Indigenous peoples recognized 11% of the surface

The indigenous communities They gained legal recognition for more than 100 million hectares between 2015 and 2020, bringing their country to 11% of the world’s land area, according to a study released Thursday by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI).

According to data from the study, land legally recognized by government it has increased in at least 39 countries during this period, following the ongoing efforts of these communities.

Africa Sub-Saharan Africa was the region that received the most recognition for a country since 2015, with a 12% increase thanks to legal reforms in Kenya and Liberia, one of the report’s authors, Chloe Ginsburg, explained to EFE.

Ginsburg He emphasized that more than 1,000 million hectares of land owned and used by these nations remain unrecognized.

Specifically, in 49 of the 73 countries studied, there are 1.375 million hectares that still do not have legal recognition, where population they face companies and investors who ignore their demands.

In case of Latin AmericaAlthough the region is “leading the way” in recognizing the land of indigenous peoples, it has gone through a period of stagnation, in large part due to governments that are “reluctant to protect the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples,” he said. Ginsburg.

Therefore, the land holdings of indigenous peoples in Latin America they grew by less than 1% between 2015 and 2020.

Levi Sucre, indigenous leader of the Bribri people from Costa Ricahe emphasized to EFE the concerns of communities about how their rights will develop in the coming years, which depend on “Governments that are moving at a snail’s pace” in recognizing land.

“I can’t imagine how we’re going to get there Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 with such slow growth,” Sucre fretted.

In addition, the report points to the negative effects the pandemic has had on the recognition process, as “in many cases” it is a crisis COVID-19 it was used as “an excuse to reduce the civil space of civil society in countries and communities’ access to information or participation,” Ginsburg said.

For its part, Sucre affected the willingness of countries to reactivate their economies after the pandemic, something that led to the explosion natural resources such as minerals and oil in indigenous forests.

“There have always been disputes over land and, with the intention of government is recovering economically, disputes are increasing with more violence,” Sucre said.

This indigenous leader fears that country recognition will “go backwards” or simply “not progress” because he does not expect governments to take positive steps.

According to the report, the members indigenous, Afro-descendant and local communities they represent up to 2.5 billion people and generally own and use at least 50% of the Earth’s surface.

Implementation of existing laws could lead to community rights for more than 260 million hectares of land.