Potential Risks to Women’s Land Rights From Climate Actions: Exploring Matrilineal Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama

The research examines three Indigenous matrilineal communities—the Wayuu in Colombia, the Bribri in Costa Rica, and the Guna in Panama—to identify risks to women's land tenure resulting from climate actions. It finds that women face potential loss of land entitlements, disruption of livelihoods, and erosion of matrilineal culture, largely due to inadequate consultation processes and a failure to account for traditional gendered tenure systems. The paper argues that climate actions, such as wind park development, REDD+ negotiations, and climate-induced relocation, risk eroding customary rights and social support systems when they ignore differential tenure systems and power asymmetries.

• Women in the Wayuu, Bribri, and Guna communities face land tenure risks from the implementation of climate actions, including the loss of land entitlements, disruption of land-based livelihoods, and the erosion of matrilineal culture.
• A primary driver of increased risk for women is the use of inadequate consultation processes marked by power and information asymmetries that ignore traditional governance, culture, and land tenure systems.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Potential Risks to Women’s Land Rights From Climate Actions: Exploring Matrilineal Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. https://www.wri.org/research/potential-risks-womens-land-rights-climate-actions-exploring-matrilineal-communities

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Potential Risks to Women’s Land Rights From Climate Actions: Exploring Matrilineal Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/potential-risks-womens-land-rights-climate-actions-exploring-matrilineal-communities.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Potential Risks to Women’s Land Rights From Climate Actions: Exploring Matrilineal Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama |url=https://www.wri.org/research/potential-risks-womens-land-rights-climate-actions-exploring-matrilineal-communities |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendpotential, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Potential Risks to Women’s Land Rights From Climate Actions: Exploring Matrilineal Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/potential-risks-womens-land-rights-climate-actions-exploring-matrilineal-communities}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }