Photo credit: Village in Oecussi-Ambeno, East Timor, Indonesia. CIFOR/Aris Sanjaya
Indigenous peoples must be key players in landscape conservation planning, according to new research discussed on the website of the Indigenous People’s Major Group for Sustainable Development.
Although they make up less than 5 percent of the global population, the research shows Indigenous peoples control territory covering about 38 million square kilometers — approximately a quarter of all land outside Antarctica, according to the researchers, whose findings were based on mapping of Indigenous lands around the globe.
Their survey, which included 87 countries, found that every inhabited continent has people who identify as Indigenous and contains land that is still owned, managed or influenced by indigenous peoples. These areas could be candidates for conservation – but success hinges on ensuring that the rights, knowledge systems and practices of Indigenous peoples are fully respected, say the authors.
Read the full article here.
Learn more about this topic at the Global Landscapes Forum conference in Bonn, Germany, 22-23 June 2019.
Read Landscape News stories from the 18th session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues here
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