News on Land

Yesterday, the day before Indigenous Day, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) included indigenous rights in its Special Report on Climate Change and Land.

This is a landmark action. In doing this, the IPCC have recognized that Indigenous peoples are crucial in combatting global climate change, by preventing deforestation and preserving ecosystems.

On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, IPS correspondent Stella Paul speaks to indigenous women in Korchi village in western India, about what it means to own their own land.

The moratorium was first introduced in 2011 and has been renewed regularly as part of the efforts to reduce emissions from fires caused by deforestation

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued a permanent moratorium on new forest clearance for activities such as palm plantations or logging, the environment minister said on Thursday.

The year was 2009, and Typhoon Ketsana — known locally in the Philippines as Ondoy — had just struck Metropolitan Manila, Philippines. One of the strongest typhoons to have made landfall in the megacity, Ketsana displaced thousands of families and left them without their source of livelihood and income.

In Brazil, a struggle over the future of the Amazon is taking place. The struggle will have global impact.

Lands managed by indigenous people possess the greatest levels of biodiversity. This is according to a study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and published in the journal Environmental Science & Policy.

• Forestry is big business in Guyana. The sector contributed 2.27 percent to Guyana’s GDP in 2016, with total forest products exports valued at $41.9 million. Approximately 20,000 people, mainly in the rural and hinterland areas, are employed in the sector.

Government needs to revisit customary law and use land reform to enable female farmers.

Land rights have direct bearing on the incomes of marginalized individuals and communities, and the potential to transform their living conditions by breaking the cycle of poverty.

Developing the tools or methods for securing land rights for all, especially for the youth and women, is a primary objective of responsible land management and land administration.

Despite centuries of persecution, indigenous groups still manage or have tenure rights over at least 

he Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched two new publications, ‘Forest Futures, Sustainable pathway for forests, landscapes and people in Asia Pacific Region’ and ‘Forestry Sector Review: Pakistan’.