Over half the world’s land is lived on and managed using customary and traditional systems. Yet indigenous peoples and local communities have formal, legal ownership of just 10 percent of land globally. Insecure land rights can often lead to protracted conflicts with governments and companies, climate change — when land is not protected from deforestation — and human rights abuses.

To help make a practical difference, a new international mechanism, the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, was officially launched on October 3 during development talks at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency headquarters in Stockholm. Its aim is to help ensure communities can protect their land and natural resources, while also improving sustainable land management.

Indigenous peoples themselves have to be actively involved in monitoring development,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the Rights of indigenous peoples, at the launch of the facility.

In practice, it is hoped that the facility will help communities overcome some of the bureaucratic, political, and economic obstacles that prevent them from being able to secure their land and forest rights. By providing grants to implement tenure reform within existing government and international structures, the facility aims to share important legal and bureaucratic knowledge, as well as key innovations and tools.

Read the full article by Helen Morgan from Devex International Development