New data gathered from Afro-descendant community councils and state records reveal that the Colombian government has failed to address 271 claims for collective Afro-descendant land rights—threatening cultural and environmental sustainability, the rights of Afro-descendant community territories as established by Law 70 of 1993, and the successful implementation of the peace accords. Although all 271 communities have submitted formal applications for collective land titles, the government has largely delayed recognition of their claims—in some cases for over a decade.
The community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, in Ucayali, Peru, is fighting back against both land trafficking and human rights abuses in the region.
Millions have learned of the existence of the small island of Barbuda (161 sq. km), through the havoc that Hurricane Irma wreaked on the island, destroying most buildings, roads, water, and power installations. What they may not know is that the less than 2,000 Barbudans collectively own their island; this ownership is under threat, which has been heightened by Hurricane Irma.
“Include us, so that we can protect our lands for our children and protect the planet’s biodiversity for all the world’s children,” said by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples during the launch. Recognising the land rights of native and traditional peoples is a low-cost solution toward achieving the world’s development, environment and climate agendas.
In Brazil, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities face unprecedented threats to their hard-won territorial and constitutional rights.
At a panel event in Lima, Peru, indigenous women advocated for stronger legal protections for indigenous women’s rights to govern their lands and resources.
In Peru, women are raising their voices to call attention to their unique role as forest managers, and advocate for full participation in land titling projects that would affect them.
Como se ve en Mongabay el 26 de Abril, 2017 Doña Neria, del campamento El Chiclero, está contenta. Es la primera vez que un grupo…
Community advocates in Brazil, Guatemala, Kenya, Taiwan, and 21 other countries call on governments, private sector to recognise that secure land rights are vital to the global struggle against climate change
For Amazonian and native communities, it is not a matter of ignoring or rejecting the land market, but rather finding the best way to relate to it while preserving their ancestral properties, rights, traditions, and knowledge (which are key for biodiversity and intellectual property).
The assassination of Berta Cáceres, underscored the vulnerability of indigenous leaders, and in particular indigenous women leaders, who face violence and criminalization for defending their communities’ lands and livelihoods. A year later, the targeting of land rights defenders continues.
Amid last year’s political shocks and challenges to the primacy of human rights, one consistent and inspiring global trend emerges: the growing recognition that the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are key to ensuring peace and prosperity.
Defending nature is a dangerous occupation, especially in Latin America.
This November, two pieces of good news have come from Brazilian communities that are working with the sustainable management of their forests.
Days before the RSPO complaints panel was supposed to issue a final judgment on the complaint filed against them, Plantaciones de Pucallpa withdrew from the RSPO.
A new RRI analysis reveals that secure tenure for Indigenous Peoples and local communities—a key climate change mitigation strategy—is notably absent from the Paris Agreement…
Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in Guatemala are organizing in light of new threats from their government. The authorities of the Mayan Ch’orti’, Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel, and Ixil…
The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts in ending a more than 50-year-long civil war, serves as a…
Honolulu (AFP) – Some of the world’s leading conservation groups are violating the rights of indigenous people by backing projects that oust them from their…
HONOLULU — Conservation organizations dedicated to protecting the world’s biodiversity hot spots often fail to take into account why the forests are still standing. Often,…
Las principales organizaciones representativas de los pueblos indígenas del Perú, se reunieron los días 16 y 17 de agosto, para consolidar una agenda común de incidencia política para promover la titulación colectiva de las comunidades indígenas.
Public auctions will be held in Lima, Peru, over the next few weeks as the Melka group decides to sell land in Ucayali. A public…
En Colombia, miles de campesinos, indígenas y afro-descendientes agremiados en la Asociación Nacional de Zonas de Reserva Campesina (ANZOR), la Organización Nacional Indígena Colombiana (ONIC)…
NGOs call on governments to act to save people and planet Indigenous Peoples and local communities protect half the world’s land, but formally own just…