9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA

This report by the World Resources Institute outlines the critical role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and community lands in climate change mitigation. It argues that while community lands cover approximately half of the world's land and provide immense ecosystem services and carbon sequestration, they are often legally unrecognized and underfunded. The document provides evidence that secure land tenure leads to lower deforestation rates and proposes six strategic steps to better integrate community land management into global climate action.

• Community lands, governed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), are estimated to cover approximately half of the world's land, with some estimates reaching 65% or more. Africa has the highest proportion of community lands, accounting for 78.7% of its area.
• Despite their global extent, only 10% of the world's lands are legally recognized by national laws as belonging to IPLCs. A significant portion of these lands (67%) is concentrated in five countries: China, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico.
• IPLC-managed lands provide critical ecosystem services, including harboring 80% of the planet's remaining biodiversity and a majority of the world's forests. In the Amazon, indigenous lands sequestered 5.6 billion MgCO2eq between 2001 and 2020, while non-indigenous areas were net greenhouse gas emitters.
• Secure land tenure is directly linked to sustainable forest management and reduced deforestation. In the Amazon regions of Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia between 2000 and 2012, annual deforestation rates on indigenous lands were two to three times lower than on similar non-indigenous lands.
• Securing community land rights is a cost-effective climate mitigation strategy. For example, the cost of carbon mitigation through indigenous lands in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia (ranging from US$ 2.04 to US$ 11.88/tCO2) is significantly lower than the costs of carbon capture and storage for coal (US$ 58/tCO2) or natural gas (US$ 85/tCO2) power plants.
• IPLCs receive a disproportionately small amount of international climate finance. Between 2011 and 2020, funding for IPLC land tenure and forest management represented less than 1% of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for climate change and less than 5% of ODA for general environmental protection.
• Community lands face increasing threats from global demand for food, fuels, and minerals, as well as illegal activities. In the Amazon, over 20% of indigenous lands overlap with mining concessions or illegal mining, and lands with mining activity showed forest loss rates at least three times higher in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.
• Land and environmental defenders, particularly those from indigenous communities, face severe violence and criminalization. In 2020, 227 defenders were killed, with more than one-third being indigenous. Colombia, Mexico, and the Philippines were the most affected countries in 2020.

APA

Veit, P. G. (2021). 9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-02/9-facts-about-community-land-climate-mitigation-ES.pdf

Chicago

Veit, Peter G. 9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA. World Resources Institute, 2021. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-02/9-facts-about-community-land-climate-mitigation-ES.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Veit |first1=Peter G. |title=9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=October 2021 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-02/9-facts-about-community-land-climate-mitigation-ES.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{veit2021hechos, author = {Veit, Peter G.}, title = {{9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-02/9-facts-about-community-land-climate-mitigation-ES.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }