Lifeline: Indigenous Land Sovereignty
Summary
Launched on Indigenous People’s Day in 2021, the Indigenous Land Sovereignty Lifeline displays the total area of land and inland waters currently managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) worldwide.
Overview
Indigenous communities are critical stewards of the planet’s natural carbon sequestration capacity, which must be protected in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
According to analysis from the Rights and Resources Initiative, Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage 300,000 million metric tons of carbon stored in their trees and soil, equivalent to 33 times global energy emissions in 2017. In the Amazon Basin, indigenous lands have a higher carbon density per hectare than non-indigenous areas, and many indigenous lands, including many in the Amazon, are carbon sinks, absorbing more carbon than they emit, unlike many other state-managed lands.
Although they comprise less than 5% of the global population, Indigenous People protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity in the forests, deserts, grasslands, and marine environments in which they have lived for millennia.
However, many Indigenous People and local communities across the world lack formal recognition of their land tenure rights by national governments, putting their lands at risk of development and degradation.
"Today, Indigenous land protects life, Indigenous land protects the future,” said Karai Djekupe Guarani, a leader amongst the Guarani People of Brazil. "Besides the white, European way of living, there are other ways of living that need to be respected, including ours.”
Climate Activist João Victor Pankararu
Data
Data for the Indigenous Land Sovereignty Lifeline was sourced from The state of Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ lands and territories report, published in June 2021 by the World Wildlife Fund, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Landmark Global Platform for Indigenous and Community Lands.
“We the indigenous peoples are the main defenders of mother earth. Our fight is to assure a green planet for human kind as a whole. Our traditional knowledges bring so much in this fight against global warming.”
How to use this lifeline
Use this lifeline as a tool to demand that our global leaders ensure the rights of Indigenous People and the protection of Indigenous lands and waters globally.
