By the Numbers: Indigenous and Community Land Rights

The document highlights that while Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold between 50% and 65% of the world's land, they have formal legal ownership of only 10%. It emphasizes that approximately 2.5 billion people depend on these lands and that secure tenure significantly reduces deforestation rates, particularly in the Amazon. The text argues that the cost of securing these lands is minimal compared to the immense environmental and economic benefits they provide, such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection.

• Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold a substantial portion of global land, estimated by many experts to be at least 50%, with some estimates reaching 65% or more. However, there is a significant gap in legal recognition, as these groups have formal legal ownership of only 10% of the world's land and government-recognized management rights over an additional 8%.
• Approximately 2.5 billion people, including over 370 million Indigenous people, rely on collectively held or managed lands, natural resources, and ecosystems for their livelihoods and wellbeing, representing about one in three people globally.
• Collectively managed lands are critical for climate mitigation and biodiversity, containing at least 24% of the above-ground carbon in tropical forests (54,546 million metric tons of carbon), which is four times the total global carbon emissions of 2014. Additionally, Indigenous lands alone hold 80% of the planet's biodiversity.
• Secure land tenure for Indigenous Peoples leads to significantly lower deforestation rates compared to similar lands without security. In Brazil, the deforestation rate inside tenure-secure indigenous lands was 0.06% compared to 0.15% outside; in Bolivia, it was 0.15% inside versus 0.43% outside; and in Colombia, it was 0.04% inside versus 0.08% outside.
• In Amazonian countries, the cost of securing indigenous lands is less than 1% of the total environmental benefits derived from them. In Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia, these benefits are estimated between $679 billion and $1,530 billion over the next 20 years, while investment costs range from $2.43 to $27.52 per acre.

APA

World Resources Institute (2017). By the Numbers: Indigenous and Community Land Rights. https://www.wri.org/insights/numbers-indigenous-and-community-land-rights

Chicago

World Resources Institute. By the Numbers: Indigenous and Community Land Rights. 2017. https://www.wri.org/insights/numbers-indigenous-and-community-land-rights.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=By the Numbers: Indigenous and Community Land Rights |date=20 March 2017 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/numbers-indigenous-and-community-land-rights |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2017numbers, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{By the Numbers: Indigenous and Community Land Rights}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/numbers-indigenous-and-community-land-rights}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }