Who Owns the World’s Land?

Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities comprise up to 2.5 billion of Earth’s population and customarily hold and use at least 50 percent of its lands. According to the second edition of RRI’s flagship report, Who Owns the World’s Land?, communities gained legal recognition to over 100 million hectares of additional land from 2015–2020, and now own more than 11 percent of the world’s land.

The report analyzes the legal frameworks of 73 countries covering 85 percent of Earth’s terrestrial area and finds that at least 39 national governments increased the area under Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community ownership between 2015 and 2020. Importantly, communities made these gains despite limited government or donor assistance, implying that greater investment in their rights could rapidly advance global climate and conservation goals.

Lake Tamblingan in the customary territory of the Adat Dalem Tamblingan Indigenous community in northcentral Bali, Indonesia. | Photo Credit: Nicole Harris, RRI.

73 Countries Covered in Study

Who Owns the World's Land?

Sustained advocacy and engagement by rightsholders and civil society groups have resulted in new legislative developments as well as the implementation of existing legal frameworks. Full implementation of existing laws has the potential to increase community-owned or controlled lands by at least an additional 260 million hectares across the world—an area twice the size of Peru!

This should spur action by governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, international organizations, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to accelerate the adoption and implementation of tenure reforms that recognize the rights and critical role Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities play in stewarding the lands where they have lived for generations.

Breakdown by Region

Africa

Pie chart showing breakdown of who owns the land in Africa

Asia

Pie chart showing breakdown of who owns the land in Asia

Latin America

Pie chart showing breakdown of who owns the land in Latin America
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Area Designated for Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and Local Communities
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Area Owned by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and Local Communities
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Area Owned by Governments, Private Individuals, or Firms

"Our Who Owns the World’s Land? report makes it clear that much more could be achieved if governments, donors, and development institutions prioritized collective tenure rights and rights-based approaches in their climate and biodiversity commitments."

— Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji RRI Coordinator

Between 2015 and 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed the most notable growth of legal recognition of community land rights of any region. In Asia, nearly 98 percent of all recognized community-owned land is in China, where collective ownership of forestland and an extensive pasture contract system cover nearly half the country’s land area. Without China, Asia has the lowest percentage of community ownership of any region, at only 0.83 percent. Latin America experienced considerable threats of rollback during the 2015–2020 period, and increases in legal recognition of collective lands were, in many countries, marginal to nonexistent.

Read the full Second Edition of Who Owns the World’s Land? on our website.