Critical Next Step in the Decolonisation of Land Relations: Restitution of Protected Areas to Indigenous Communities

This paper is number 3 of the briefing series Transforming Conservation: from conflict to justice.

Indigenous communities in Africa are increasingly assertive about the need to have their customary ownership and custodianship of forests recognised by the state. This includes their forests currently under government ownership and management. This briefing looks at 20 countries around the world where restitution to communities has already taken place or is proactively demanded. African indigenous peoples and governments may wish to take inspiration from these examples to adapt and apply them to their own contexts.

Read the paper in: Français, English, Español and Swahili 

This brief arises from research into restitution of state Protected Areas (PAs) undertaken in collaboration with FPP. An international law firm contributed significantly with pro bono reviews of relevant legislation in ten of the 20 countries sampled.

Country selection was purposive, drawing from states known to be pro-actively returning PAs to community ownership. Many more countries than the 20 selected could have been researched, had more time and resources been available. The total number of countries which legally provide for restitution of PAs to customary community claimants is not known.

 

A main prompt for the research was the Rulings of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights in May 2017 and especially in June 2022 ordering the Government of Kenya to restitute Mau Forest Complex to the Mau Ogiek people under registered community land title. This sets an encouraging precedent for other indigenous forest peoples in

Africa who are making similar demands.

 

A further prompt is the important role which intact forest plays in climate change mitigation. The global community is in the process of finalising pledges to raise Protected Areas to 30% of the earth’s area. PAs cover 17% of global lands. Globally, more than 90% of the 625,000 PAs declared are owned and/ or controlled by governments. New PAs are declared annually, almost always resulting in community dispossession and displacement.

Key points:

1. The return of PAs to indigenous communities who are the rightful owners of these lands is common practice in some states and expanding in others.  
2. Land can be environmentally protected without having to be owned by Government.  
3. Returning PAs to communities leads to fuller, cheaper and more effective environmental protection.  
4. Communities may choose to involve (and even to lease out a PA to) a relevant state or approved private conservation agency.  
5. Systems of protection and governance of returned PAs are still in evolution in all the country cases reviewed.

 

About this briefing series:

In 2003, at the 5th World Parks Congress in Durban, the conservation world made commitments to return lands to  indigenous peoples that had been turned into protected areas without their consent, and to only establish new protected areas with their full consent and involvement. Those commitments have not been realised. This series offers case studies, testimony, research, and analysis from FPP and from our partners that examine the current state of play of the relationship between conservation and indigenous peoples, and local communities with collective ties to their lands. It will expose challenges and injustices linked to conservation operations, showcase practical, positive ways forward for the care of lands and ecosystems, led by indigenous peoples and local communities themselves, and reflect on pathways to just and equitable conservation more broadly.