Description

Acknowledgment that insecure land rights among the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities contribute to conflict, discourage investment, and impede progress on global goals of sustainable development, poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation is growing. In 2016, this consensus found a powerful new ally: major institutional investors are beginning to recognize that conflicts over land, the result of local peoples’ insecure rights to the lands and resources on which their survival depends, pose a significant threat to their investments, operations, and reputations.

Yet 2016 also made clear that the governments and companies attempting to implement their land rights commitments face significant challenges. Others continue to ignore the mounting body of research on the economic and social benefits of respecting rights, and are actively rolling back their commitments. But across the world, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are winning local victories and seeing the results of their decades of struggle lead to change at the global level, even as they face unprecedented levels of violence and criminalization.

This panel event—being held for the first time ever outside London—will bring together experts, Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ representatives, government officials, and representatives from private companies and their investors to discuss the future of community land rights.

New research on the link between land-related investment and conflict in Africa will be released alongside RRI’s annual review on the state of rights and resources globally. The panel will examine how investors are working with communities and governments to ensure that they are translating their commitments into practice; how indigenous and local community mobilization can continue to hold these actors accountable; and how secure land rights can alleviate the risk of conflict.

For questions, contact Luke Allen. To RSVP, please fill out this form.