Land Rights Essential for Peace in Colombia

Feb 21, 2018 | Gloria Pallares
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Colombia - Recognition of collective land tenure rights in Colombia is among the strongest in Latin America: there has been constitutional backing since 1991, and more than 30 million hectares of forests have already been designated as indigenous land. However, this legal protection often falls short of securing rights on the ground. As the country moves on from a five-decade conflict and launches a nationwide land-planning process, securing collective rights — not just individual ones — becomes key to the success of a hard-won national peace agreement. To better understand the state of affairs and what drives collective tenure security, experts at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Pontificia Javeriana University in Bogotá gauged the perceptions of indigenous and afrodescendent communities in the Pacific and Caribbean regions. That study was complemented by analyses of the legal framework and the evolution of communal land titling in Colombia.