With a new Community Forest certification, U Pho Toke and his community have the confidence to invest in their land. Here, they are planting mangrove saplings to help restore a vital ecosystem to use as a coastal fishery and food source.

Beth Roberts moderates ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’ Panel at COP25

Overview

Across the globe—and everywhere Landesa works—communities in rural areas are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, like land and soil degradation and more frequent and intense floods and droughts. These environmental changes exacerbate ongoing social and economic issues like food scarcity, migration, and conflict. Climate change and poverty are now so intertwined that they can only be solved together. Recognizing this, Landesa advances win-win solutions that benefit local environments and livelihoods alike.

Landesa’s efforts to strengthen land rights hold promise for climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental conservation, and community wellbeing. When rural and indigenous communities are equipped with secure land rights that are gender-equal and socially inclusive, they are better able to make investments – in sustainable farming techniques like terracing, improved irrigation, and agroforestry – that conserve soil and water and build resilience to climate change. Beyond a role in climate adaptation, there is evidence that secure land rights can help advance efforts on climate mitigation, particularly through preservation of forests and land restoration practices. We are uniquely placed to catalyze gender equity within the climate justice movement, and we advocate with women farmers and support governments to apply a gender equity and social inclusion lens to land administration.

Landesa confronts climate change through its policy and program work, strengthening land rights for rural and indigenous communities and advocacy work in global fora and at convenings like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Increasingly, we are engaging requests for support on climate change at national and local levels as well, reviewing Nationally Determined Contributions for inclusion of land tenure considerations, leading wetlands conservation research in Liberia, and supporting community forest rights and mangrove reforestation in Myanmar.

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