LandMark

Lands held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world are vitally important for sustaining biodiversity and curbing climate change. When Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure rights to land, they are better able to protect and sustainably manage these critical landscapes. 

But while some governments acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples and local communities have customary land rights, few have established the strong legal protections needed to secure them. Consequently, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, are losing control and use of their land as it is converted for other uses, often for economic development.

To protect their lands and the critical ecosystem services they provide, these communities need data and tools to better advocate for their land rights.

LandMark is an online, interactive global platform that provides precise maps and other information on lands that are collectively held and used by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It offers easily accessible and in-depth data on the location and legal status lands as well as the threats they face. LandMark provides evidence that these lands are not vacant, idle or necessarily available for outsiders, giving communities the information they need to protect their land rights.

Launched in 2015, the LandMark platform is governed by a Steering Group of members representing Indigenous Peoples and local communities as well as their allies, working to make a difference by:

• Closing information gaps and addressing the lack of publicly available information on Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ land rights.
• Facilitating evidence-based advocacy with maps and analytical tools that assist communities with land claims, forest monitoring, legal support for land rights protection, and sustainable land-use and management plans.
• Increasing visibility and protection, thus reducing the vulnerability of lands held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities to encroachment and exploitation.
• Strengthening tenure systems that support the recognition of community land rights, highlighting the need for robust legal protections.
• Mitigating risks of land loss faced by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including from mining, logging, dam infrastructure and other threats.

In the Amazon rainforest of Suriname, for example, the Saamaka tribal community is using data and maps from LandMark to document illegal deforestation and degradation occurring on their lands and build their case to pursue legal action.

Landmark data also helped show that forests managed by Indigenous People in the Amazon were strong net carbon sinks, while forests outside of the Amazon’s Indigenous lands were collectively a carbon source due to significant forest loss.

LandMark is the first online, interactive global platform to provide precise maps and other critical information on lands that are collectively held and used by Indigenous peoples and local communities. The platform provides several categories of data to show the land tenure situation for Indigenous peoples and communities, as well as potential pressures on their lands, changes in land cover over time and their contributions to protecting the environment. It also includes various analysis tools which calculate the forest cover loss, carbon stocks, concessions, assets and threats to Indigenous peoples’ and communities’ lands.