*WASHINGTON, DC (30 MAY 2012)*—New research released today by the Rights
and Resources Initiative (RRI) shows that hundreds of millions of forest
peoples in tropical nations have, in the last 20 years, quietly gained
unprecedented legal rights to the land and resources owned under customary
law. The research also finds, however, that more than one-third of the
rules governing land rights in most of the forests of Africa, Asia and
Latin America significantly limit a community’s ability to exercise those
rights.
The new report provides the most comprehensive global legal analysis to
date of the status of forest tenure rights held by Indigenous Peoples and
other local communities in more than two-dozen developing countries. The
nations covered in the study account for approximately 75 percent of the
forests of the developing world, home to some 2.2 billion people.
“All 27 of the countries we analyzed have one or more laws recognizing
legal rights of communities, either nationally or regionally,” said
Fernanda Almeida, one of the authors, and primary researcher of the study.
“But the laws themselves are not enough. They must be ‘good laws’, and they
have to be implemented.”
In their analysis, Almeida and her colleagues warn of an imminent risk of
rollback of these rights, as illustrated by the efforts of wealthy ranchers
in Brazil to weaken land rights held by traditional and Indigenous
communities, and by an on-going global “land grab” by investors on every
continent.
“Forest peoples are caught between the forces of a drive for environmental
sustainability and the intense pressure of economic development”, said
Jeffrey Hatcher, Director of Global Programs for RRI, and one of the
authors of the new report. “Despite tremendous progress in establishing
legal tenure regimes, a lack of political will and bureaucratic obstacles
make it a struggle to implement any real action in most forest-rich
developing nations. The exorbitant technical and financial costs of
addressing these hurdles are often beyond the means of rural communities.”
Also, because governments control which lands are covered by the rights
they grant, they are able to limit the scope and impact of the measures,
and prevent them from living up to their promise, said James Bampton,
program coordinator, RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests. “Such
rights aren’t something that should apply to some people and not others,”
he said.
*Rise in Percentage of Forests under Community Control*
The RRI report identifies a significant global trend that began in the wake
of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as Indigenous and community
leaders pressured governments for legal rights to their traditional
forestlands. The area of forest under the control of forest peoples in
developing countries has risen from 21 percent of the total forest area in
those countries to 31 percent; globally, such rights now cover 15 percent
of all forests, compared to 10 percent in 1992.
“If these laws ever make it off the books, billions of hectares and
millions of people will have access to one of the most effective tools
available for eradicating poverty and conserving limited resources,” said
Andy White, coordinator of RRI. “Previous research by RRI and others has
shown that when their rights are secure, Indigenous and community forest
peoples are spectacularly successful at sustaining themselves, while at the
same time protecting their forests at least as well as governments or
industry.”
The RRI report cites, for example, the findings of a recent World Bank
report, which estimates that the incidence of forest fire—often a
precursor to deforestation in the tropics—was cut five-fold or more in
protected forests controlled by Indigenous peoples, when compared with
those managed by the state. Studies in Nepal show that community control
leads to increases in both forest area and tree density.
But the RRI study shows that national and provincial authorities often fail
to enforce laws meant to protect the tenure rights of forest peoples. Even
in Latin America, where most progress has been made in transferring rights
to forest peoples, high commodity prices are fueling efforts by the state
and private interests to override those rights. “Without strong rights,
landholders have no confidence they will benefit from measures aimed at
sustainable use of the forests,” White said. “By their inaction,
authorities stifle the capacity of local communities to succeed on their
own terms and in a way that benefits everyone.”
*The study identifies 59 systems for recognizing tenure rights to
forestlands in 27 nations: 17 in Africa, 17 in Asia and 25 in Latin America.
** *
– 51 of the 59 identified legal systems or regimes have been established
since 1992. Latin America has led the way.
– Most land tenure regimes prevent local communities from exercising at
least one of the seven rights considered fundamental to land ownership.
– In six of the 17 regimes identified in Africa, rights cannot be
implemented because there are no regulations to define those rights, nor
the processes for implementing them.
– Perhaps most critically, of all the regimes the RRI study identifies
(21 of 59), more than one-third fail to recognize the right to exclude
outsiders from entering the forest and exploiting its resources—a critical
element of land ownership.
*Even without such limitations, other obstacles can prevent Indigenous
Peoples and communities from benefiting from the rights they are granted.*
– In Indonesia, for example, laws and policies recognize the rights of
Indigenous Peoples to their traditional lands. But the constitution says
all land and resources belong to the state. Tens of millions of people
living in more than 20,000 villages are essentially squatters on their own
land.
– In Mozambique, local community members must submit six copies of a
topographical map that identifies detailed geographical features of the
land in a proposed concession. In 2009, ten years after the law was
enacted, not one concession had been approved.
According to White, even the global leaders most deeply engaged in
organizing the conference known as Rio+20 have so far ignored the
importance of recognizing land rights in negotiating a plan for developing
and implementing sustainable development goals.
“The world’s forests are increasingly valuable and relevant to our efforts
to slow global climate change and encourage sustainable development,” he
said. “If negotiators are serious about reducing poverty and conserving
forests, they will call on forest nations to strengthen community land
rights in their forests. Only when such rights are a reality on paper and
in practice, will communities be able to do what they do better than anyone
else—manage the forests and curb the unsustainable practices now
threatening tropical forest nations worldwide.”
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The *Rights and Resources Initiative* is a global coalition of
international, regional, and community organizations advancing forest
tenure, policy and market reforms. RRI leverages the strategic
collaboration and investment of its Partners and Collaborators around the
world by working together on research, advocacy and convening strategic
actors to catalyze change on the ground.
RRI is coordinated by the Rights and Resources Group, a non-profit
organization based
in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit *
www.rightsandresources.org.*