Blog

Oil on Canvas
48” x 54” – June 2019

Despite an increasingly robust global body of evidence that shows secure land-rights for traditional communities translates to lower rates of deforestation and land degradation, a disproportionately low amount of attention is being given to utilizing these communities as part of the solution to profound global challenges; as stewards of the forests, protectors of ecosystems and mitigators of climate change.

Only 10% of collective lands, including those of indigenous groups around the world, have recognized legal titles, essentially ignoring their tremendous global environmental and cultural value. Even worse, these groups and territories are increasingly vulnerable to threats, displacement, deforestation and exploitation of the natural resources of their territories.

In many of the most heavily forested and biodiverse countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines and Indonesia, indigenous communities and their leaders who speak up for their rights, and oppose the often connected commercial (both “legal” and illicit), political and militant actors who want to exploit or expropriate their territories, face threats and violence, and all-to-frequently displacement or death. As the troubling case of Colombia shows, it is not enough to just put indigenous rights in writing, even in a national constitution; land rights and tenure must be secure, and security must be ensured so these communities can safely and sustainably manage their lands and speak up for their rights in the present, with an eye towards the future. 

Three forest-dwelling indigenous leaders from different parts of the world hold their ground along with emblematic forest species, against destructive intrusions into their territories.