Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements. However, spatial information on Indigenous lands has never been aggregated globally. Here, using publicly available geospatial resources, we show that Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over at least -38 million km2 in 87 countries or politically distinct areas on all inhabited continents. This represents over a quarter of the world’s land surface, and intersects about 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes (for example, boreal and tropical primary forests, savannas and marshes). Our results add to growing evidence that recognizing Indigenous People’s rights to land, benefit sharing and institutitons is essential to meeting local and global conservation goals. The geospatial analysis presented here indicates that collaborative partnerships involving conservation practitioners, Indigenous Peoples and governments would yield significant benefits for conservation of ecologically valuable landscapes, ecosystems and genes for future generations.

A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation

Resource Key: ZEN6N3RJ

Document Type: Report

Creator:

Author:

  • Stephen T. Garnett
  • Neil D. Burgess
  • Julie E. Fa
  • Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares
  • Zsolt Molnár
  • Cathy J. Robinson
  • James E. M. Watson
  • Kerstin K. Zander
  • Beau Austin
  • Eduardo S. Brondizio
  • Neil Collier
  • Tom Duncan
  • Erle Ellis
  • Hayley Geyle
  • Micha V. Jackson
  • Harry Jonas
  • Pernilla Malmer
  • Ben McGowan
  • Amphone Sivongxay
  • Ian Leiper

Creators Name: {mb_resource_zotero_creatorsname}

Place:

Institution: Nature Sustainability

Date: 16 July 2018

Language:

Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements. However, spatial information on Indigenous lands has never been aggregated globally. Here, using publicly available geospatial resources, we show that Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over at least -38 million km2 in 87 countries or politically distinct areas on all inhabited continents. This represents over a quarter of the world’s land surface, and intersects about 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes (for example, boreal and tropical primary forests, savannas and marshes). Our results add to growing evidence that recognizing Indigenous People’s rights to land, benefit sharing and institutitons is essential to meeting local and global conservation goals. The geospatial analysis presented here indicates that collaborative partnerships involving conservation practitioners, Indigenous Peoples and governments would yield significant benefits for conservation of ecologically valuable landscapes, ecosystems and genes for future generations.

Download Document