Looking in Switzerland for the Answers to Financial Risk in Economic Development
By Dan Klotz, October 21, 2013
Genelle Quarles
When you look at mining, logging, and large-scale agriculture in the developing world, an unfortunate set of numbers leap out. Because these industries need land that is mostly inhabited, contested ownership of rural, forest, and dryland areas directly affects the livelihoods of more than two billion people.
At the national level, the numbers become even more disturbing. Rights to more than half of Liberia’s land, for example, have been dealt away to private interests by the national government. And the consequences? Forest cover in Myanmar has plummeted, from 45 percent of the land in 1990 to under 20 percent in 2010.
These statistics and others headlined a social media countdown to a pivotal conference in Interlaken, Switzerland. The conference was organized by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and its allies in a new coalition dedicated to securing stronger land rights for indigenous and local communities. 180 participants came from 40 countries and every side of the land rights debate: indigenous and community leaders, the private sector, national governments, the financial sector, conservation organizations, and human rights and food security advocates.
The biggest statistic, however, belonged to a report that RRI released as the conference started. The report’s authors looked at the known boundaries of indigenous and local community territory in 12 countries and compared them to the parcels of land licensed for commercial development and natural resource extraction.
Out of 153 million hectares examined, indigenous and local communities inhabited more than 31 percent—one out of every three hectares—that was marked for development.
Watch a 2-minute video of highlights from the participants of the Scaling Up Resources Conference, as they share their perspectives on the impact of secure indigenous and community land rights:
The question of who owns the land often leads to local conflict, which underscores a tremendous amount of unreported financial risk to investors in these development projects, according to Radio France International. The study focused on countries with the best data, the “tip of the proverbial iceberg,” as reported by Bloomberg News. Associated Press coverage noted that those countries with the least amount of data present more of a risk to investors because of the unknowns. But investment continues unabated.
At the Interlaken conference, the organizers called for doubling the amount of land recognized as owned or managed by indigenous and local communities by 2018. This will require a much more thorough evaluation of where indigenous and local communities live, and a more transparent approach to natural resource extraction.
Chris Anderson, director for communities and social performance for British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto Group, said the conference marked the first time officials from across so many fields converged to figure out “how do we recognize people’s rights in lands, but at the same time grow their economies so they improve their livelihoods?”
“We’ve realized,” he told the Associated Press, “that none of us can do any of this alone.”
