The Land Rights Standard

RRI has collaborated with the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and the Indigenous Peoples Major Group (IPMG) for Sustainable Development to produce a simple set of principles that applies existing international legal requirements and best practice standards to guide all landscape-level actions and investments supported by civil society organizations and institutions, companies and investors – whether local, national or international.

These emerging principles shall serve as the “Land Rights Standard” for best practice for recognizing and respecting Indigenous Peoples’, Local Communities’ and Afro-Descendant Peoples’ land and resource rights in landscape restoration, management, conservation, climate action, and development projects and programs.

View the principles along with a list of organizations that have endorsed them:

English | Spanish | French | Portuguese | Bahasa Indonesia

Download the Standard’s Adoption and Endorsement Pledge

Why the Land Rights Standard?

There is growing interest and action to restore and conserve the world’s forests, landscapes and natural resources, as well as growing recognition that this must be done in a manner that recognizes and respects the land, territorial and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Afro-descendant Peoples. A wide range of social and environmental frameworks, standards, and certification systems have been developed, with many organizations setting up their own systems and commitments.

While this is encouraging, efforts to date have largely been uncoordinated, and lack a common set of globally recognized principles, grounded in international human rights law and developed in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, and women within these groups. This creates the risk of confusion and potential weakening of aspirational goals that can trigger a race to the top.

The goals of the emerging Land Rights Standard principles are to:

• Strengthen respect, recognition and protection of the distinct and differentiated rights of Indigenous Peoples as affirmed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the rights of Local Communities and Afro-descendant Peoples, including the equal roles and rights of women within those peoples and communities;
• Encourage all organizations to improve their own standards, certification systems and commitments for rights-based approaches to sustainable landscapes;
• Help deliver on global goals and commitments, including the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework;
• Pave the way for a more sustainable, equitable, and just future for all by strengthening partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples via the adoption of rights-based approaches to landscape restoration, conservation, and sustainable land and resource use; and
• Support rights-holder ownership of the principles, treating the Land Rights Standard as a living document that can be reviewed and updated periodically, as appropriate, by the undersigned indigenous, community and afro-descendent constituencies.

Read a Q&A with Indigenous leader Gam Shimray on the importance of the Land Rights Standard for human rights, biodiversity and our global future.

Endorsing and adapting the Land Rights Standard

Non-state actors, including investors and donors who wish to adopt the Standard to guide their work, should fill out the Land Rights Standard’s Endorsement and Adoption Pledge. This document specifies the voluntary commitments of non-state actors and outlines expectations for rights-holders, their representative organizations, and allied institutions and civil society organizations who endorse the Standard to advance their priorities across landscapes.

Watch: Alain Frechette, Rights, Climate and Conservation Program Director at RRI and Gam Shimray, Secretary-General of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact discuss the launch of the Land Rights Standard. 

What’s next?

The GLF, the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development, and RRI are currently seeking endorsements and commitments on the Land Rights Standard principles from climate, conservation and development institutions, organizations, private companies and investors. They are also working to ensure ongoing discussions of the principles as a standing agenda item in key conservation and climate arenas and other events as appropriate, as well as inclusion of annual updates on the status of the Land Rights Standard’s adoption, endorsement, and implementation.

For more information on the status of consultations, contact Alain Frechette.

View the Land Rights Standard in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Bahasa Indonesia.

List of Endorsing Organizations: