Indigenous & Community Land Rights

Displaying 13 - 24 of 1116

FORESTS NEWS For many Indigenous communities, land titles aren’t the same as tenure security

19 October 2023

In communities’ visions of a secure future, good governance, transparency, and respect for customary rights matter more than a piece of paper

Whispers of Injustice: Socfin’s Decade of Legal Battle Echoing in Communities Across Cameroon

22 August 2023

In 2006, Société Camerounaise de Palmeraies (Socapalm), a subsidiary of plantation giant, Socfin, embarked on an ambitious endeavor – the cultivation of palm plantations within Dibombari’s lush rainforest expanse in Cameroon. Yet, beneath the veneer of progress lies a tapestry of troubling

Close to 100 experts have been trained to bring about change in land use planning

8 August 2023

The right to land is a fundamental prerequisite to the other rights (economic, social, and cultural) that depend on land, and which determine the living conditions and social integration of Ethiopia’s rural and urban communities. In recent times, high rates of population growth, unregulated urban

Who owns the world’s land? Legislation to cement communities’ historic rights stalls

15 July 2023

While land that is legally designated or owned by indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities worldwide between 2015 and 2020 has risen in acreage, in sub-Saharan Africa the opposite applies, says a report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI): It decreased by 2.4 million hectares (

When the ‘strangers’ came – Chinese rubber giant ‘destroys’ rainforests, indigenous lives in Cameroon

11 July 2023

In southern Cameroon, about 150km from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a bitter story from the colonial era is playing out. Rubber companies are once again destroying rainforests and communities.

Uganda’s president stops plans seeking to review and amend the Land Act CAP 227 that sought to curb widespread illegal land evictions

10 July 2023

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa has halted the tabling of land act reforms, saying Uganda has more serious problems to deal with than those issues arising from the current land law.

Report Shows French Oil Giant's East African Pipeline Project Has 'Devastated' Thousands

10 July 2023

"They come here promising us everything," said one affected Ugandan. "We believed them. Now we are landless, the compensation money is gone, what fields we have left are flooded, and dust fills the air."

Job Opportunity: Country Research Consultants for French and Spanish Speaking Countries

3 July 2023

We are looking for two consultants to conduct research on the land governance situation in French and Spanish speaking countries.

Ogiek case: protection of an indigenous community in Kenya

25 June 2023

In Kenya, the Mau forest is the ancestral home of an indigenous community called the Ogiek people. The Ogiek community comprises 20,000 members, about 15,000 of whom inhabit the greater Mau Forest Complex, a land mass of about 400,000 hectares.

Madagascar: New legislation puts local communities at risk of eviction to pave way for investors

16 June 2023

Civil society organizations in Madagascar are now deeply concerned about the threat the recently passed foreign investment law poses. Currently undergoing a constitutional review, if approved by the High Constitutional Court, it enables foreign investors and companies to lease land for 99 years

Pinnapa Pruksapan speaking at a panel discussion during a memorial event for Porlajee on 23 April.

Murdered activist’s widow requests continued witness protection

28 May 2023

Pinnapa Pruksapan, widow of murdered indigenous land rights activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, has requested continued protection for her and her family.