Strengthening Governance and Land Tenure Rights as a Response to Climate Change

Indigenous people, local communities and family farmers play a critical role in stewarding and safeguarding the world’s lands and forests. Lands and forests managed by indigenous people and local communities have lower deforesta- tion rates, a higher carbon storage potential and a higher biodiversity than other lands, including protected areas. This was recently acknowledged in the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2019). In addition, the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (IPCC 2019) found that strengthening the rights of indigenous people and local communities is a critical solution to the climate and environmental crisis. Indigenous people and local communities manage over half of global lands but have legal rights to only 10 percent. And when they stand up for their rights to protect the environment, forests and biodiversity they face crimina- lization and violence (IDS/ACT, 2019). On the contrary, where their rights are protected, indigenous people and local communities provide alternative eco- nomic models without trade-offs between the environment and development. Their traditional knowledge and holistic view of nature enables them to feed the world (FAO 2017), to protect forests and carbon sinks, and to maintain global biodiversity.

Against this background the Land Forum 2020 aims to:

• Deepen the understanding of the linkages between access to land, the role of traditional, local knowledge and ecosystem integrity as a climate change solution.
• Explore ways on how to further strengthen land rights, land governance systems and traditional, local knowledge to tackle the environmental and climate crisis.

Moderation: Anare Leweniqila, Deputy Secretary – Permanent Representative of the Republic of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva

Language: English

Location: University of Berne, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern

Registration: until 10 March 2020

Advisor Climate Change and Resilience Phone +41 44 360 88 89 judith.macchi@heks.ch

Click to register