Just four days into my time at COP27, the topline message is clear: we are not doing enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
While the effects of climate change are global, the most significant impacts will be shouldered by the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As such, climate change mitigation measures must address inequality head-on. One effective way to do this is to strengthen and secure land tenure and resource rights for Indigenous Peoples and Communities.
Roughly half of the land on earth is managed by Indigenous Peoples, communities, farmers, and pastoralists, but governments recognize only 10% of their claims. Together, these groups manage 300 billion metric tons of carbon–an amount that must be protected if not expanded to limit global warming. By increasing tenure security, these communities would be empowered to protect their land against industries and practices that contribute to climate change.
The documentation and protection of land and resource rights is an essential but often forgotten piece of the climate change mitigation puzzle, and I am here in Egypt this week to make sure that this changes. As the world’s leaders gather in Sharmel-Sheikh, Egypt, this week and next, they must recognize the critical role of land rights and make it a core component of their national climate change strategies.
One of the most proven and cost-effective ways of securing land rights is by deploying people-centered, fit-for-purpose technologies, like Cadasta, to delineate community and forest boundaries and submit them to governments for formal recognition. Tools offered by organizations like Cadasta can collect data and document land rights in months, as opposed to years, for a fraction of the cost. As I speak to some of our current and potential partners from Indigenous communities at COP27, they reinforce this message. Cadasta’s tools and approaches help these communities demarcate and secure their land and establish data to monitor progress and track threats. Documented and empowered with data, these critical communities can manage their land in ways that support carbon mitigation and adaptation strategies rather than exacerbate them.
