This article’s objective is to examine how forestland grabbing has been handled as an issue by both scientists and organizations in the Congo Basin’s context. Forestland grabbing here refers to an act of occupation of large scales of land (scale of capital) in forestry areas by actors with substantial financial or material resources, in a situation of unbalanced cognitive, political, or economic resources among involved actors, with the aim of accumulation, in a scope of action whereby the vulnerable populations are dispossessed of their customary lands, being their principal resource for survival and the network of foreign or local land controllers, who may be multinationals, international or local elites, is widened, with the consequence of the intensification of the social and political economic gap between the capitalistic elites and the communities. It is therefore a discussion based on a comparative review of Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. From a desk research method, it appears that the Congo Basin has been neglected in the scientific discussion on forestland grabbing. If there are some research works in Cameroon, they become scarcer when we go to Gabon and almost nonexistent for the case of the Republic of Congo. Yet, the phenomenon is very present in all three countries. Moreover, the literature is more foreign investor-oriented and the intranational perspective of forestland grabbing is neglected. Very little research in Cameroon discusses the local elite and authorities as facilitators, but not as grabbers. These neglected issues are an important aspect if addressing the land grabbing phenomenon is to contribute to sustainability.
Tag: customary rights
Policy forum: Indigenous forest rights at a crossroads? A critical look at Indonesia’s planned forestry law amendment
Indonesia’s ongoing fourth amendment of Forestry Law No. 41/1999 represents a critical juncture for indigenous forest rights, amplified by the country’s commitment at the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP 30) to recognize 1.4 million hectares of customary forests. This policy forum examines the structural challenges facing this reform through empirical evidence from five case studies. Our analysis reveals current recognition frameworks, including governance paradoxes, historical amnesia, elite capture, ontological exclusion, and the prioritization of business concessions over constitutional rights. These cases demonstrate recurring patterns of jurisdictional conflicts, political economy pressures, and ontological mismatches that transcend regional specificities. The analysis contends that the amendment must transition from symbolic to substantive recognition by integrating historical justice, post-recognition governance, and legal pluralism. Without addressing these structural issues, Indonesia risks perpetuating the very inequalities the constitutional court sought to remedy, while undermining its international climate commitments. The amendment thus represents a critical test of political will: whether the state will continue privileging procedural compliance that manages inequality, or courageously pursue the substantive justice needed to make forest conservation and community rights genuinely mutually reinforcing.
Fostering care and agency for wildlife stewardship on Indigenous and local lands: the power of place, practice, and virtue
Stewardship of wildlife within lands managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities has relied on traditional knowledge and skills yet faces challenges amid social and economic changes that can weaken enduring social-ecological relations. Wildlife conservation initiatives frequently lean on community-based wildlife management (CBWM) to foster sustainable use while ensuring community involvement in decision making. In practice, CBWM has often remained tightly linked to top-down or externally driven processes with quick negative conclusions being drawn about the capacity of communities to manage local wildlife, without further investigating the foundational conditions of stewardship. This study proposes a theoretical model for place-based stewardship that builds on the care-knowledge-agency framework, grounding it in mentored practices and environmental virtue. Our model does not discount the importance of devolved governance systems and legitimate leadership but highlights the parallel requirement for virtuous local decision-making processes, which emerge from mentored practice, rooted in place-based knowledge, and nurtured by care. We illustrate this model with case studies from Guyana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, drawing on lessons learned to develop a generic theory of change that can be adapted to guide the development of tailored interventions for the consolidation of stewardship in the context of CBWM. We argue that CBWM initiatives involving Indigenous peoples and local communities cannot view wildlife management as disconnected from strategies for self-determination within a context of reappropriation of customary lands and may require enabling actions to recover agency and place-based care through reconnection to the territory and mentored practice.
Forest landscape restoration and tenure security in Madagascar
This report, “Forest landscape restoration and tenure security in Madagascar,” is a scoping study prepared within the research-action project “Forest landscape restoration for improved livelihoods: secure tenure to catalyze community action in Madagascar and Cameroon”, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
This report pursues two main objectives: provide FLR practitioners and decision makers with an overview of the socioecological, governance, and tenure context shaping FLR in Madagascar; and distil key lessons learned from restoration and tenure initiatives to date, culminating in design principles for tenure-responsive and socially inclusive FLR.
Our analysis suggests that Madagascar has a solid foundation for scaling tenure-responsive FLR: high biodiversity and restoration potential; a national FLR strategy; a diversity of local institutions; and a growing portfolio of projects that link restoration with tenure and livelihoods. However, major challenges include persistent tenure insecurity in some areas and overlapping claims between state and communities; uneven and sometimes contradictory land law reforms; limited geographic coverage of FLR and land tenure security initiatives; structural rural poverty; and political and governance volatility.
We propose design principles for tenure-responsive and socially inclusive FLR. These principles centre around several key ideas: recognize and strengthen legitimate customary and statutory rights; work through and with locally legitimate governance institutions; tailor FLR strategies to different landscape types (including grasslands and pastoral systems); integrate livelihood support and equity considerations; and treat carbon finance and PES as tools to complement rights-based and participatory restoration rather than to replace them.
Tree species diversity and conservation across disturbance and bioregion types in forest patches outside protected areas in tropical Africa
In West and Central Africa, most forest patches lie outside protected areas and are managed by local communities who depend on their ecosystem services. Yet, their role in conserving tree diversity under varying bioregions and disturbance pressures remains poorly documented. We investigated tree community diversity and structure in nine forest patches across the Guineo-Sudanian and Guineo-Congolian bioregions using 121 plots (2500 m² each) along edge-interior gradients. We recorded anthropogenic disturbances (wildfire, logging, agriculture, invasive plants, footpaths) and measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) for all trees ≥ 10 cm. We identified 382 tree species, of which ∼10 % are globally threatened. Despite their small size, the patches contribute 15–33 % of national tree species richness in the four countries studied. Tree density and basal area were consistently lower than reference values from nearby protected forests, ranging from 186 to 422 stems.ha⁻¹ and 12.36–23.17 m².ha⁻¹ in the Guineo-Sudanian, and 263–476 stems.ha⁻¹ and 12.20–34.75 m².ha⁻¹ in the Guineo-Congolian. Alpha diversity was higher in the Guineo-Congolian than in the Guineo-Sudanian, and beta diversity was generally high among forest patches. Disturbances were concentrated at forest edges and negatively affected tree structure and composition, irrespective of ownership. Our findings show that small, unprotected forest patches make a disproportionate contribution to national and regional tree diversity but remain vulnerable to disturbances. Strengthening customary rights and inclusive governance under “Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures” (OECMs), coupled with locally adapted forest zoning, could enhance both biodiversity conservation and community livelihoods.
Institutional and legal contexts of FSC certification in natural and plantation forestry in Brazil
This study compares Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) requirements as established in the Brazilian forest management certification standards for plantations and natural forestry with Brazilian law. It fi rst identi fi all indicators related to social outcomes (for workers, local communities, and indigenous and traditional peoples) in the two FSC certi fi cation standards for natural forest management, approved in 2001 and 2025, and the two for forestry plantations, approved in 2014 and 2025. These were then compared to the national legal framework of Brazil as of 2025 when the analysis was completed. We did not fi nd any indicators to be antagonistic i.e. none contradict Brazilian law. Most FSC indicators affecting workers and traditional and indigenous peoples are reinforcing, meaning that they set the same requirements as Brazilian law. This reflects the long history of improving labour conditions in the country since the creation of the Brazilian Labour Code (CLT 1943) and the influence of International Labour Organization (ILO) 169 and related international commitments on Brazilian law. In addition, indigenous peoples also have strong protections under Brazilian law. In contrast, the rights of traditional communities in Brazil are generally not legally secure outside territories formally acknowledged by the law, such as quilombos . Finally, other local communities rarely have any type of customary rights secured by Brazilian law, and thus many Indicators affecting local communities are additional “on paper.” The study did not consider monitoring and enforcement. Indicators in the most recent FSC standards establish new considerations, including Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the need to adopt culturally appropriate engagement; mitigating and compensating impacts from forestry operations; engaging community members in consultations; educational action; providing opportunities for local economic development; the need for a diverse forestry labour force and inclusive decision-making processes; compliance with anti-corruption policies; and timely resolution of conflicts and disputes.
Exploring the potential of territorial funds to achieve equitable and inclusive direct climate and biodiversity finance
Indigenous Peoples (IP), local communities (LC), and Afro-descendants (AD) need to play crucial roles if countries are to achieve our 2030 global nature, biodiversity, and climate goals. An estimated 2.5 billion IP, LC, and AD hold customary rights and use half of the remaining forests and biodiversity, which are key for providing critical ecosystem services to sustain human well-being (WRI 2024). At least 36 per cent of the world’s remaining intact forest landscapes are within IP’s lands (Fa et al. 2020). IP, LC, and AD safeguard knowledge and practices that can contribute to avoiding biodiversity loss and building resilience to climate change impacts (Dawson et al. 2020; Phuong Phan et al. 2021). However, despite the effectiveness in stewarding nature, developing solutions, and implementing strategies, less donor funding is being disbursed to IP, LC, and ADs in comparison to other climate and environmental measures. Drawing on the author’s work in research and philanthropy, this essay reflects on the potential of emerging territorial funding mechanisms for promoting equitable and effective direct biodiversity and climate finance outcomes. Territorial funds can contribute to addressing barriers and challenges to direct funding. In the face of unfavourable scenarios that question the future of international climate frameworks, territorial funds have the potential to strengthen the governance of tropical forest systems and the organisations underpinning the efforts to mitigate and adapt to the detrimental effects of climate change.
Mengkaji dukungan terhadap hak-hak Masyarakat Adat dan masyarakat lokal dalam konteks REDD+ di Indonesia
Ringkasan
- Brosur ini menyajikan temuan-temuan penelitian hasil kajian dari sepuluh kriteria yang mendukung hak-hak Masyarakat Adat dan masyarakat lokal (Indigenous Peoples and local communities/IPLC) dalam konteks REDD+ di Indonesia.
- Indonesia telah terlibat dalam REDD+ sejak awal dan telah mengembangkan berbagai instrumen untuk mendukung implementasi REDD+, termasuk sistem informasi safeguards (SIS) yang mencakup safeguards sosial yang mengakui hak-hak IPLC.
- Hak-hak IPLC telah disebutkan sedikit demi sedikit dalam peraturan-peraturan pelaksanaan yang berbeda, misalnya, aspek persetujuan atas dasar informasi awal tanpa paksaan ada dalam peraturan terkait akses ke informasi atau perlindungan hak asasi manusia. Sebaliknya, hak-hak atas tanah dan tenurial hutan jauh lebih komprehensif, misalnya melalui skema-skema program Perhutanan Sosial.
- Pelaksanaan safeguard untuk REDD+ dan inisiatif berbasis hutan lainnya harus melibatkan masyarakat adat dan menghormati hak-hak, pengetahuan, dan partisipasi mereka, seperti yang telah ditekankan dalam kontribusi yang ditetapkan secara nasional (Nationally Determined Contribution/NDC) terbaru di Indonesia.
Forests, law and customary rights in Indonesia: Implications of a decision of the Indonesian Constitutional Court in 2012
This paper reviews the emerging effects of the 2012 decision of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia relating to the customary management of Indonesia’s traditional forests. It focuses on the challenge of moving from legal to political and societal recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights. In its advocacy of customary land rights, Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) successfully applied to the Constitutional Court for judicial review of the Forest Law 41 1999. It argued the law breached the constitutional rights of its members in permitting the state to permit exploitation and development rights over traditional forest without their consent. The flow-on effect of allocating such rights included widespread deforestation and land use change without agreement from customary communities that have used and occupied these forests for centuries, thus ignoring traditional customary law that regards these forests as the property of such communities. The paper reflects critically on international experience in the interface between legal recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights, and their translation into sustainable and meaningful societal transformation.
Helping rural women secure their land and resource rights: reach, benefit, empower, or transform?
It discusses the critical role of land and resource access in women’s empowerment, rural livelihoods, and climate resilience. It highlights the systemic barriers women face in securing these rights and the need for gender transformative approaches (GTAs) to challenge discriminatory social norms and institutional biases. The study builds upon the Reach, Benefit, Empower framework, developed by IFPRI, which evaluates gender strategies in development projects. Findings reveal that while many initiatives aim to empower women, they often only focus on reaching them (through training) rather than addressing deeper systemic issues. The article advocates for a shift towards transformative strategies that tackle the root causes of inequality.