By Maggie Hall
Maggie is a retired teacher of speech and drama, a former Chair of Brighton Humanists, a member of the Humanists UK Dialogue Network and a Humanists UK School Speaker. In this article, she looks at the serious problems faced by indigenous peoples fighting to protect their ancestral lands from exploitation by profit-seeking corporations and corrupt governments.
The question “what is land for?” assumes that land has an innate purpose, an assumption perhaps rooted in religious ideas of creation. Perhaps a more salient question would be is it for anything? If we could go back far enough in history we would doubtless come to a time when land had no given purpose. It was just there. Any purpose it has now has been attributed by humans. The problem is that different humans have different ideas of what land should be for. For instance, the indigenous peoples of a particular region will view it as their ancestral home and will draw on centuries of wisdom and experience to inform how they live in and on the land, whereas large corporations and corrupt governments with a vested interest in the same land, perhaps for extraction, logging or agriculture, will see it as a valuable resource, there to be exploited for profit.
The facts
According to Oxfam, up to 2.5 billion people depend on indigenous and community lands, which make up over half of the land on the planet, but they legally own just one-fifth. At a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on 25th April 2022, Permanent Forum Chair Darío José Mejía Montalvo (Colombia) said that:
“While indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination, land, resources and – importantly – free, prior and informed consent are guaranteed under international norms, these rights are often not applied, even in countries where they are legally recognised. They are, instead, routinely violated by states in the granting of lumber, timber, mining, mega-dam and other contracts. The pillaging of their resources, loss of their ways of life, cultures and languages, and the disappearing and killing of their leaders are the results of harmful business activities. The unsatisfactory responses from governments meanwhile underscore the need to bring these issues to the Forum’s attention. State and corporate actors do not recognise or respect the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Instead, Indigenous dissent is used to legitimise violence, killings, and impunity.”
A study published in the Journal One Earth in August 2023 found that:
Industrial development threatens nearly 60 per cent of Indigenous Peoples’ lands in 64 countries
37 countries have highly threatened lands that are vulnerable to conversion
Vulnerabilities in rights, representation, and capital increase the risk of conversion
Support of Indigenous governance and stewardship can reduce conversion risk
In another study published in the same issue of the journal, the authors confirm that “indigenous peoples’ approaches to land stewardship are highly compatible with conservation values” but agree with the 60 per cent figure for their lands being under threat, and that “the greatest threat is from the installation of renewable energy infrastructure (predominantly solar), which threatens 42 per cent of Indigenous peoples’ lands globally. Other industries that threaten Indigenous peoples’ lands include oil and gas (18 per cent), agriculture (14 per cent), mining (9 per cent), and urbanization (4 per cent).”
Carbon offsets provide a way for powerful entities such as governments and corporations to pay for the reduction of emissions elsewhere, for example by the planting of trees, while making no effort to reduce emissions themselves. These projects do not provide very much, if any, benefit for the indigenous communities that they affect. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cambodia, for example, carbon-offset projects have seriously infringed on forest communities. Logging companies have “acquired” roughly one million hectares of Indigenous peoples’ territory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2000, according to a new study by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (see links to all studies and articles below).
During the period of colonisation from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, land was seized from the indigenous peoples of many of the colonised territories. After decolonisation in Asia and Africa, much of this land passed into the hands of the governments of the newly formed countries. Although there has been a move over recent years towards recognising traditional ownership, in many places this legal recognition has not stopped companies entering these regions and extracting such commodities as palm oil, timber, copper and gold, all without regard to the principle of “free, prior and informed consent”.
The study authors say communal land is often viewed as an untapped resource: “The lack of private ownership and intensive production systems probably led to the notion that countries in the Global South still harbour vast land resources suitable for commercial production.” The governments in many of these countries are weak and often corrupt, being prepared to overlook the legal rights of indigenous peoples when granting contracts to large corporates. This results in increased levels of hunger and poverty in those regions as small farmers and others who relied on the land for their livelihood find themselves dispossessed. Often, there are promises of fair compensation and well paid jobs on the new plantations which never come to fruition.
The fighters
However, there is now an increasing number of organisations which are working to address these issues. Welthungerhilfe (WHH) works to effect change on three levels:
Internationally through advocacy work in the countries from which the investors come, and in international associations such as the Committee on World Food Security
Nationally in the project countries, by supporting non-governmental organisations working to change the political conditions
Locally, with the affected communities, so they can demand their rights
WHH has helped small farmers in Cambodia to be aware of their rights and to gain legal land titles and record them in land registries. Another organization, Land Rights Now, “mobilizes and engages active citizens, media, communities and organizations worldwide to promote and secure the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities”. At COP16 in Cali in October 2024, Land Rights Now, along with the National Land Coalition Argentina and ILC Latin America and the Caribbean (ILC LAC), sought to highlight the serious consequences of lithium mining for indigenous communities and the environment in Jujuy, Argentina. As well as the environmental issues, recent constitutional reforms in the province have put additional pressures on the local indigenous population, by attempting to facilitate the advancement of extractive projects without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous communities. The campaign advocates for a fair energy transition which does not negatively impact these communities and for their participation in mining projects “ensuring that the energy transition does not reproduce the same extractivist dynamics and prioritises land rights”.
A well-known Indigenous leader from Jujuy, Débora Sajama, said “to this day we are charged for defending the land and our rights. This is not a sin and it is not illegal, it is the right thing to do. We love the place where we live. Unfortunately, Argentina does not have a community property law, and we are fighting for that.” There is much more information on the campaign website (see below), including a short video explaining the constitutional issue, which points out that just because a “reform” is legal, it doesn’t follow that it is legitimate.
Much community land is not represented on official maps, which renders it essentially invisible. In the Malinau District of East Kalimantan in Indonesia, the indigenous Dyak people have used drones to map and monitor their land after a palm oil company began illegal logging in the forest of Setuland village. The company withdrew after the villagers threatened to force them off their land, and they now have their map to help them challenge any further invasions. Other communities have used hand-held Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to make precise maps of their lands.
The lack of clear boundaries has also been a problem in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, where neighbouring plots have been extended onto land traditionally owned by the Higaonon people. This led the Higaonon to apply for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), a formal land ownership title. Clearer mapping and legal registration of indigenous land ownership is one way that indigenous peoples are trying to reduce their vulnerability to land grabbing.
Public protests and demonstrations are also being used to draw attention to land ownership issues and put pressure on governments to protect the homes of indigenous people. In December 2017, following a two-week march by hundreds of indigenous people in Quito, Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno agreed to a moratorium on new auctions of oil and mining concessions without the consent of local communities. However, as soon as the following February, a new oil auction and several new mining concessions were announced, prompting further protests, with nearly 100 indigenous women camping in front of the government palace in Quito’s central plaza. The President agreed to a meeting, where the women once again pressed him to limit mining and drilling operations on their community’s territories, as well as to oppose the violence which frequently accompanies such activities. Having received an undertaking from the President that he would heed their demands, the women have vowed to return if he does not hold to his promise.
Once indigenous peoples are aware of their rights, they are in a position to claim them by legal means. In 2008, the Ogiek people of the Mau Forest in the Rift Valley in Kenya were under threat of eviction from their ancestral lands by the Kenyan government. They filed a complaint against the government to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, which referred it to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, a continental court based in neighbouring Tanzania. The court ruled that the government had violated several articles of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, of which Kenya is a signatory, recognised the Ogiek’s indigenous status and their right to the forest, and awarded reparations for forcible evictions.
Cattle ranching is an activity which is having a disastrous impact on some previously uncontacted and vulnerable peoples of the Amazon. According to a study published in the Global Environmental Change journal, at least 80 per cent of Amazonia’s deforestation is due to cattle rearing, with one of the next major causes being soy, of which 95 per cent is fed to farmed animals. The beef and dairy industry clearly gain significant profits from the sale of beef and milk, but the leather industry also profits from these activities. According to the campaigning organisation Collective Fashion Justice, “abattoirs who have reported reduced sales of cattle skins have seen multi-million dollar losses. These losses have been quoted as, in part, due to the rise of vegan leather alternatives. These materials have been found to be less environmentally impactful to produce – even PU synthetic leather – though we must ultimately move to bio-based, next-gen materials.” Having received a beautiful “leather” purse made from teak leaves as a Christmas present, I can personally vouch for the quality of these materials.
There has been much concern in the West in recent years regarding the increasing Chinese presence in African agriculture, with the potential for land grabbing which that might indicate. China’s intentions in Africa are still not clear, and the paucity of available data has frustrated researchers who have attempted to assess them. If the agricultural sector is to lead Africa out of poverty, as many hope, the country does need to attract foreign investment, but the right of local communities to food and land must be protected. The current lack of information on how China operates in respect to access to local resources and human rights issues makes it difficult for the international community to protect them. Therefore more intensive research into these concerns needs to take place.
Conclusion
The blatant disregard for the human rights of indigenous peoples by corrupt governments and profit-driven corporate entities should be of enormous concern, not just to the communities affected but also to the international community, for the loss of vast swathes of rainforest is a main driver of the climate crisis which is affecting us all and increasing in intensity every minute.
The links below include further information on campaigning organisations that can be accessed to support positive action on these issues.
References and further reading
UN Report on the rights of indigenous people (pdf)
Indigenous Peoples’ lands are threatened by industrial development; conversion risk assessment reveals need to support Indigenous stewardship (One Earth article)
Research at the frontier: Making visible the intersection between Indigenous peoples’ lands, industrial development, and rights at risk (One Earth article)
Large-scale acquisitions of communal land in the Global South: Assessing the risks and formulating policy recommendations (Land Use Policy article)
Indigenous People’s Right to Land - The Threat of Land Grabbing (International work group for indigenous affairs)
5 Ways Indigenous Groups Are Fighting Back Against Land Seizures (World Resources Institute)
Cattle ranchers and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Production, location, and policies (Global Environmental Change article)
Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts? (Our World in Data)
Drivers of Deforestation (Our World in Data)
Leather production is killing cows, biodiversity and our climate, but we have solutions to move beyond this (Collective Fashion Justice)
Chinese “land grabs” in Africa – the reality behind the news (pdf) (policy brief of the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative)
What is the role of China as land grabber in Sub-Saharan Africa? Between reality and myth: a literature overview (pdf) (Mariasole Pepa, University of Padua)
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