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Responsible Land Governance: Towards an Evidence Based Approach Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poerty March 2017 Securing Forest Tenure Rights for Rural Development in Latin America Gerardo Segura Warnholtz The World Bank Group Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice Global Public Goods Unit This contribution presents results of a study supported by the Program on Forests (PROFOR) of the World Bank. 1 One of the most important challenges that governments face in their efforts to reduce poverty and inequality in rural landscapes, and achieve environmental and climate goals, is to recognize and secure the land and forest tenure rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. Promising progress has been made by many developing countries, particularly in Latin America, in introducing the legal framework and targeted policies to transfer or devolve forest rights to local people. In many cases, however, these reforms remain partial, and their implementation and enforcement is still far from materializing. Cumbersome regulations, limited institutional capacity, and powerful competing interests continue to impede the realization of legitimate customary rights, contributing to insecurity, conflicts, and displacement among some of the world’s poorest rural inhabitants.1 These unfinished tenure reform agendas have significant impacts on the ability of countries to achieve their poverty reduction and environmental goals. There is growing evidence of the critical links between tenure security and local economic development, biodiversity conservation and carbon emissions reductions. A substantial body of research documents the essential foundations land and resource tenure provide for food security and sustainable livelihoods,2 and the global consensus on these links has been expressed in international frameworks such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.3 With regard to deforestation, a comprehensive review of relevant studies undertaken in 2014 found that where communities have legal rights to their forests and government support for management and enforcement, deforestation rates (and associate carbon emissions) are significantly lower than in areas outside those community forests.4 In spite of this encouraging evidence, unclear and insecure land and forest tenure rights remain widespread in the developing world, and continue to threaten the integrity of local livelihoods and the provision of environmental services, while impeding poverty reduction and increasing the negative effects of climate change. As a region, Latin America has led the way in recognizing local and customary forest tenure rights. As of 2013, approximately 39% of the region’s forestlands were owned or controlled by indigenous peoples and local communities.5 To achieve this, countries have undertaken significant legal and institutional reforms leading to more robust and inclusive tenure rights. However, the success of these reforms has been constrained by many factors including the policies and institutional arrangements that government agencies use to implement them (e.g. forestry, agriculture, land administration/regularization agencies), and the resources they have to respond to increasing demands from communities to regularize, administer and enforce tenure regimes, and support the resolution of conflicts over unclear boundaries and multiple land claims. Resolution of these constraints to the security of community tenure rights is critical for the future of Latin America’s forests and people. Forest ecosystems cover as much as 21% of the land (940 M ha) in Latin America, and represent 50% of the world’s tropical forests. However, rates of deforestation are among the world’s highest, and carbon emissions associated with the destruction 2 of forests, and degradation of soils and other ecosystem elements, currently surpass those of other productive sectors of the economy and are also highest in Latin America (CO2 emissions from deforestation in the region are above 46%, whereas the world average is less than 17%). Even in those countries that are beginning to control deforestation, such as Brazil, forestlands continue to be significantly threatened by rapidly expanding agribusiness (e.g. soy, oil palm and sugarcane), oil and gas infrastructure, mining, illegal logging and drug cultivation.6 This contribution presents the results of a six-country study designed to assess the current status of forest tenure reforms in Latin America and identify the actions needed by governments to leverage sustained political, institutional, financial, and technical support to strengthen and operationalize them. It aims to contribute to the discussion and analysis currently under way in many countries in Latin America, and in other parts of the world, regarding the key policy, legal, institutional and technical elements that are needed to strengthen, secure and expand indigenous and community forest tenure. Following a brief introduction to the study methods, this report presents key overarching findings from the six country studies, and concludes with recommendations for future work, including recommendations on ways World Bank programs can support further recognition and realization of indigenous and community forest rights. 1 Anderson 2006 – 2 Sunderlin et al 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization 2002, Deininger 2003, Department for International Development 2007, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency 2007. 3 FAO 2012. Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. 4 Stevens, Caleb, Robert Winterbottom, Jenny Springer, Katie Reytar 2014. Securing Rights, Combatting Climate Change. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. 5 RRI 2014. 6 (Pacheco, 2012; Nepstad el. al. 2006) 3