9 HECHOS SOBRE LA TIERRA COMUNITARIA Y LA MITIGACIÓN DEL CLIMA

The report argues that community lands, managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), are critical for climate mitigation due to their ability to sequester carbon and maintain biodiversity. Despite managing approximately half of the world's land, only 10% is legally recognized. The document provides evidence that secure land tenure leads to lower deforestation rates compared to state-managed lands and is a cost-effective mitigation strategy. However, these lands face increasing threats from illegal mining, drug trafficking, and land grabbing, while land defenders face rising violence. The report concludes that international climate finance significantly underserves IPLCs and calls for governments to prioritize legal land titling and the protection of environmental defenders.

• Approximately half of the world's land is community land governed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), with estimates reaching 65% or more. Africa has the highest proportion of community lands, covering 78.7% of its area.
• There is a significant gap between the amount of land managed by IPLCs and the amount legally recognized by national laws; only 10% of global land is legally recognized as belonging to IPLCs.
• Indigenous lands are highly effective at preserving biodiversity and intact forests, hosting 80% of the planet's remaining biodiversity and at least 36% of the world's intact natural forest blocks.
• Secure land tenure for IPLCs is linked to better forest management outcomes. 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.
• Indigenous lands in the Amazon acted as significant carbon sinks between 2001 and 2020, sequestering 5.6 billion MgCO2eq. In contrast, non-indigenous areas of the Amazon were net greenhouse gas emitters, averaging 0.6 MgCO2eq/ha/year.
• Securing community land rights is a cost-effective climate mitigation strategy. In Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia, the cost of carbon mitigation through indigenous lands ranges from US$ 2.04 to US$ 11.88/tCO2, which is significantly lower than the US$ 58/tCO2 for coal power plants or US$ 85/tCO2 for natural gas plants.
• International climate finance for IPLCs is severely insufficient. Between 2011 and 2020, approximately US$ 2.7 billion was disbursed for IPLC land tenure and forest management projects in tropical countries, representing less than 1% of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for climate change.
• Community lands are under increasing threat from global demand for resources. In the Amazon, over 20% of indigenous lands overlap with legal or illegal mining concessions, and mining-affected indigenous lands in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru had forest loss rates at least three times higher than those without mining.
• Environmental and land defenders, particularly indigenous people, face extreme violence. In 2020, 227 defenders were killed, with more than one-third being indigenous. Latin America is the most affected region, with seven of the ten most impacted nations located there.

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} }