In Guatemala, on April 21 and 22, 2026, 13 women leaders from 9* Latin American countries gathered to coordinate common agendas, strengthen alliances, and define strategic actions to boost their participation in the Rights and Resources Initiative’s Coalition in the region.
From 2022 to 2025, Rights and Resources Initiative, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, and Campaign for Nature funded 76 distinct projects at local, national, and regional levels in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, thanks to the generosity of the Bezos Earth Fund.
In Sèppè, a small coastal village in Cameroon, change is quietly, but powerfully, taking root. For generations, women here have been the pillars of their families and communities, working and cultivating land that they have not historically had the benefit of owning. Thanks to the work of a powerful network of women, the tide is now turning.
Environmental defenders are on the frontlines of safeguarding biodiversity, addressing climate change, and protecting human rights. The concept of collective protection has emerged as a critical framework in the defense of defenders who often act in unison to protect their communities and draw support from them. Collective protection emphasizes the need to protect not only individual defenders but also the broader community structures that support and sustain their work.
The recognition follows the acceptance of a new participatory map by the local government, documenting Indigenous territories across the regency’s five districts. The decree recognizes Indigenous control over 51,000 hectares, setting a strong precedent for policy related to Indigenous Peoples in the province of West Nusa Tenggara.
2025 was a deeply challenging year for our sector, testing our coalition in unprecedented ways. But despite this, our coalition members claimed some major wins through their remarkable courage and resilience.
Local communities across Latin America, Africa, and Asia made key advances in increasing their effective representation in global climate negotiations and policies at the recently concluded 30th UN Climate Change Conference.
At the recently concluded COP30, the central role of tropical forests and the Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities that protect them was firmly in the spotlight. Despite ongoing challenges, the climate summit delivered tangible, measurable gains for communities and local forest stewards, ranging from landmark land recognitions to new funding initiatives and international collaborations.
Climate change negotiators meeting in Brazil for COP 30 will face intense pressure to agree on indicators to measure adaptation and a roadmap to quadruple the new collective quantified goal on climate finance.
As the world moves toward COP30 in Belém, Brazil, countries are in the process of updating their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—the key national plans that define climate goals, strategies, and financing needs under the Paris Agreement. In this crucial context, RRI released a two-phase study in September and October 2025, analyzing current NDCs of 25 countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
As the global community prepares for UNFCCC COP30, hosted for the first time in the Amazon region of Brazil, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and its coalition of over 200 partners, collaborators, and allies have been sending a clear and powerful message for months: Earth’s #DefendersLeadTheWay on climate action.
PRESS RELEASE: The Government of Sierra Leone will host the 5th African Land Institution Network (ALIN) Conference in Freetown, gathering African leaders to promote inclusive, resilient, and people-centered land governance.
During Climate Week NYC 2025, RRI and partners amplified Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community voices—advancing rights-based climate action and equity ahead of COP30.
A new report by RRI, Forest Peoples Programme, and the ICCA Consortium assessing 30 high-biodiversity countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America finds that while most countries have legal pathways to advance rights-based conservation, in practice, communities’ contributions to national conservation efforts continue to be inadequately recognized or supported.
From July 8th to July 10th, Brasilia held an event called the Pre-COP of the Traditional Peoples and Communities of Brazil . This was a national preparatory meeting for COP30, the next UN climate change conference that will be held in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.
In July 2025, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed into law the country’s first-ever land-use planning legislation, marking a historic step toward community-centered land governance and sustainable development in one of the world’s most biodiverse countries.
These are the three communities that are leading global efforts to protect nature and preserve traditional knowledge for future generations.
The secretary of the Board of Directors of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP) shares the challenges she had to overcome to become an Indigenous woman leader.
Community Forest User Groups play an important role in protecting the forests on Chandragiri Hill in Nepal, but they didn’t begin to make significant progress in this quest until the women of these communities were allowed to join.
With population growth in Madagascar, land is in ever shorter supply and conflicts over land ownership are multiplying. We must build greater community recognition of women’s important role in society—not as competitors to men, but as people working together towards a common goal of better livelihoods and sustainable land management.
South Sudan, one of Africa’s most diverse countries and the world’s youngest Nation, is at a critical juncture. Despite being home to over 60 major ethnic groups, the country lacks a comprehensive land policy, leaving communities vulnerable to land grabs, exclusion, and conflict.
Have you ever wondered why people experiencing poverty in rural areas of the Global South tend to have insecure land tenure? If you have, you may have rightly concluded that the greed of powerful actors and colonialism are an important part of the story. But this barely begins to describe the forces that have strengthened and weakened tenure security across time for those with little voice and power.
This is the story of the president of the Association of Afro-descendant Women of Northern Cauca, Colombia, who faced the threats of armed conflict to fight for the rights of Afro-descendant women.
As the fight for climate justice continues, acknowledging the connections between land, water, ecosystems, and human communities is critical for the realization of positive and lasting change.