This year’s UN Climate Summit (COP30), to be held in Brazil in November, presents a pivotal opportunity for governments to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities as the frontline stewards of the world’s forests. It’s also a chance for states to make concrete pledges that advance these goals, such as those outlined in the London Call to Action: Nature’s Guardian — On the Road to COP30, issued in June by government, Indigenous and philanthropic leaders.

Ahead of COP30, the Call to Action urges states to deliver concrete commitments in host city, Belém, that recognize and secure a substantial number of hectares of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ lands, strengthen tenure governance and ensure long-term direct financing for community-led forest management. By implementing these measures, states can play a leading role in taking concrete, scalable steps toward meeting their national climate and biodiversity commitments, while accelerating global efforts to halt and reverse forest loss.

Securing Land Rights Means Stronger Forest Protection

Across the world’s forests, from the Amazon rainforest to the tropical forests of Borneo, Indigenous Peoples and local communities safeguard some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. But much of this stewardship happens without legal protection and sometimes at significant personal risk. Securing land tenure is both a matter of justice and a direct way for states to fulfill their commitments to stop deforestation and biodiversity loss, as committed in the forest pledge made at COP26, held in Glasgow in 2021. States play a critical role in creating pathways that help secure tenure for Indigenous and local communities.

Research shows that forests under secure Indigenous and community tenure have lower deforestation rates and store more carbon, directly supporting national climate goals.

Yet today, less than half (43%) of the 4.8 billion hectares of land known to be held and used by Indigenous Peoples and local communities is formally recognized. Another 22% is not formally recognized, while 35% has an unknown legal status, according to data from the LandMark platform, which aggregates maps of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ territories to provide a global view of their land tenure security. In places where land tenure is not recognized, states have failed to ensure equal treatment and to protect and promote their human rights commitments.

For many local communities and Indigenous Peoples, asserting their rights comes with considerable personal risk. In 2023, Global Witness reported 196 murders of people defending land and the environment. In 2022, data from the Alliance for Indigenous Land and Environmental Defenders (ALLIED) documented 916 other attacks (including physical violence and threat of violence) against Indigenous, land and environmental defenders across 46 countries. Indigenous Peoples make up just 6% of the global population, yet they suffered nearly a quarter (24.2%) of all reported attacks that year. These acts of violence and threats are often carried out with impunity and without redress by state actors.

Securing Land Tenure with State Action

Given these gaps in recognition, protection and enforcement of rights, states play a decisive role in the struggle for land rights. They have a duty to enforce or implement existing laws governing tenure, and a responsibility to reform laws that fall short in recognizing legitimate tenure. States must also uphold obligations under international laws, such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169, which requires signatories to respect the rights of ownership and possession of Indigenous and tribal Peoples’ traditional lands.  

Recognizing legitimate tenure can be complex, and circumstances vary by country. States’ objectives in addressing tenure may not always align with those of Indigenous Peoples or local communities. Nonetheless, state action is essential, as states ultimately decide how lands within their jurisdiction are governed, managed, and how land rights are defined, administered, enforced and applied.

State recognition of customary and traditional rights opens the door to greater transparency in land-based deals (such as in granting concessions or permits), strengthens Indigenous and local communities' participation in land-use decisions and establishes accountability for state governance. State engagement can also help connect local communities to work with civil society to help inform and equip them with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to protect their rights.  

Key state responsibilities to recognize and secure lands rights include:

  • Maintaining high-quality, robust land-related data to support the documentation of rights for planning land uses; for example, in national or sub-national cadasters or land-use plans.
  • Integrating actions to secure Indigenous and local communities’ land rights in national climate commitments such as in Nationally Determined Contributions, national adaptation plans and national biodiversity strategies and action plans. Often, these commitments are made without meaningful consultation of Indigenous Peoples and local communitiess and may not even involve state ministries responsible for land governance.
  • Creating opportunities to scale or replicate bottom-up, Indigenous Peoples- and local communities-led actions to secure tenure, such as those that are self-funded or supported by civil society or nonprofits.  
  • Reducing undue administrative barriers in formalizing rights, which can take years of effort for Indigenous Peoples or local communities but shorter timeframes for companies.
  • Enhancing the justice and executive functions of the state to play a stronger role in protecting and enforcing rights that are already in place, for example, by creating fast-tracked or alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for land-related disputes.
  • Investing in reforms, programs and institutional capacity to implement laws that recognize customary, traditional or Indigenous land rights. 

State intervention on land rights has a long history that is not without its problems, particularly regarding the colonial legacy of dispossession of Indigenous and local lands. By heeding the lessons of history, learning from good examples and fulfilling their responsibilities, states can take steps to reverse historical injustices and make strides toward meeting climate commitments.

Recognizing Tenure for Positive Climate Results

For these and many other reasons, states must do their part to enable the potential climate- and nature-positive outcomes from securing tenure.  This year’s COP presents a rare opportunity for states to do just that. At COP26 in Glasgow, 145 governments pledged to halt forest loss and land degradation by 2030. COP30 is where states can show they are delivering on that promise by securing land rights and committing financing for the Indigenous and local communities already protecting the forests we depend on.