There was much good rhetoric and many encouraging pronouncements on community land rights in 2013 – from courts, governments, and some of the world’s largest corporations. But there was much less evidence of action on the ground. In fact, new research to be launched at this event reveals a global slowdown in the recognition of community rights in tropical forested countries in the last six years. 

Despite some high-profile enactments, less new legislation has been passed since 2008 than in the preceding six years. One possibility for more progress is the private sector, which had much more to say on land rights than ever before in 2013. Through its global reach and economic importance, an enlightened private sector can shift the balance decisively away from a corporate land rush and towards community and indigenous land rights. This panel discussion will put into context the growing evidence of potential for transformative change in 2013, and ask how commitments by the private sector and other stakeholders can be put into practice in 2014. 

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Missed the panel discussion? Watch it here:

State of Rights and Resources 2013 - 2014 from RRI on Vimeo.

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Panelists 

 

Abdon Nababan - Secretary General, Indigenous Peoples' Alliance of Indonesia's Archipelago (AMAN)

Duncan Pollard - Associate Vice President, Stakeholders Engagement in Sustainability, Nestlé S.A.

Jenny Springer - Director, Global Programs, Rights and Resources Initiative

Megan MacInnes - Campaign Leader for Land, Global Witness  

Raul Silva Telles do Valle - Policy and Rights Program Coordinator, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA)

 

Moderated by

 

Fred Pearce - Journalist and author of The Land Grabbers: The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth   

 

Opening Remarks

Joji Cariño - Executive Director, Forest Peoples Programme

Andy White - Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative