Opportunity Assessment to Strengthen Collective Land Tenure Rights in FCPF Countries
Opportunity Assessment to Strengthen Collective Land Tenure Rights in FCPF Countries

After more than a decade of engaging with Indigenous Peoples and local communities through REDD+ readiness and implementation efforts, participant countries of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) have gained insights into what is needed to strengthen communal and collective land forest tenure. This comprehensive report provides an assessment of countries affiliated with the FCPF's Carbon Fund and lays out cross-cutting challenges as well as opportunities to advance Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' land rights.

Community Land Rights in Kenya: A Summary of 2020 Analyses
Community Land Rights in Kenya: A Summary of 2020 Analyses

This summary highlights Kenya-specific findings of three RRI studies conducted in 2020. This document will explain what the findings of these three studies mean for Kenya, and aims to equip local communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) with data to advance their advocacy work to influence future reforms and help the government, donors, private sector actors, and conservationists make informed decisions.

Este estudo analisa a situação do reconhecimento legal dos direitos dos Povos Indígenas, comunidades locais e Povos Afrodescendentes ao carbono em suas terras e territórios em 31 países da África, Ásia e América Latina.10 Juntos, esses países defendem quase 70 por cento das florestas tropicais do mundo11 e representam pelo menos 62 por cento do potencial total de solução climática natural viável identificado por McKinsey et al. (2021),12 e, portanto, a maior parte das reduções de emissões baseadas na natureza e oportunidades de compensação de carbono em países com florestas tropicais e subtropicais.

This study reviews the status of the legal recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples to the carbon in their lands and territories across 31 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these countries hold almost 70 percent of the world’s tropical forests and represent at least 62 percent of the total feasible natural climate solution potential, and thus the bulk of nature-based emissions reductions and carbon offset opportunities in tropical and subtropical forest countries.

Esta análise mostra que a grande maioria dos países com florestas tropicais que procuram se beneficiar dos mercados internacionais de carbono florestal ainda não definiu na lei e na prática os direitos dos Povos Indígenas, comunidades locais e Povos Afrodescendentes sobre o carbono em suas terras e territórios consuetudinários.

This analysis shows that the vast majority of tropical forested countries seeking to benefit from international forest carbon markets have yet to define in law and in practice the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples over carbon in their customary lands and territories.

Best Practices from RRI Collaborators in Africa
Best Practices from RRI Collaborators in Africa

RRI’s Collaborators from the Africa region have implemented a wide range of projects with the central goal of securing Indigenous Peoples (IPs)’ and local communities (LC)s’ tenure as a baseline for other pro-community engagements. RRI is highlighting some of the best practices from these projects to strengthen our Coalition members’ advocacy and other work, now and in the future.

Paying the Price: A Study on Criminalization of Land and Environmental Rights Defenders in East Africa
Paying the Price: A Study on Criminalization of Land and Environmental Rights Defenders in East Africa

The objectives of this paper include: To gather data on cases of violence and/or criminalization of land and environmental rights defenders (LERDs) in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; To collect information on existing strategies and resources to address the criminalization of LERDs in East Africa; To map organizations working on the issue at the local, national, and regional levels; and To understand the steps leading to violence against or criminalization of human rights defenders.

The Opportunity Framework 2020
The Opportunity Framework 2020

Identifying Opportunities to Invest in Securing Collective Tenure Rights in the Forest Areas of Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Who Owns the Forests of Asia?
Who Owns the Forests of Asia?

In recent decades there has been a shift away from government control of forest land towards increasing access and ownership for indigenous groups, communities, individuals, and firms. This brief highlights this transition in statutory forest tenure from 2002-2008 in Asia. The brief focuses on forest land tenure, but tenure over other forest resources (timber, non-timber forest products, carbon, sub-soil mineral ores, etc.) is often just as important. Moreover, although the focus is only on tenure in this analysis, the regulatory framework is also critically important because it specifies the rules regarding land use and who gets access to what resources.