Welcome to the Community Land Rights blog, featuring notes and insights from experts and organizations working on community land and resource rights across the world.
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Land tenure and agroforestry at the heart of a sustainable future Earth
As seen on Agroforestry World Our suffering planet looks set on a path of destruction, according to many. But leading thinkers gathered at the World Agroforestry Centre’s annual Science Week see the possibility of a bright, and sustainable, future Earth…
Video Highlights from the International Conference on Scaling-up Strategies to Secure Community Land and Resources Rights
Our international conference on Scaling-up Strategies to Secure Community Land and Resources Rights brought together a wide diversity of stakeholders – about 180 representatives from, local communities, Indigenous Peoples organizations, governments, private investors, food and resource companies, and development and…
Sugar-coated Conflict
As global demand for sugar increases, so does the rush for land to grow it. Around the world poor farmers are being kicked off their land to grow sugar, leaving them hungry and homeless. In 2013, Oxfam, one of the…
WSJ: Report on Cargill Fuels Colombia Land Controversy
As seen on the Wall Street Journal BOGOTÁ, Colombia—U.S. food giant Cargill Inc. acquired 30 times more Colombian land than legal restrictions allow, claimed Oxfam International, the latest allegation amid legislators' questioning of land purchases by large corporations operating in…
IPS: Making Local People Stewards of the Earth
As seen on Inter Press Service INTERLAKEN, Switzerland, Sep 23 2013 (IPS) - The lack of land rights is a crisis not just for local people but for all of humanity, warned organisers at an international conference here. Evidence shows that…
Reuters: Resource rights groups call for doubling of community-controlled land
As seen on Thomson Reuters Foundations LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A group of international organisations working on rights linked to natural resources has called for the amount of land recognised as owned or managed by indigenous peoples and…
Press Release: At Global Conference, Organizers Call for Doubling the Land Owned or Managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
Interlaken, Switzerland (20 September, 2013)—At an international conference on community land and resource rights, organizers called for doubling the amount of land recognized as owned or controlled by Indigenous Peoples and local communities by 2018. Determining the current amount of…
Day Two Summary – Closing Plenary
The closing plenary took place on Friday, and was chaired by Arvind Khare, RRI. Chris Anderson, Rio Tinto, noted how the private sector could assist in providing focused actions on global land rights, such as getting behind Oxfam’s “Behind the…
Day Two Summary – Opening Plenary
Reporting back to plenary on Friday, Mark Freudenberger, Tetra Tech, for the “mapping and documentation” group, stressed that maps have many uses which can help protect community rights, enable community empowerment, and lead to legal reform. He outlined a variety…
Bloomberg: One Word May Save Indonesia’s Forests (Opinion)
The following opinion piece was authored by John Hudson, chairman of the board of the Rights and Resources Initiative and published in Bloomberg News As seen on Bloomberg News By John Hudson Sep 19, 2013 6:30 PM ET Indonesia’s forest…
Summary of Day One – Afternoon Plenary Session
The Thursday afternoon plenary session began with reports from each of the five strategy sessions that are taking place simultaneously on both days. Joji Cariño, Executive Director of the Forest Peoples Programme, on behalf of the “legal recognition and empowerment”…
James Anaya: Is natural resource development a blessing, a ‘quick-fix,’ or a curse? (Al-Jazeera)
The following is an opinion piece by James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This piece was published in Al-Jazeera English on the eve of the Conference. The "resource curse" is alive and well in…
