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The International Land Coalition (ILC) is a global alliance of intergovernmental and civil society organisations (CSOs) that seeks to secure equitable access to land and resources for the rural poor through advocacy, knowledge management, networking, capacity building, and dialogue. Indigenous peoples are estimated to comprise more than 370 million people worldwide. While they constitute approximately 5% of the world’s population, they make up 15% of its poor and about one-third of its 900 million extremely poor rural people (DESA, 2009: 21). Indigenous peoples have strong spiritual, cultural, social, and economic relationships with their traditional lands, but their land rights are often the most precarious. Hence, indigenous peoples’ issues are of central importance to ILC’s mandate. As noted in the ILC Strategic Framework (2011–2015), recent developments at the international level have created opportunities to further push the agenda for securing land rights for indigenous peoples. In particular, the 2007 adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a milestone in this regard. ILC and its comprehensive network of member organisations are working on a wide range of issues relevant to or directly addressing and involving indigenous peoples. However, ILC has never systematically analysed the distinctive features of indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories, and resources and the potential implications of such an analysis for the Coalition’s further engagement on certain thematic priorities and with indigenous peoples themselves. It is in this context that ILC has commissioned the present study. Methodologically, the study builds on an extensive review of literature and materials produced by ILC (the Secretariat and members of the Coalition network) as well as other partners; interviews and interaction with ILC Secretariat staff and management, including regional coordinators and focal points; interviews and consultations with indigenous resource persons; and a technical workshop organised by ILC in Rome in March 2013 to discuss the main outline and features of the present study.

Indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories, and resources

Resource Key: 3JSEWX2X

Document Type: Report

Creator:

Author:

  • Birgitte Feiring

Creators Name: {mb_resource_zotero_creatorsname}

Place: Rome

Institution: International Land Coalition

Date: 2013

Language:

The International Land Coalition (ILC) is a global alliance of intergovernmental and civil society organisations (CSOs) that seeks to secure equitable access to land and resources for the rural poor through advocacy, knowledge management, networking, capacity building, and dialogue. Indigenous peoples are estimated to comprise more than 370 million people worldwide. While they constitute approximately 5% of the world’s population, they make up 15% of its poor and about one-third of its 900 million extremely poor rural people (DESA, 2009: 21). Indigenous peoples have strong spiritual, cultural, social, and economic relationships with their traditional lands, but their land rights are often the most precarious. Hence, indigenous peoples’ issues are of central importance to ILC’s mandate. As noted in the ILC Strategic Framework (2011–2015), recent developments at the international level have created opportunities to further push the agenda for securing land rights for indigenous peoples. In particular, the 2007 adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a milestone in this regard. ILC and its comprehensive network of member organisations are working on a wide range of issues relevant to or directly addressing and involving indigenous peoples. However, ILC has never systematically analysed the distinctive features of indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories, and resources and the potential implications of such an analysis for the Coalition’s further engagement on certain thematic priorities and with indigenous peoples themselves. It is in this context that ILC has commissioned the present study. Methodologically, the study builds on an extensive review of literature and materials produced by ILC (the Secretariat and members of the Coalition network) as well as other partners; interviews and interaction with ILC Secretariat staff and management, including regional coordinators and focal points; interviews and consultations with indigenous resource persons; and a technical workshop organised by ILC in Rome in March 2013 to discuss the main outline and features of the present study.

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