A new analysis by RRI finds Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities have recognized rights to just 16 percent of forests across 61 countries. This is despite mounting evidence that secure tenure is vital to achieving global climate and biodiversity commitments and to sustaining the livelihoods of communities that have stewarded these forests for generations.
More than four years of collaboration is entering a new phase as REPALEAC—the Central African Network for Indigenous and Local Peoples for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems—expands its partnership with the Rights and Resources Initiative and its rightsholder-led funding mechanism, the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), across the Congo Basin.
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.
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.
At COP30, RRI announced the next phase of its global coalition strategy, "From Rights to Livelihoods: Advancing Collective Economies for People and Planet," with the launch of a new Collective Livelihoods and Enterprise Network. The initiative represents a major step in linking land rights, sustainable livelihoods, and conservation through community-led economies.
This statement by the Women in Global South Alliance (WiGSA) extends its congratulations to governments and donors for their renewed commitment to supporting the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities, as announced at COP30 in Brazil on November 6, 2025, and calls on funders to address the global gender funding gap.
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 global leaders prepare to gather in Belém, Brazil, this November for the 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30), the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and its global partners are calling for the summit to serve as a turning point for Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities who safeguard the world’s forests and biodiversity.
Novo relatório mostra progresso inconsistente em nível nacional em relação aos direitos de posse de terras para Povos Indígenas, Povos Afrodescendentes e comunidades locais
New report shows inconsistent domestic progress on tenure rights for Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities
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.
RRI is seeking nominations for the Chair of the Board of Directors, who will guide its coalition of more than 200 partners, collaborators, and fellows in implementing its Fourth Strategic Program, which runs through 2027. We are looking for individuals committed to RRI's core issues: The land, resources, and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendent Peoples, and local communities.
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.
This new report highlights RRI's twenty years of impact on communities’ collective land and resource rights and outlines the path forward to secure their future worldwide.
Hundreds of Indigenous and local community representatives from the world’s largest tropical forest basins held a historic convening on May 26–30, 2025, with government representatives, international development institutions, and donors to present their demands ahead of the next UN Climate Conference in Brazil (COP30).
As South Sudan’s Parliament prepares to reconvene in the coming days, the South Sudan Land Alliance, a coalition of civil society organizations and land rights advocates, is calling on the Transitional National Legislative Assembly to prioritize the passage of the National Land Policy.
The First Global Congress of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities from the Forest Basins brings together forest guardians from the Amazon, Congo, Borneo-Mekong-Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica. These territories, long safeguarded by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are essential to the Earth’s biodiversity and carbon balance—providing powerful solutions to the climate crisis.
There are 13,318 villages in Tanzania, and of them, only 34% have a Village Land Use Plan (VLUP). A VLUP is a crucial prerequisite for obtaining a Certificate of Customary Right of Occupancy—the equivalent of securing land tenure. This can be especially important for women, who are often marginalized in land inheritance, lack access to credit services, and have little voice in disputes. Since 2021, the Ukijani project has helped issue more than 1,700 Certificates in villages throughout the country.
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.
Decades after the world adopted what continues to be the most comprehensive roadmap for women’s rights, RRI’s latest report highlights enduring challenges in securing the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women.
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.