents of change
By Silene Ramirez; originally published by Women Deliver
Indigenous and rural women are largely responsible for food production and developing sustainable rural economies. They have unique knowledge of natural resources and are on the front lines of preventing deforestation, revitalizing food systems, and stewarding the ecosystems that they and the rest of the planet rely on. And their leadership is only growing as a result of demographic shifts.
Despite these important contributions as household and forest managers, women are too often left out of decision-making processes that affect them, and remain constrained by unjust laws and practices…. Read more
December 2018
“The roots of a lasting peace are intertwined with the land”
By Alain Frechette
2018 was a concerning year for all who want a stable, prosperous, and healthy planet. We learned from scientists just how urgent efforts to mitigate climate change are. We saw Brazil join the growing ranks of countries headed by ultranationalist and xenophobic leaders. And, after the deadliest year on record for land and environmental defenders in 2017, we witnessed even higher levels of violence, criminalization, and persecution targeting Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and their defenders.
While there is no silver bullet for solving these problems, I remain optimistic that we can collectively find ways to address the inequality and insecurity that underpin them…. Read more
October 2018
Protect Indigenous, community, and women’s land rights for food security and nutrition
By Fany Kuiru and Paul De Wit; originally published in Devex
Around 1 in 9 people in the world — 821 million — are undernourished. After a prolonged decline, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that world hunger is rising once again.
The world’s food systems need to be transformed to curb this trend. Legally recognized and protected land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the developing world are a key part of revitalizing the world’s food systems. In particular, the rights of rural and Indigenous women to support diverse, local agricultural production require urgent attention…. Read more
September 2018
President Iván Duque, Protect Social Activists
By Omaira Bolaños; originally published in the New York Times
Like many Colombians, I have lived most of my life amid cycles of armed conflict and attempts at peace. I grew up listening to stories of violence from my family and witnessing the myriad ways it devastated groups across the country. Those who are poorest and living in rural areas have always been among the most affected by the violence…. Read more in English and in Spanish
July 2018
In India, making the business case for community forest rights
By Flavie Halais; originally published in Devex
In 2006, India’s parliament passed the Forest Rights Act, or FRA—a groundbreaking legislation that recognizes the rights of forest dwellers to protect and manage forest resources.
Colonial-era laws established by the British previously granted control of India’s forests to forest departments, the government services in charge of implementing the National Forest Policy, in order to manage large-scale industrial and commercial projects. But this left local communities vulnerable to displacement, socio-economic marginalization, and their lands susceptible to environmental degradation…. Read more
May 2018
To end deforestation, we must protect community land rights
By Bryson Ogden; originally published in the World Economic Forum
Ending deforestation is crucial to achieving a host of global goals, including preventing a climate crisis, sustaining rural livelihoods and preserving natural biodiversity. To this end, companies, investors, governments, civil society and communities have made ambitious commitments to reduce deforestation by 2020. These include the New York Declaration on Forests’ goal to halve natural forest loss, the Bonn Challenge to restore 150 million hectares of degraded forest, and the Consumer Goods Forum’s commitment to net zero deforestation in palm oil, soy, beef, and paper supply chains.
But companies are finding that pervasive insecurity of community land rights in the global south is making implementation difficult…. Read more
March 2018
In the Philippines, they are shooting the messengers
By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz; originally published in Financial Times
When I learnt that the Philippine government had accused me of being a terrorist, my immediate reaction was to hug my grandkids, fearing for their safety. Then, I started to speak out. Again.
I am the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. My mandate is to report when communities anywhere in the world are forced to relocate, their lands uprooted, their leaders either deemed criminals or killed. Not everyone wants to hear it, but the message needs to be spread. In the Philippines, they are shooting the messengers…. Read more
February 2018
Our best hope for 2018: Women elected to local politics
By Andy White; originally published on Thomson Reuters Place
n 2017, Nepal held its first local elections in 20 years, a test of the country’s fledgling democracy after a slow recovery from civil war. Nearly 2,000 of those elected to local office were members of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), a coalition representing 8.5 million Indigenous Peoples and local communities, almost a third of Nepal’s population.
This is a game-changer for both the local people who protect Nepal’s forests and for Nepal’s democracy itself. These communities will now be writing regulations that govern their resources—setting precedents for democratic forest governance in Nepal and across Asia…. Read more