What do land rights mean for Indigenous peoples?

In 2019, a group of organizations came together around the idea of creating a “standard” for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, to guide how Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community rights should be included in legislation, investment and global development. In an Indigenous-led process that involved consultations with groups and communities around the world, the Land Rights Standard, as it came to be called, was developed over the course of the past few years, just in time to be launched in November at the Global Landscapes Forum at COP27.

In this GLF Live, we heard from Alain Frechette of the Rights and Resources Initiative – which, along with the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development, the Forest Peoples Programme and the Global Landscapes Forum, was one of the organizations behind the standard and a crucial facilitator of its creation – and Gam Shimray of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact about why the Land Rights Standard came to be and what it can, and should, achieve.

Gam A. Shimray is the secretary-general of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP). Gam is a dedicated human rights activist and has been defending and promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples for almost 30 years. He advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ self-determined aspirations for long-term sustainable peace and development in Asia.

Alain Frechette is director of Strategic Analysis and Global Engagement at the Rights and Resources Initiative, where he oversees RRI’s analytical programs and thematic work on climate and conservation. Before joining RRI in 2015, Alain worked as an independent consultant for 15 years, and a forester for a nearly a decade before that.