First global pact launched to secure indigenous land rights

#LandRightsNow

The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility the first and only global institution dedicated to securing the land rights of indigenous communities worldwide - was formally launched in Stockholm on Tuesday October 3, 2017.

“Disputes over land rights in tropical forests teeming with exploitable resources - from hard woods to precious stones to oil - can quickly escalate into deadly conflict, and local peoples more often than not wind up on the losing end.

More than 200 environmental campaigners, nearly half from indigenous tribes, were murdered around the world in 2016 alone, according to watchdog NGO Global Witness.

Restoring some measure of control to the original inhabitants of forests appropriated by corrupt governments or extraction industries has also proven an effective bulkhead against global warming, according to a 2014 global survey by the US-based World Resources Institute, a think tank.”

Please continue reading at article source.

Article Source: www.straitstimes.com