LMM - Indicators of the Legal Security of Indigenous and Community Lands

The dataset "Indicators of the Legal Security of Indigenous and Community Lands" is characterized by a series of ten indicator questions that point to the security of land tenure for Indigenous Peoples or communities as established in national laws.

1. LEGAL STATUS - Does the law recognize all rights that Indigenous Peoples or communities exercise over their lands as lawful forms of ownership?
2. LAND RIGHTS AND COMMON PROPERTY - Does the law give indigenous or community land rights the same level of protection as the rights under other tenure systems?
3. FORMAL DOCUMENTATION - Does the law require the government to provide Indigenous Peoples or communities with a formal title and map to their land?
4. LEGAL PERSON - Does the law recognize the Indigenous Peoples or community as a legal person for the purposes of land ownership?
5. LEGAL AUTHORITY - Does the law recognize the Indigenous Peoples or community as the legal authority over the land?
6. PERPETUITY - Do the law and formal title recognize that indigenous or community land rights may be held in perpetuity?
7. RIGHT TO CONSENT BEFORE LAND ACQUISITION - Does the law require the consent of Indigenous Peoples or communities before government or an outsider may acquire their land?
8. RIGHTS TO TREES - Does the law explicitly recognize that indigenous or community land rights include the rights to all trees on the land?
9. RIGHTS TO WATER - Does the law explicitly recognize that indigenous or community land rights include the rights to local water sources on the land?
10. LAND RIGHTS IN PROTECTED AREAS - Does the law uphold indigenous or community land rights in the ownership and governance of national parks and other protected areas?

The assessment of each indicator is based on a review of relevant national laws, including the constitution, statutes, regulations, and high court cases, to the extent they are available.

Each indicator is assigned a score of 1, 2, 3, 4, Not Applicable (N/A), or No Data (ND). The scoring of indicators is based exclusively on express legal provisions.

• 1: Yes, the law addresses the issue fully. The legal framework clearly or expressly meets the issue addressed in the indicator.
• 2: Partial, the law makes significant progress towards addressing the issue. The legal framework makes significant progress towards, but does not entirely meet the issue addressed in the indicator.
• 3: Partial, the law makes only limited progress towards addressing the issue. The legal framework addresses the indicator, but insignificantly.
• 4: No, the law does not address the issue. There are no attempts in the law to meet the issue addressed in the indicator.
• N/A: The indicator is not applicable. Not applicable is used in cases where the subject matter in question is non-existent.
• ND: Not enough data to score or not evaluated. No data applies when the country and/or indicator has not been evaluated or there is a lack of sufficient information.

The average score for the ten indicators of the legal security of indigenous and community lands is also provided.

The dataset can be visualised on a free on-line mapping tool produced by the original data provider LandMark.