Launch: New Land Rights Standard sets bar for protecting landscapes – and the people who have rights to them

Land rights holders take the stage at climate conference alongside COP27

Bonn, Germany (8 November 2022) – As the world’s governments grapple with the pressing, intertwined challenges of the climate crisis, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss, it’s increasingly clear that protecting and restoring the world’s forests and landscapes must include securing the rights of the Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities (LCs), and Afro-descendant Peoples (ADPs) who inhabit these areas.

To that end, various social and environmental frameworks, standards, and certification systems have been developed, with many organizations setting up their own systems and commitments. However, civil society organizations, companies and investors have lacked a common set of principles that would help them ensure that their climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development investments are rights-based.

That’s why the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), the Indigenous Peoples Major Group (IPMG) for Sustainable Development, and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) are launching a new Land Rights Standard at GLF Climate 2022, which will be held online and alongside the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on November 11.

Grounded in international human rights law and developed in collaboration with IPs, LCs and ADPs – particularly with the women within these groups – the Standard lays out clear principles to pave the way for more sustainable, equitable, and just climate action and development.

WHAT: Launch of the Land Rights Standard: Finding common ground (simultaneous interpretation in English, Spanish, and French)
WHEN: November 11, 2022, 13:00-13:30 GMT+2
WHERE: online and in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
WHO: Solange Bandiaky-Badji, RRI’s President and Coordinator, along with representatives from civil society organizations and institutions who will adopt the Standard, will highlight its potential impact and present their vision of what its implementation would look like in reality.

#GLFClimate #LandRightsNow

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NOTE TO EDITORS
For more information, to obtain a press pass, attend the session as a press member to ask questions live to the panelists online or onsite and request interviews, please contact Kelly Quintero ([email protected])

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Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
The Rights and Resources Initiative is a global coalition of 21 Partners and more than 150 rightsholders organizations and their allies dedicated to advancing the forestland and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, local communities, and the women within these communities. Members capitalize on each other’s strengths, expertise, and geographic reach to achieve solutions more effectively and efficiently. RRI leverages the power of its global Coalition to amplify the voices of local peoples and proactively engage governments, multilateral institutions, and private sector actors to adopt institutional and market reforms that support the realization of their rights and self-determined development. By advancing a strategic understanding of the global threats and opportunities resulting from insecure land and resource rights, RRI develops and promotes rights-based approaches to business and development and catalyzes effective solutions to scale rural tenure reform and enhance sustainable resource governance.

RRI is coordinated by the Rights and Resources Group, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit www.rightsandresources.org.

About the GLF
The  Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement. The Forum takes a holistic approach to create sustainable landscapes that are productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient, and considers five cohesive themes of food and livelihoods, landscape restoration, rights, finance and measuring progress. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research-World Agroforestry Centre (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank, and its charter members. This conference is made possible through our sponsors and working partners.

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