Home - Land Is Life

Advancing the self-determination
of and collective rights of
Indigenous Peoples
around the world

10 reasons Why Indigenous Peoples should not be conflated with the term local communities.

17/10/2024

Africa, Asia and Latin America

Recommendations for Pledge 2.0 of the Forest Tenure Funders Group.

South America

El GTI-PIACI* renueva la lucha para proteger a los Pueblos Indígenas en aislamiento voluntario y contacto inicial.

22/02/2024

Bangladesh

Bangladesh may be a rising star, but the voice of its Indigenous Peoples has fallen on deaf ears.

19/02/2024

South America

El GTI-PIACI* renueva la lucha para proteger a los Pueblos Indígenas en aislamiento voluntario y contacto inicial.

22/02/2024

Paraguay

Indigenous territory and isolated communities under threat in Paraguay

03/04/2024

Panama

Land is Life holds Indigenous women’s training session in Panama: launches new cohort of Women’s Program Fellowship.

03/19/24

Africa, Asia, and throughout the Americas

Indigenous Women’s Program Fellowship

17/10/2024

Mission

The mission of Land is Life is to advance a process of dialogue and strategic action to achieve legal recognition of, and respect for – at the local, national and international levels – Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination and collective ownership of their territories, lands, resources and knowledge.

Vision

Our vision is simple: We live for the day when Indigenous Peoples around the world are able to practice self-determination; when our human, economic, social, cultural, political, and territorial rights are recognized and respected; when we are free to speak our languages, maintain our sacred traditions and continue the work of caring for our ancestral homelands.

Where We Work

Our work

Advocacy, Campaigns and Strategic Engagement

Free, Prior and Informed Consent

Indigenous Food Sovereignty & Security Program

Indigenous Women’s Program

Indigenous-led Security Funds

Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI)

Our Approach

Advancing Self-Determination & Strengthening Governance

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination and that in exercising this right, they have the right to autonomy or self-government.

Advancing Self-Determination & Strengthening Governance

Indigenous Peoples have a vital role to play in biodiversity biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and ﬁnding solutions to the challenges presented by global climate change. Although this has been recognized in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertiﬁcation and other international agreements, Indigenous Peoples are still, in practical terms, treated as obstacles to development and western notions of progress.

Empowering Indigenous Women

Indigenous women account for at least 238 million people globally and are among the most vulnerable sectors of society. They often face multiple forms of discrimination linked to their gender, age, ethnicity, geographic location and disability, leading to social marginalization, violence, and violations of their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.

Fostering Enabling Environments for the Advancement of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Indigenous Peoples face a myriad of barriers – cultural, legal, and institutional – to the realization of their rights. Additionally, their territories, lives, and livelihoods are under increasing threat from extractive industries…

Strengthening the Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Policy-Making Processes

Not only do Indigenous Peoples have a right to participate in decision-making processes that impact their lives and territories, their engagement in these processes has been shown as vital to achieving true progress…

We worked with Indigenous women and youth to build their organizations and provided long-term organizational, strategic, technical and financial support.

We accompanied Indigenous Peoples' rights defenders under threat, provided support for their families, communities and organizations, and built their capacity to monitor and document human rights violations, participate in regional and international human rights bodies, and hold perpetrators accountable.

We worked side by side with Indigenous Peoples to protect their rights and territories from mining, logging, oil extraction, and the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects.

Since 1992