At Brazil's COP30, nations pledge to boost Indigenous land rights

• Tropical forest nations commit to recognise land
• Funders pledge $1.8 billion to support land rights
• Leaders warn of political barriers

BELEM, Brazil - A dozen countries have pledged to formally recognise land rights across 80 million hectares where Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other communities live in tropical forests around the world by 2030 in a bid to stem global deforestation.

The Intergovernmental Land Tenure Pledge, billed as the first global commitment recognising land tenure to secure additional land under Indigenous communities' control, was announced on Friday ahead of the U.N. COP30 climate summit that kicked off Monday.

So far nine tropical forest nations - Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Fiji, Indonesia, Pakistan and Tanzania - have signed the commitment with more countries expected to follow, according to a document seen by Context.

The document, a final version of which is expected to be released on Nov. 17, states land rights and protection should be strengthened in another 80 million hectares that have already been formally recognised.

The Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom have also signed the document as supporters, led by the Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership.

Along with Germany and 35 charities, they are part of the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), which has pledged to secure $1.8 billion in funding by 2030.

The funding aims to help Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other communities living in diverse ecosystems, like forests, mangroves and savannahs, secure land rights and advance conservation.

"Advancing tenure rights and finance for Indigenous Peoples go hand in hand," Brazil's Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara said in a statement.

Brazil will contribute 59 million hectares, more than a third of the total land pledge, the minister said.

Last week, Indonesia pledged to recognise 1.4 million hectares in the country by 2029.

Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway, said strengthening Indigenous rights is an effective measure to reduce deforestation.

"This is both about social justice and about protecting forests that absorb and store carbon," the minister said.

Challenges in practice

In 2024, wildfires led to global deforestation rates of tropical forests rising by 80% to 6.7 million hectares, according to the World Resources Institute, a global research group, reaching the worst level since measurements began.

Indigenous leaders have cautiously welcomed the pledge but warned of challenges in implementing land rights in practice.

"To recognise a territory means to give forests the freedom to keep living along with those who belong to them: Indigenous peoples and local communities … animals and plants," Chief Ninawa, head of Brazil's Amazon Huni Kuin people, told Context.

"This global challenge must be more than a marketing effort," he said.

Brazil's 1988 constitution states that Indigenous territories should be recognised, but "40 years later we're still fighting to have our rights secured," the Indigenous leader said.

Securing land tenure is complex and often takes years as communities need to map vast territory, conduct censuses, reach agreements among themselves and handle competing private land claims.

About 18% of Brazil's total area is formally assigned to communities, according to 2023 data from the Rights and Resources Initiative, a global coalition.

Research shows that recognising forest areas as communal lands is a cost-effective way to protect nature, as communities can make decisions to prevent development projects like oil drilling and mining.

In a press briefing last month, André Lima, who leads Brazil's Environment Ministry's anti-deforestation and land tenure efforts, said the government planned to designate 1.2 million hectares by 2026 to 170 communities living in Amazon states, focusing in areas with high deforestation rates.

Between 2015 and 2020, Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other local communities gained legal recognition to more than 100 million hectares (about 247 million acres) of land across at least 39 nations, according to a 2023 RRI report.

The same report said there were still 1.4 billion hectares of land claimed by those communities which had not been formally recognised, based on available data of 49 countries.

Land titles also allow communities to get financing and undertake initiatives, such as harvesting fruits and collecting carbon credits, said Nonette Royo, executive director of the Tenure Facility, a global non-government organisation.

"When we recognise land rights, communities take nature protection as their mission, they do it for free because that is their home," said Royo.

(Reporting by Andre Cabette Fabio; Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst.)