Why the campaign for reparations must put gender justice at its heart

Lurit Yugusuk and Hazel BirungiLand rights, Research, Women's Economic Empowerment

Millions of women in the Global South earn a pittance, own no wealth or land and do far more unpaid care than men – and much of their condition today can be traced back to the economic devastation caused by both colonialism and the extractive economic system it created. That’s why any plan for redress must include justice for women. In the latest blog in our World Economic Forum series, Lurit Yugusuk and Hazel Birungi set out five ways to do that…

How are land rights connected to climate justice?

Pubudini WickramaratneClimate Change, Land rights, Research

Pubudini Wickramaratne and Rashmini de Silva introduce a new paper that spotlights the voices of rural Asians suffering loss and damage to their land and explain how secure land rights are essential to increasing climate resilience.

On human rights, the US must repair, reflect, and re-engage

Vicki GassActive citizenship, Land rights

On January 16, Julio David González Arango, an Indigenous land defender involved in peaceful resistance to a mining operation in Guatemala, was shot in his home. The next day, two other defenders – Juan Eduardo Donis and Pablo Adolfo Valenzuela – received text messages saying that “they would be next.”   Tragically, this incident is all too familiar to activists and human rights …

Down the Line: Oil, Poverty, and a Future Worth Building

Andrew BograndLand rights, Natural Resources

Every day, communities around the globe struggle to protect their land, livelihoods, environment, and money. This is the case from the western United States, where residents in poor neighborhoods have lost everything this summer in climate-induced fires, to eastern Africa, where rural villages are navigating the low costs and high risks of oil projects. Whether these communities live downwind or …

Their land, their voices

Imke GrevenLand rights

Their land, their voices – About the importance of meaningful community engagement with local communities Land rights of local communities are often threatened in the context of increased demand for land and natural resources. A community’s choice to give, or withhold, their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to a project or activity planned to take place on their land …

Women’s land rights on paper are not enough

Pubudini WickramaratneGender, Land rights

Land is critical to our daily lives. It is intrinsically linked with our identity, dignity, livelihoods, food, housing, education and health. Secure land rights are essential to sustainable and equitable economic development as well as to social and political development. This holds true, especially for women.  For women to have secure land rights, the legal and policy framework must recognise …

Low costs, high risks, and empty promises? The price of oil in East Africa

Andrew BograndClimate Change, Land rights, Natural Resources

If constructed, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) would become the world’s longest heated pipeline. Communities that will be impacted are worried about their land, money, environment, and future. Oxfam is urging project developers and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania to listen to these communities and take immediate action.

Averting a Coronavirus-Induced Ethnocide in Latin America

Stephanie BurgosClimate Change, Indigenous People, Land rights

This year August 9th – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples – comes at a critical moment. Far from hospitals and news cameras, indigenous people in Latin America are contracting COVID-19 and dying without access to the means needed to protect themselves. The pandemic has yet to reach its peak in the region and the virus is spreading from urban …