Across the world, areas with high or important biodiversity are often located within Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ conserved territories and areas (ICCAs). Traditional and contemporary systems of stewardship embedded within cultural practices enable the conservation, restoration and connectivity of ecosystems, habitats, and specific species in accordance with indigenous and local worldviews. In spite of the benefits ICCAs have for maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, cultures and human wellbeing, they are under increasing threat.

In this publication two pioneering grassroots organisations from northern Tanzania examine and present their experiences and insights from their long-term work to secure the land rights of hunter-gatherer and pastoral communities. The case studies were presented at a one-day learning event held on 5th October 2012, when Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) joined together to share and reflect on their work to secure land rights, to learn from each other, and to identify ways to build on their achievements moving forward.

Pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities in Tanzania are gaining rights to own and control their land as the foundation for generating new income through REDD+ 

Through a range of local initiatives and collaborations developed over the past 15 years, Tanzania’s Yaeda Valley, the primary remaining home territory for the last community of Hadzabe hunter-gatherers, has become a model for community-based conservation. 

This study documents the plight of the Maasai pastoralists who have moved to Morogoro and Kilosa districts as a result of the recent socio-economic developments and environmental changes in Maasailand. The objective of this study was to analyse how the Maasai migrants have adapted themselves to the new ecological conditions and the impact of such adaptations on their livelihoods.

This revised and updated edition of Albert Kwokwo Barume’s book from 2010 reflects some of the latest developments affecting Africa’s indigenous peoples and their land rights. 

Eviction of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands is one of the most destructive and degrading mitigation strategy performed by modern governments in developing countries to address climate change. Armed police and soldiers are used to forcefully evict indigenous peoples to pave the way for investors and conservation in the name of climate change mitigation.

Diretrizes de Apoio e Promoção da Agricultura Familiar nos Estados membros da CPLP aprovadas na II Reunião extraordinária do Conselho Regional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional da CPLP (CONSAN-CPLP)

The need for affirmative action and the mainstreaming of the commons community plus a comprehensive strategy to secure indigenous and community land has become a major global concern of the 21st century. To achieve this will require out of the box reform mechanisms and the participation of the communities concerned, such that the reforms recognize and embrace indigenous systems and structures that offer avenues to secure collective rights, land use and management of commons resources; namely pastures, water and forests among others.

Indigenous people inhabit approximately 85% of areas designated for biodiversity conservation worldwide. They also continue to struggle for recognition and preservation of cultural identities, lifestyles, and livelihoods--a struggle contingent on control and protection of traditional lands and associated natural resources (hereafter, self-determination). Indigenous lands and the biodiversity they support are increasingly threatened because of human population growth and per capita consumption.

This article was published in a book International Law and Indigenous Peoples edited by J. Castellino & N. Walsh.

This is the second in a series of land studies for northern Uganda, whose core objective is to inform the Plan for Recovery and Development of Northern Uganda (PRDP) and the National Land Policy. It builds on the work of the first phase conducted in Teso region to present a more quantitative analysis of trends on disputes and claims on land before displacement, during displacement and emerging trends or occurrences on return for Acholi and Lango sub-regions.