A new analysis by the Rights and Resources Initiative finds Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities have recognized rights to just 16 percent of forests across 61 countries. This is despite mounting evidence that secure tenure is vital to achieving global climate and biodiversity commitments and to sustaining the livelihoods, cultures, and self-determined economies of communities that have stewarded these forests for generations.
WASHINGTON, D.C. [May 21, 2026] — More than two-thirds of the world’s forests remain controlled by governments or private actors, despite being traditionally owned and managed by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities, according to a new analysis by the Rights and Resources Initiative.
The analysis, which covers 61 countries spanning 91 percent of the world’s forests, finds that despite their outsized role in managing and protecting these essential ecosystems, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities have legally recognized rights to only 16 percent of forests. As the world races to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, governments remain far behind on commitments to recognize the rights of the communities that safeguard most forests.
“Governments have made meaningful progress in recognizing the forest rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities since 2017, but the pace is still nowhere near what this moment requires,” said Solange Bandiaky-Badji, RRI President and Coordinator.
“With only four years left to meet 2030 climate and biodiversity commitments, every year of delay leaves communities more vulnerable, forests less protected, and global goals further out of reach.”
Between 2002 and 2025, the forest area legally designated for or owned by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities nearly doubled. Since 2017 alone, recognized community forest areas increased by roughly 96 million hectares, increasing from approximately 517 million hectares to 614 million hectares across the countries analyzed. Nearly two-thirds of that increase reflects gains in forest areas owned by communities.
But RRI warns that this progress is still far too slow. In 49 low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, only 26 percent of total forest area is currently legally designated for or owned by communities. To meet the global goal of ending deforestation by 2030 while leaving no one behind, governments would need to recognize at least 97 million hectares of forests per year, which is more than 10 times the current pace.
The findings are a strong reminder that calls to action regarding tenure recognition must push beyond hectares and center territories, livelihoods, women’s rights, and dedicated financing for community-led economies. Governments should address the unfinished work of rights recognition while ensuring that those rights translate into thriving community-led economies and livelihoods.
Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities from Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be advocating for this holistic approach to rights and livelihoods at the Global Summit on Collective Livelihoods and Conservation, happening May 26–29, 2026, in Brasilia.
RRI’s findings show uneven regional progress:
- In Africa, where community forest rights recognition continues to lag behind Asia and Latin America, 18.17 million hectares have been designated for or owned by communities since 2017 across 21 countries. Nearly all of that progress is concentrated in five countries: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zambia.
- In Asia, progress has been modest. Excluding China, 10 million hectares have been recognized as designated for or owned by communities since 2017, with India and Indonesia accounting for 78 percent of these gains.
- In Latin America, long considered a role model for community forest tenure recognition, the pace of progress has slowed sharply. The region added 15.25 million hectares of recognized community forests since 2017, but the annual rate of increase fell from 6.6 million hectares per year between 2002 and 2017 to 1.91 million hectares per year between 2017 and 2025. There was also a concerning increase of 77.3 million hectares in privately owned forests in Brazil.
“Forest protection cannot succeed while the people who have protected these lands for generations remain legally invisible,” said Alain Frechette, Director of Rights, Climate, and Conservation at RRI.
“The evidence is clear: forests are healthier when Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities have secure rights. The challenge now is not whether governments know what works, but whether they are willing to act quickly enough.”
The RRI analysis underscores that recognizing community forest rights is both a matter of justice and a critical strategy for achieving climate, biodiversity, and development goals. Evidence from Latin America shows that Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories often experience lower deforestation rates than surrounding forests, including many protected areas. Further, 83 percent of lands titled to Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean are characterized by high levels of forest and tree vegetation conservation, while studies in East Asia and the Pacific show that strengthening Indigenous and community land rights can help reduce deforestation.
Further, the analysis calls on the need to close the financing gap to advance the rights of communities. Secure rights are the foundation, but they are not the finish line. The communities protecting the world’s forests need not just legal recognition but the financial pathways, market access, and policy frameworks to build dignified livelihoods from their lands.
The analysis also warns that most community forest tenure reforms remain gender-blind, leaving women’s rights unrecognized even when communities gain formal tenure. RRI calls on governments to accelerate reforms that explicitly protect the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women, and close the conservation finance gap that continues to exclude communities from the direct funding needed to protect forests and sustain their livelihoods.
