“Nature-based” solutions to climate change require the acquisition of large swaths of land for reforestation, afforestation, conservation and renewable energy sources. However, corruption in the land sector is already widespread and this additional demand for land may aggravate pre-existing corruption risks, as well as causing new ones.
For over a century, energy multinationals have been wrecking the planet and exploiting people in pursuit of profit. Now, power producers and technology manufacturers are marketing themselves as ‘green’ to boost their reputation and benefit from public subsidies, grabbing lands, violating human rights and destroying communities along the way. Our investigation of fifteen ‘green’ multinationals conclusively shows that financial returns, not decarbonisation, is their primary business.
In recent years, the call of civil society organizations to formalize rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to forests has been growing louder. They argue that formalizing local forest rights will have positive outcomes for livelihoods as well as forest conservation. In response to these calls, many governments have started forest reforms. This has become known as the forest tenure transition.
This second Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG) annual report analyzes progress against the five-year, $1.7 billion commitment to the tenure rights and forest guardianship of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) in tropical forest countries announced at COP26.
This report presents the first global analysis of funding pathways in support of Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ (IPs' & LCs') tenure and forest guardianship, a project spurred by the IP & LC Forest Tenure Pledge made by 22 donors in 2021. This study, commissioned by the Ford Foundation, aims to provide practical guidance and strategic insights for Pledge donors to incorporate in the remaining years of implementation.
This project’s main objectives are to generate:
This report summarizes the science on the biophysical effects of deforestation on climate stability and explores the policy implications of the resulting impacts at three scales: global climate policy, regional cooperation on precipitation management, and national policies related to agriculture and public health. For each of these policy arenas, there are promising entry points to address current gaps through innovations in policies and institutions.
One year on from the Pledge announcement, this first report from the Forest Tenure Funders Group provides an overview of donor progress in 2021. The report describes how donors are working together, in dialogue with Indigenous Peoples and local community-led organisations.
Approximately 1.6 billion people live in and around forest areas and use forest and land resources for their livelihoods: an estimated 36% of intact forests are within Indigenous Peoples lands. Clarifying land and resource rights and community forest management is critical for sustainable management of forests and natural resources, safeguarding livelihoods and supporting economic development. At COP26, a joint-donor Pledge was announced committing $1.7 billion to advance IPLC forest tenure rights from 2021 to 2025.
In this introductory video to the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy answers are given to what it wants to achieve, how it works and why land rights are so important. The Global Programme is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-funded by the European Union and works in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Laos, Madagascar, Peru (completed in 2021), Uganda and Paraguay (completed in 2018).
Forest Peoples Programme and partners have encountered and documented human rights violations against indigenous peoples and local communities associated with conservation over the course of decades of work. There have been moments when progress in this area has been made (e.g., the 2003 Durban Accord and the adoption of social policies by conservation agencies). However, changes to practice on the ground have too often been limited or quickly reversed, despite repeated calls by human rights organisations over decades. These issues are widely known, they cannot be ignored.
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