A Rights-Based Approach to Land Use in a Future Climate Agreement

The document advocates for a land-use framework in the post-2020 climate agreement based on four principles: rights, ambition, equity, and biodiversity. It warns that treating terrestrial carbon sequestration as fungible with fossil fuel emissions undermines climate ambition and risks human rights violations. The authors recommend separate targets for industrial and land-based emissions, the protection of tenure rights for indigenous peoples and local communities, and a per capita allocation of agricultural emissions to ensure global food security.

• A rights-based approach to land use must be guided by four core principles: respect for rights to land and resources, ambition that prevents land-based mitigation from displacing other sector reductions, equity regarding food security and carbon budgets, and the maintenance of ecological integrity and biodiversity.
• Terrestrial carbon sequestration is temporary and differs fundamentally from the permanent reduction of fossil fuel emissions; failing to recognize this 'non-fungibility' may allow carbon savings from land use to justify continued fossil fuel combustion.
• To maintain environmental integrity, the document recommends establishing separate, non-fungible targets for land-based and industrial emissions, as the land sector is characterized by high monitoring uncertainty and risks of reversals.
• Climate policies in the land sector can threaten human rights, specifically through increased land competition and the undermining of tenure rights, as seen in some biofuel and carbon offset policies.
• Securing legal tenure rights for indigenous peoples, local communities, and women is identified as a critical strategy for reducing deforestation and mitigating climate change.
• The document proposes a 'food security threshold' for agricultural emissions based on an equal per capita allocation of the remaining global carbon budget, shifting the mitigation burden to high-emitting industrial agriculture.
• Biodiversity loss is linked to climate change and threatens human well-being; specifically, the expansion of agriculture and timber plantations is cited as the primary threat to forests, which in turn reduces ecosystem resilience to drought and fire.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). A Rights-Based Approach to Land Use in a Future Climate Agreement. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LandUse_RBA_20May2015.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. A Rights-Based Approach to Land Use in a Future Climate Agreement. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LandUse_RBA_20May2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=A Rights-Based Approach to Land Use in a Future Climate Agreement |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LandUse_RBA_20May2015.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndrightsbased, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{A Rights-Based Approach to Land Use in a Future Climate Agreement}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LandUse_RBA_20May2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }