Indigenous people only legally own half of the lands they inhabit in the world

The indigenous people legally own only half of the forests and jungles that inhabit the world, lands that allow to retain a considerable amount of carbon and help to maintain the climate balance, according to a study released this Saturday during the COP26.

“Our findings indicate that indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant peoples and local communities customarily own and use at least 958 million hectares (mha) of land” in 24 countries examined, the text indicates.

However, “they have legally recognized rights over less than half of this area (447 mha)” adds the report prepared by three entities, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Rainforest Foundation. (RFUS) from the United States.

During the UN climate change conference in Glasgow there have been several announcements regarding the use of natural resources to combat global warming.

Among them, a fund of US $ 1.7 billion, through contributions from developed countries and private entities such as the American Ford Foundation, to support land claims and the monitoring of indigenous communities.

According to UN data released this year, around 80% of the planet’s biodiversity would be found on communal lands, where indigenous communities have lived for centuries.

“It is estimated that their lands store at least 253.5 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC), playing a vital role in maintaining sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases of global importance,” explained the text.

“However, most of this carbon (52%, that is, 130.6 GtC) is stored in community lands and territories that have not yet been legally recognized,” adds this new report.

“This lack of security in land tenure makes communities and their lands and forests vulnerable to invasion and external pressures,” the authors of the text indicate.

The scientists used geospatial techniques to determine the surface and limits of these lands in 24 countries, most of them Latin American, basically around the Amazon basin, as well as in central Africa and in the Asian subtropical zone.

“Of the 24 jurisdictions analyzed, 22 have at least one legal framework to recognize the land tenure rights of the communities and, of these, at least 10 have legislation to recognize their full property rights,” the statement warns.

“For example, if the existing legislation is applied in just two countries – Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – more than 200 mha of indigenous lands and local communities could be recognized, which would help protect an area larger than the area combined of the five largest member states of the European Union: France, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Poland ”, he explains.