2018 could be transformative for the indigenous and community land rights movement, with unprecedented opportunities for scaling up rights recognition around the world.

The legal rights afforded to Indigenous communities in Bolivia and Chile differ greatly. Val Reynoso investigates. 

Bolivia and Chile differ significantly in the ways their governments address issues pertaining to Indigenous peoples. These differences are caused by the neoliberal economic system and legacies from the Pinochet era in Chile, as well as the centering of Indigenous issues and redistribution of wealth in Bolivia.   

By Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Chairman of the Advisory Board of CCSI, University Professor at Columbia University, and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

By Nicholas Tagliarino, Land Portal Foundation

By Andy White, Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative

By Yuta Masuda and Brian E. Robinson

I’m sitting in a Mongolian yurt, listening to and trying to emulate Bataa’s* songs about love for the grasslands and the wide, treeless plains of the Mongolian Plateau. Our host sings with consuming passion. I might have brushed his enthusiasm off as a show two weeks ago. But after living and working in these grasslands, the feeling of freedom that comes from unobstructed, far-off distant horizon is infectious.

Scientists present their findings on forest tenure and land use at a major conference in Peru

Peru - Latin American countries have made progress in granting land rights to communities in recent years. Nevertheless, policies often fail to consider the diversity of those communities and the different ways they use their land.

By  Lewis Evans, Survival International

For Earth Day (April 22), Survival International reveals some of the amazing ways in which tribal peoples are the best conservationists and guardians of the natural world:

1. The Baka “Pygmies” have over 15 words for elephant

The Baka people know so much about elephants, they have different words for them according to their sex, age and even temperament.

Autora: Tatiana Mendonça

By Chris Jochnick, President and CEO of Landesa

The development community has experienced various “revolutions” over the years – from microfinance to women’s rights, from the green revolution to sustainable development.  Each of these awakenings has improved our understanding of the challenges we face; each has transformed the development landscape, mostly for the better.