The most recent IPCC report is a critical reminder from the world’s top scientists that there is already an effective solution to the climate crisis in place: recognizing the rights of the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who have cared for the world’s forests for generations.
We have seen the evidence of this mounting for years—and the policy community can no longer afford to delay action on recognizing community land rights to secure our collective future.
At the most recent Women Deliver conference—the world’s largest gathering on gender equality and the wellbeing of girls and women—experts from across the RRI Coalition had the opportunity to learn from diverse leaders around the world, while also raising awareness of the urgent need to recognize the rights of indigenous, rural, and community women. Here’s what participants said international audiences need to know about the challenges and opportunities facing this unique subset of women.
The GLF summit presented the first draft of a ‘gold standard’ on rights, which will define the principles of secure and proper rights to be applied by public, private and non-profit actors in the implementation of policies, business and initiatives in global landscape. “We wish to establish that the respect of our rights is non-negotiable,” said Joan Carlin of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development (IPMG), which leads the initiative together with the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI).
Durante una sesión reciente del Foro Permanente de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cuestiones Indígenas, realizada en Nueva York, seis activistas y líderes indígenas de diversas partes del mundo dedicaron un momento a referirse a las contribuciones que realizan sus comunidades para el progreso de la sociedad, y que muchas veces no se reconocen y se subestiman, así como para abordar algunos de los conceptos erróneos más comunes y nocivos sobre los pueblos indígenas y las comunidades locales.
Indigenous peoples and local communities legally own only about 15 percent of forests worldwide, according to a 2018 analysis by the Rights and Resources Initiative, a global land rights coalition.
Originaria de Colombia, la Dra. Bolaños es antropóloga y experta en derechos humanos, y ha dedicado las últimas dos décadas a promover los derechos colectivos de tenencia de los pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes, al igual que de las comunidades locales y de las mujeres rurales en América Latina. En el marco del septuagésimo aniversario de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos, la Dra. Bolaños reflexiona en los retos que enfrentan las comunidades indígenas, afrodescendientes y campesinas en cuanto a sus derechos, así como en la forma en que estos grupos y sus aliados están aunando esfuerzos para abordar estos retos de forma conjunta.
