Indigenous land rights

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Indigenous land rights" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Indigenous rights
Rights
Ancestral domain Cultural rights Intellectual property Land rights Language Traditional knowledge Treaty rights Water and sanitation Protection
Governmental organizations
ACHPR AID Arctic Council BIA CIP CIRNAC DTA FUNAI INPI JAKOA NCIP NIAA MCHTA TPK UNPFII
United Nations initiatives
9 August UNPFII WIPO IGC BBNJ ABS Committee Indigenous Caucus
International Treaties
ILO 107 ILO 169 United Nations Declaration (UNDRIP) GRATK Anti-Biopiracy Treaty
NGOs and political groups
AFN Amazon Conservation Team Amazon Watch CAP COICA CONAECDA CONAIE Cultural Survival EZLN fPcN IPACC IPCB IWGIA Land Back NARF ONIC Survival International The Red Nation UNPO KAFFED more ...
Issues
Aboriginal titles Biopiracy Civilizing mission Climate change Co-governance Discovery doctrine Discrimination Ecocide Genocide MMIW Indigenous decolonization Inhabited lands Indigenism Settler colonialism Truth commissions Uncontacted peoples
Countries
Argentina Australia Brazil Denmark Finland Malaysia Mexico Namibia New Zealand Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Suriname Tanzania Taiwan Venezuela
Category
v t e

Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenous peoples for a range of reasons, including: the religious significance of the land, self-determination, identity, and economic factors.^[1] Land is a major economic asset, and in some Indigenous societies, using natural resources of earth and sea form (or could form) the basis of their household economy, so the demand for ownership derives from the need to ensure their access to these resources. Land can also be an important instrument of inheritance or a symbol of social status. In many Indigenous societies, such as among the many Aboriginal Australian peoples, the land is an essential part of their spirituality and belief systems.

Indigenous land claims have been addressed with varying degrees of success on the national and international level since the very beginning of colonization. Such claims may be based upon the principles of international law, treaties, common law, or domestic constitutions or legislation. Aboriginal title (also known as Indigenous title, native title and other terms) is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007, illustrates the importance of land for Indigenous peoples and offers benchmark standards on the land rights of indigenous people. Statutory recognition and protection of Indigenous and community land rights continues to be a major challenge, with the gap between formally recognised and customarily held and managed land is a significant source of underdevelopment, conflict, and environmental degradation.^[2]