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The Indian Supreme Court decision in February to remove millions of forest-dwelling people in five months will not only have devastating human rights implications but also hurt the global struggle to save forests and mitigate climate change, according to numerous experts. Even though implementation of the decision has been placed on hold until July, the homes of millions remains under threat.

New analysis reveals that Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage 300,000 million metric tons of carbon in their trees and soil—33 times energy emissions from…

In a new study released today, researchers say they have identified significant flaws in ambitious forest preservation projects underway in a densely-forested region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where a decision on future investment by the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is imminent. The DRC province of Mai-Ndombe has been a testing ground for international climate schemes designed to halt forest destruction while benefiting indigenous and other local peoples who depend on forests for their food and incomes, with US$90 million already dispersed or committed for climate finance in the province.

Released at major land rights event in Stockholm, new research reveals that respecting rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities—not forcing them off their lands—slashes…

Researchers today released a report showing that Indigenous Peoples and local communities worldwide manage massive amounts of carbon in the trees and soil of their…

Con su sombrero de ala ancha, Carlos Pérez Sebastián, nuestro guía de campo durante la semana, afirmó: “La silvicultura comunitaria es una gran alternativa para el desarrollo, pues mejora los espacios verdes, el oxígeno, el agua y la biodiversidad. Al practicar la silvicultura comunitaria, estamos garantizando un mejor futuro para nuestros hijos y nietos”. Carlos explicaba esto al pie de una ladera que un ejido (grupo forestal comunitario) había restaurado con especies autóctonas en Cruz de Oco

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. Over 10 years after the legislation has passed, only 3 percent of the land on which forest dwellers could potentially claim community forest rights has been secured, according to the Rights and Resources Initiative.

Nepal’s forests are rich with forest products, yet many forest dependent communities are still living in poverty and face a myriad of challenges—including lack of jobs and income. What lessons could be drawn from Mexico's "ejidos" system, which has enabled communities to benefit economically from forests?

The RRI is a global network advocating for the land and forest rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities. As the RRI’s coordinator, Andy White travels the world, meeting with Indigenous and community leaders, governments and civil society organizations to discuss how local communities’ rights to the forest can be advanced. Here, as part of an ongoing review of community rights to forested lands and key conditions for success led by Tropenbos International, he talks about recent progress and challenges and the role that civil society organizations can play to help people claim their rights as a step toward locally-led sustainable development.

Worldwide, more than 250,000 people were evicted from protected areas in 15 countries from 1990 to 2014, according to Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative.

“They started the project by taking away communities’ land without their consent, using intimidation and all kinds of misplaced government power to evict them from their own customary land,” said Kipalu, who now works for the Rights and Resources Initiative in Washington, D.C.

Referring to the estimates of Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) CSD says the actual potential forest land going to be recognized under FRA, 2006 would be more than 85.6 million acres (excluding five north-eastern states and J&K) and more than 200 million Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) in over 170,000 villages in the country are estimated to get IFR rights under FRA.