Resource information
Research and direct witnessing by participants allow realization of the extent to which the situation of native/indigenous peoples and rural communities in general (peasant, forest dwelling, pastoral and fishing) is dramatic everywhere on the planet. 2.5 billion people, members of so called indigenous/native peoples and rural populations in general, live on lands that they share and use in common. However, only a fifth of these lands are registered as community territories by national governments. In the great majority of cases, rural inhabitants do not receive effective State protection of their community rights to the lands that they have nevertheless inhabited for centuries Therefore, it is very difficult for them to preserve the latter or their natural resources from the encroachments of land and resource grabbing. The lack of collective land tenure security gives the State, which often considers the lands as belonging to it, free rein to concede these spaces to foreign or national companies.