Indigenous peoples and communities around the world face challenges in securing their land tenure and enforcing their rights to collectively-held lands.

Many governments today acknowledge customary and community land rights, but few have established the strong legal protections needed to secure these tenure systems. As a consequence, Indigenous peoples and communities, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, are losing their land to governments and corporations for economic development and commercial investment purposes.

In order to protect their lands and communities, these groups need better data and tools to empower their tenure security. Having easily accessible and in-depth data allows Indigenous peoples and local communities to better advocate for their land rights. It also provides them the opportunity to be proactive in efforts to protect their lands. Shining a light on collectively-held lands around the world shows j that these lands are not vacant, idle or necessarily available for outsiders.

Landmark map

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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.