Rights and Resources Initiative

Two weeks ago, the body of Mariano Isacama Feliciano was found on the bank of the Yurac River in #Peru. He was a #humanrights defender from the Katkataibo Indigenous People and had been working with his community to resist the presence of illegal loggers on their territory. 🌳🌲🌿🌊 📢 New on The Land Writes Blog: RRI's Senior Director, Keith Slack, looks at how collective protection should be an essential component of climate mitigation, conservation + biodiversity protection. #LandRightsNow ✊🏾 📚 https://lnkd.in/gFYqARyx

We're hiring a workshop consultant for leading the Carbon Markets Training-of- Trainer! If you or someone you know are interested in advancing the land rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples + local communities across the world -- this could be the place for you! Apply today! https://lnkd.in/g-tw6RNt

The Congo Basin's forest stores almost 40 GT of carbon, even more than the Amazon Rainforest! But this ecosystem is endangered. To promote conservation efforts in the Congo Basin beyond established protected areas and help achieve global goals, the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC), and Campaign for Nature —with a grant from Bezos Earth Fund—are working together to strengthen the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ land rights in the Congo Basin in Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, and Gabon). The project “Partnership for People, Nature and Climate” aims to strengthen community land rights and conservation at the local level between 2022 and 2025 and advance global conservation, climate, and development goals. Read our new blog post to learn more about the actions that have considerably reduced the threat of deforestation in this ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/gd2WnDdm

🙌 We are incredibly proud of this achievement: The Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI) is on track to reach 100 projects in 2024! CLARIFI represents the next generation of an Indigenous-led global movement to halt biodiversity loss and combat climate change—championing and securing the rights of 1.8 billion Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community members, including women and youth. This represents an important paradigm shift, where support lives beyond any specific project and aims instead to enable holistic community and organizational strengthening. #LandRightsNow

📢 Our series on meet RRI's Fellows continues! Sumudu Atapattu, a new RRI Fellow from Sri Lanka, is a teacher, researcher, and director of the Global Legal Studies Center at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She specializes in environmental rights, human rights and justice, climate change, and sustainable development. #LandRightsNow She is affiliated with UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Global Health Institute, the Center for South Asia, and the 4W Initiative, and is the Executive Director of the Human Rights Program. She is also lead counsel for human rights at the Center for International Sustainable Development Law and is an affiliated faculty member at Sweden’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights. Before moving to the United States, she was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo. Learn more about Sumudu and RRI’s other fellows in our new Coalition Guide 👇🏽 https://lnkd.in/gKj4Xb3u

🥳 Congratulations to RRI President and Coordinator, Solange Bandiaky-Badji, for becoming a 2024 Henry Arnhold Fellow at Mulago! Conserving biodiversity and reversing climate change by scaling up solutions to recognize Indigenous Peoples', Afro-descendant Peoples', and local communities' land and resource rights is what we do best. #LandRightsNow

CLARIFI’s vision is of a world where Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community rightsholders have the financial and technical resources to realize their self-determined plans for thriving in harmony with nature. 🌳🌊🌼🥕🌵 📺 Watch this short video where CLARIFI Steering Committee member, Gustavo Sánchez Valle, speaks about his work with the Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Campesinas Forestales, the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests, and his work on CLARIFI’s leadership team. Established in 2022 by RRI and Campaign for Nature, CLARIFI is a funding mechanism that backs Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ global movement to halt #biodiversity loss and combat climate change. Its mission is to secure rights and scale up #conservation solutions to protect 30% of our planet by 2030. This isn't just an ambition, it is an urgent necessity. Learn how CLARIFI is revolutionizing the #climate finance sector by putting communities—especially women and youth—at the helm. #LandRightsNow https://lnkd.in/gUhWmPtB

🙌 Update: In May, the Women in Global South Alliance (#WiGSA) held its second strategic meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal! Armed with a feeling of sisterhood and common purpose, women leaders from 11 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America overcame jet lag and time differences to discuss strategies on how best to support the women and girls they represent. ❓ Why is this meeting important? Because even though Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women are at the heart of many development and climate change efforts, women-led organizations continue to be left behind in the decisions that affect them most. To help address this gap, RRI and WiGSA have initiated a scoping exercise as a preliminary step for a new baseline analysis to assess the true level and types of funding actually reaching grassroots women’s organizations in the Global South. Meanwhile, WiGSA members will continue to add their voices to national, regional, and international events on climate and conservation, including the UN CBD #CoP16 in Colombia and the UNFCCC #CoP29 in Azerbaijan later this year. #LandRightsNow Read the full story on The Land Writes Blog 📚 https://lnkd.in/d3KWS2bU

New on The Land Writes Blog! RRI’s Legal Analyst, Isabel Davila Pereira, looks back at some of the world’s biggest legal changes and events from 2023. 🍁 In a historic decision, #Canada agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit with 325 First Nations seeking reparations for the loss of language and culture brought on by the so-called Indian residential schools. ✊🏾 In #Bolivia, Law No. 1497 created, demarcated, and established the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory, benefiting the Mojeño Trinitario, Mojeño Ignaciano, Movima, Yuracaré, and Tsimane Indigenous Peoples. 🌱 In the #DRC, the National Assembly passed the country’s first-ever legislation on land use planning, a result of years-long advocacy by civil society organizations. But despite these wins, developments backtracking or denying rights also occurred in 2023 and challenges remain. In #Peru, political protests were widespread, and in #Australia, the fight for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal Australians was unsuccessful. In a world constantly evolving, this review is a glimpse into the state of rights in 2023. With land reform and legal developments on forestry already taking place in Africa and Latin America, 2024 promises to be equally eventful in international and domestic legal developments for territorial rights and conservation. https://lnkd.in/gADQxmwG

🌲🌱🌊✊🏾🌏 Co-authored by 16 organizations—spanning youth groups, Indigenous networks, and ally organizations—our #AsiaYouthReport is now available in Nepali! The report brings to the fore the experiences and leadership of Asia’s #youth changemakers for the first time and is a must-read if you're interested in learning how youth in #Asia are defending their land rights and the well-being of their communities. Learn more 👇🏽 https://lnkd.in/g3GFTgJj