Why does the RRI - Forest Tenure Data matter for the land governance community?

Forest tenure determines how land and natural resources are accessed and used. Secure tenure rights enable the accessibility and maintenance of forest, e.g. for sound use by bordering communities. Indigenous people and communities also play an important role in the environmental conservation of these ecosystems and likewise often depend on the resource supply. The RRI monitors indigenous peoples’ rights to forests. The database covers 58 countries,  92 % of the world’s forests respectively. It differentiates between forests owned by Indigenous peoples and local communities, forest designated for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, government administered forest, and privately owned forest.

What is the methodology?

The fundament of the dataset is an analysis of the legal framework of those “community-based tenure regimes”. Four categories are defined and the regimes classified accordingly:

• Government administered (Defined as: “Lands or forests under this category are legally claimed as exclusively belonging to the state. Community-based rights to access and/or withdrawal of natural resources may be recognized. Concessions on state-owned lands are included here”)
• Designated for indigenous people and communities (Defined as: “National law recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights to access and withdrawal, as well as to participate in the management of lands/forests or to exclude outsiders. Other tenure rights may also be recognized, but the bundle of legally recognized rights held by communities does not amount to “ownership.”)
• Owned by indigenous people and communities (Defined as: “Lands or forests are owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities where their rights of access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, and due process and compensation are legally recognized for an unlimited duration.
• Alienation rights (whether through sale, lease, or use as collateral) are not required for communities to be classified as land or forest owners under this framework.”)

Privately owned by individuals and firms (Defined as “Individuals and firms are considered to privately own land/forestland when they legally hold the full bundle of rights (access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, and due process and compensation) for an unlimited duration, as well as the right to sell their land/forestland.”)

What is the status?

RRI is currently conducting a 5-year update of Who Owns the World’s Land for the status of community tenure from 2015-2019.

What are the main results?

The RPI reveals that in 2017, Indigenous Peoples and local communities had legally recognized rights to 15.3 % of the world’s forests (a 40 % increase from 2002). Over 98 % of this progress occurred in developing countries: communities now have legal rights to 28 % of the developing world’s forests in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The data is available both spatially and as qualitative results. Moreover, information on the specific rights to withdrawal timber and non-timber forest products is available for 80 community-based tenure regimes and recognized within 30 low- and middle-income countries.

Who is involved?

The RRI Coalition involves indigenous and community men and women who are aiming for tenure reform. The Coalition engages often disparate groups and prioritizes country-level involvement.