8 Facts about Community Land Title

The report highlights that community-held lands, covering approximately 50% of the world's land, often exhibit higher species richness and lower deforestation rates than state-managed protected areas (PAs). It argues that tenure security is fundamental to these positive outcomes, citing significant reductions in forest clearing in the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazons following land titling. Despite this, the document notes a severe funding gap, with only a small fraction of global biodiversity finance reaching community organizations. It also warns that 'fortress conservation' has led to mass evictions and human rights violations, calling for a shift toward rights-based conservation and the use of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to meet global targets like the 30x30 goal.

• Community-managed lands, which encompass "50 percent or more of the worlds land", frequently outperform conventional protected areas (PAs) in terms of biodiversity retention, carbon storage, and deforestation rates.
• Indigenous lands are critical biodiversity reservoirs, containing at least 36% of the world's Key Biodiversity Areas and 37% of terrestrial areas with very low human intervention.
• Legal land tenure security is a primary driver of sustainable land management; for example, titling Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon from 1982 to 2016 resulted in a 66% reduction in deforestation.
• Securing community land is significantly more cost-effective than managing PAs, with securing costs estimated between $6/ha to $68/ha, while PA management costs can exceed $10,000/ha/yr.
• There is a profound disparity in conservation funding; between 1991 and 2014, only 5.4% of the Global Environment Facility's $4.2 billion in disbursements went to community actions.
• Traditional 'fortress conservation' and the expansion of PAs have caused severe human rights abuses, including the displacement of up to 136 million 'conservation refugees' and state-sanctioned violence.

APA

Veit, P. G., Reytar, K., & van Montfort, J. (2023). 8 Facts about Community Land Title. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/8-facts-community-land-biodiversity-conservation.pdf?_gl=1*93w8yw*_gcl_au*MTAxMjA4OTUwOC4xNzI0MDg4NDk5*_ga*MTI5NjUzMTgyMy4xNjkyNzIwNzc3*_ga_LM9LVY10E1*MTczMDM4NDQ5Ny42MS4xLjE3MzAzOTY0NDYuNDYuMC4w

Chicago

Veit, Peter G., Katie Reytar, and Joost van Montfort. 8 Facts about Community Land Title. World Resources Institute, 2023. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/8-facts-community-land-biodiversity-conservation.pdf?_gl=1*93w8yw*_gcl_au*MTAxMjA4OTUwOC4xNzI0MDg4NDk5*_ga*MTI5NjUzMTgyMy4xNjkyNzIwNzc3*_ga_LM9LVY10E1*MTczMDM4NDQ5Ny42MS4xLjE3MzAzOTY0NDYuNDYuMC4w.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Veit |first1=Peter G. |last2=Reytar |first2=Katie |last3=van Montfort |first3=Joost |title=8 Facts about Community Land Title |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2023 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/8-facts-community-land-biodiversity-conservation.pdf?_gl=1*93w8yw*_gcl_au*MTAxMjA4OTUwOC4xNzI0MDg4NDk5*_ga*MTI5NjUzMTgyMy4xNjkyNzIwNzc3*_ga_LM9LVY10E1*MTczMDM4NDQ5Ny42MS4xLjE3MzAzOTY0NDYuNDYuMC4w |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{veit2023facts, author = {Veit, Peter G. and Reytar, Katie and van Montfort, Joost}, title = {{8 Facts about Community Land Title}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/8-facts-community-land-biodiversity-conservation.pdf?_gl=1*93w8yw*_gcl_au*MTAxMjA4OTUwOC4xNzI0MDg4NDk5*_ga*MTI5NjUzMTgyMy4xNjkyNzIwNzc3*_ga_LM9LVY10E1*MTczMDM4NDQ5Ny42MS4xLjE3MzAzOTY0NDYuNDYuMC4w}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }