The vision of the Land Portal Foundation is to improve land governance to benefit those with the most insecure land rights and the greatest vulnerability to landlessness through information and knowledge sharing.
The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility is focused on securing land and forest rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. We are the first financial mechanism to exclusively fund projects working towards this goal while reducing conflict, driving development, improving global human rights, and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
We believe in the inherent dignity of all people. But around the world, too many people are excluded from the political, economic, and social institutions that shape their lives.
The Land Dialogues webinar series promotes the centrality of Indigenous and community land rights in advancing global efforts to halt the climate crisis, achieving a healthy planet and forwarding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It focuses on the importance of formally recognising and securing the customary lands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as a crucial contribution to the overall climate health of the planet.
The Land Dialogues 2024 series, will delve into a variety of important issues, such as the Indigenous and local community women's roles in safeguarding nature, direct funding for Indigenous Peoples in multilateral climate and biodiversity initiatives and loss and damage funds in the context of the fast-approaching COP29 and how Indigenous youth combat climate change. With this in mind, a series of four webinars will be held in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish, Portuguese, and French. The Land Dialogues are co-organized by the Land Portal Foundation, the Tenure Facility and the Ford Foundation.
Young Indigenous Peoples are facing unprecedented challenges as they grow up in a world where climate change imperils their community’s cultural heritage and ways of life. In response, many are becoming new leaders in climate activism, championing land rights as a pivotal measure in combating environmental degradation and preserving traditional lifestyles.
Indigenous women’s knowledge is rooted in ancestral understanding of the natural world and the accumulation of observations of local phenomena. The most significant aspect of Indigenous women holding and preserving these traditional knowledge is their holistic approach, which encompasses a wide range of domains beyond mere specialization. They possess an intricate understanding of various species, considering their nutritional value, medicinal properties, and ecological roles. This knowledge, passed down through generations, not only enriches their communities but has been crucial for western science. Indigenous women's insights have often informed Western understandings, leading to the development of medicines and a deeper understanding of climate phenomena such as droughts, floods, and biodiversity migration.
The Land Dialogues 2023 series shed light on a variety of important issues regarding the agency of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ land rights; from the power differentials that existed concerning Indigenous land data, to Indigenous Peoples and Local communities taking back control of the dialogues and discussions with donors regarding climate funds.
In 2022 we remain in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, increasingly violent weather events connected to the changing climate, and global security tensions due to war and conflict. Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are among the most vulnerable and are both directly and indirectly hard-hit by these events.
The Land Portal Foundation, the Tenure Facility, the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Ford Foundation proposed a series of Land Dialogues promoting the centrality of Indigenous and community land rights in advancing global efforts to halt the climate crisis, achieving a healthy planet and forwarding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.