Many challenges emerged in the last year, which were exacerbated by the pandemic in community level:  Indigenous Community People in the Northwestern region of Bangladesh

On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development.

The webinar Rolling back social and environmental safeguards in the name of COVID-19, organized by Forest Peoples Programme, the Tenure Facility,  Middlesex University, the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and the Land Portal Foundation, took place on Thursday, February 18, 2021.

Global leaders increasingly recognize that land rights for indigenous and local communities are a prerequisite for achieving national and international goals for forest governance, food security, climate mitigation, economic development and human rights.

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land relations in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions:

This crucial report demonstrates how states and other actors are using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to roll back social and environmental safeguards. In doing so, they are eroding the rights of indigenous peoples in the five most tropically forested countries of the world

Over the last several years, the Brazilian government has rolled back environmental and social protections, threatening ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest and the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. The dismantling of inspection and protection programmes in indigenous territories coupled with political neglect towards the formal demarcation of indigenous lands or the strengthening of public policies to safeguard traditional ways of life has led to social, physical and cultural vulnerability for indigenous peoples.

Nos últimos anos, o governo brasileiro reverteu as proteções ambientais e sociais, ameaçando ecossistemas como a floresta amazônica e a subsistência de povos indígenas e comunidades tradicionais. O desmantelamento dos programas de fiscalização e proteção em territórios indígenas, aliado ao descaso político com a demarcação formal das terras indígenas ou o fortalecimento das políticas públicas de salvaguarda dos modos de vida tradicionais, tem gerado vulnerabilidade social, física e cultural para os povos indígenas.

Nos últimos anos, o governo brasileiro reverteu as proteções ambientais e sociais, ameaçando ecossistemas como a floresta amazônica e a subsistência de povos indígenas e comunidades tradicionais. O desmantelamento dos programas de fiscalização e proteção em territórios indígenas, aliado ao descaso político com a demarcação formal das terras indígenas ou o fortalecimento das políticas públicas de salvaguarda dos modos de vida tradicionais, tem gerado vulnerabilidade social, física e cultural para os povos indígenas.

Las medidas de confinamiento adoptadas por el gobierno colombiano para contener la propagación del Covid-19, se han traducido en un detrimento de libertades y derechos fundamentales de las personas: restricciones de movilidad, toques de queda sin garantía de renta básica, cierre de mercados, inoperatividad de sistemas judiciales, precariedad del sistema de salud, abusos policiales, fortalecimiento de grupos armados e incremento de actividades ilegales.

Le présent rapport met en exergue les reculs constatés dans l’application des lois et règlementations en matière de sauvegardes et de protection des droits des communautés locales et des peuples autochtones (CLPA) en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC).

This paper highlights the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected and disenfranchised indigenous peoples and forest communities in Indonesia. The lack of adequate protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and their territories before the pandemic has been made worse by a lack of protection during the pandemic. The challenges faced by forest communities during the pandemic show that access to land and natural resources is crucial for the survival of communities whose livelihoods depend on the forest.