In 2015, RRI undertook the first global analysis to quantify the amount of land legally recognized by national governments as owned by or designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The study, covering 64 countries comprising 82 percent of global land area, showed that communities legally owned 10 percent of this area and held designated rights to another 8 percent. Yet, some studies suggest that the total area under community management is much greater. Indeed, the leaders of Indigenous, community, and Afro-descendant organizations and expert opinion have long held that communities exercise customary rights on well over 50 percent of the global land mass outside of Antarctica. This report aims to address this gap by offering a first comprehensive effort to develop a global baseline of the total land area with unrecognized rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and Afro-descendants. This analysis draws on previous work, emerging evidence, and expert opinion to begin the process of quantifying the full extent of land to which Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-Descendants have customarily held rights that have yet to be legally acknowledged by states.

Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-Descendant Peoples (IP, LC & ADP) — roughly 2.5 billion people — customarily manage over 50% of the global land mass, but governments currently recognize their legal ownership to just 10% (RRI, 2015). Fortunately, there has been progress in addressing this historic injustice in recent years as governments have begun to pass legislation and achieve court decisions to recognize the historic and customary use and ownership of these lands. A recent stock-taking finds that since 2002, at least 14 additional countries have passed legislation that require governments to recognize these rights. Similarly, there have been positive national and regional level court decisions in numerous countries supporting the formal recognition of the collective land and forest rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples. RRI research demonstrates that if only 7 countries implemented these new laws, policies, and court decisions, over 176 million hectares would be transferred from government to Indigenous, local community, and Afro-descendant ownership, benefitting over 200 million people (RRI, 2018). The focus of this report, and the Framework itself, is limited to formal recognition of land and forest rights (i.e. delimitation, mapping, registry, etc.). It does not assess the important and subsequent steps of strengthening community or territorial governance, the enforcement of these rights by governments, or the capacities necessary to enable Indigenous, local community, and Afro-descendant organizations to manage or exploit their resources or engage in enterprises or economic development activities – all of which are essential for sustained and self-determined conservation and development. This Framework focuses on the first step in this longer process.

The first analysis to quantify the amount of land formally recognized by national governments as owned or controlled by Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world. Ownership of the world’s rural lands and natural resources is a major source of contestation around the globe, affecting prospects for rural economic development, human rights and dignity, cultural survival, environmental conservation, and efforts to combat climate change. Communities are estimated to hold as much as 65 percent of the world’s land area through customary, community-based tenure systems. However, national governments only recognize formal, legal rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to a fraction of these lands. Some countries are in the process of recognizing communities’ rights, and estimates from those countries provide some indication of the size of these gaps in recognition. As demands for land tenure reform increase and national processes to recognize land rights advance, this report provides a baseline that documents the current status of formal, statutory recognition of community-based tenure.

Ce résumé met en évidence les conclusions de trois études de RRI menées en 2020 et concernant la RDC. Ce document explique ce que ces trois études signifient pour la RDC et tente de fournir aux communautés locales et aux organisations de la société civile (OSC) des données pour faire avancer leur travail de plaidoyer afin d'influencer les réformes futures, et d’aider le gouvernement, les donateurs, le secteur privé et les défenseurs de l'environnement à prendre des décisions informées.

Les peuples autochtones, les communautés locales et les Afro-descendants (PA, CL & AD) — près de 2,5 milliards de personnes — gèrent de façon coutumière plus de 50% de la masse terrestre mondiale, mais les gouvernements ne reconnaissent la légalité de leur propriété que sur 10% (RRI, 2015). Heureusement, des progrès ont été réalisés ces dernières années pour remédier à cette injustice historique, car les gouvernements ont commencé à adopter des lois et à parvenir à des décisions de justice reconnaissant l’utilisation et la propriété historiques et coutumières de ces terres. Un récent bilan montre que depuis 2002, au moins quatorze nouveaux pays ont adopté des lois obligeant les gouvernements à reconnaître ces droits. De même, des décisions de justice allant dans le bon sens ont été rendues au niveau national et régional dans de nombreux pays en faveur de la reconnaissance officielle des droits fonciers et forestiers collectifs des peuples autochtones, des communautés locales et des Afro-descendants. Les études de RRI démontrent que si seulement sept pays mettaient en œuvre ces nouvelles lois, politiques et décisions de justice, plus de 176 millions d’hectares seraient transférés du gouvernement vers les autochtones, les communautés locales et les Afro-descendants, ce qui bénéficierait à plus de 200 millions de personnes (RRI, 2018). L’objet de ce rapport, et du Cadre de travail lui-même, se limite à la reconnaissance formelle des droits fonciers et forestiers (c’est-à-dire la délimitation, la cartographie, l’enregistrement, etc.). Il n’évalue pas les étapes importantes et ultérieures du renforcement de la gouvernance communautaire ou territoriale, l’application de ces droits par les gouvernements ou les capacités nécessaires pour permettre aux organisations autochtones, locales et d’Afro-descendants de gérer ou d’exploiter leurs ressources ou de s’engager dans des entreprises ou des activités de développement économique – qui sont toutes essentielles pour une conservation et un développement durable et autodéterminé. Ce Cadre de travail se concentre sur la première étape de ce processus plus long.