Collective tenure rights, realizing the potential for REDD+ and sustainable development

Secure tenure rights can make a substantial contribution to reducing deforestation and forest degradation and to enhancing sustainable development. This Information brief1 focuses on the key contribution of collective tenure rights towards mitigating climate change, paying particular attention to the links with national strategies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Over 2.5 billion rural people rely on this age-old form of property rights for their livelihoods. Furthermore, the customary claims of indigenous peoples and local communities cover more than half of the global land mass (RRI, 2018) – including some of the most important and biodiverse forest areas in the developing world. Recognition of these rights could facilitate scaled-up approaches to bring about needed transformational changes in the landscape.