I come from a small island called Camiguin in southern Philippines, land of seven volcanoes and the famous sweet lanzones fruits. As a kid, I would go to the forest with my father, a healer. He would take me by the hand and whisper, "Tabi apo!" "Permit me," to respect spirit, the majesty of giant trees. Often he would look me straight in the eye and say, "Spirits, forests, lanzones. They nurture us. You nurture them back. You work with the people who know how." I share this pain.
Now seeing our world's tropical rainforests cut down, hearing the cry of the world’s wildlife, losing their habitats, listening to reports of forest guardians under threat. In 2020, over 200 Indigenous and environmental defenders were lost. Illegal loggers, illegal logging is linked to almost a third of these murders. With their deaths and the death of forests, something is also lost in us. Our abilities to survive the climate crisis.
Pressure is building. At COP26 last year, governments, NGOs, corporations all say yes to protecting forests and land rights and call on Indigenous peoples, guardians of standing forests, for help. Finally, we all agree. We work with the people who know how, in my father's words.
Over 20 years ago in my own hometown in southern Philippines, Indigenous peoples, activists, all put their own lives on the line as fighters. They protect their forests against illegal loggers, companies and miners who want to take their land. My own fiancée, a brave Indigenous young man, was killed in that fight. For years, I thought I was a coward. Unlike my fiancée, I chose the pen, not the gun. I chose to set up a legal defense organization, stood with brave Indigenous women and men as barefoot lawyers. I struggled between hope and fear when they asked, "Can we really trust the laws?" I barely had time to ponder. You see, when Indigenous peoples, activists protested, they were tagged as communists. So we set up quick reaction teams to respond 24/7 to their legal needs. And this work led to the passage of an ancestral domain law in the Philippines that set up an Indigenous People's Commission and recognized 4 million hectares of ancestral land claims. This --
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was shared through Indonesia's legal aid and legal rights defenders who work and strengthen the Indonesia’s Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, and they won their forest land rights case in court. Today 476-million-strong Indigenous peoples look after 80 percent of our world’s biodiversity. So I joined the Tenure Facility five years ago. Based in Stockholm, we finance mapping and legal defense of collective land rights, so communities globally can protect themselves, protect forests and protect nature. This is how we do it. We work with credible communities who are forest guardians positioned to protect large tracts of tropical rainforest in the Amazon and Central America, Congo Basin and tropical Asia. And in these countries, laws and policies already exist to recognize rights, but they're not implemented. Because communities and their partners in government lack support, funding and capacity to turn this promise to reality. For example, in Panama, we assisted the Federation of Indigenous Peoples COONAPIP and their ally in government, and now they've recognized 200,000 hectares of their Indigenous lands, and today they protect a million hectares of Indigenous people’s lands and forests, and they monitor it. In Liberia, we worked with 24 customary communities and their allies in government and women land rights groups. And they now recognize and protect 600,000 hectares of their customary land and forests. In Indonesia, we assisted the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, and farmers and women, and they together recognized and registered 1.2 million hectares of their ancestral land claims and forests. And together they buffer large tracts of forest in Indonesia.
Protecting rights to manage lands and forests is not only protecting biodiversity, it is also a climate change solution. And it is a very powerful leverage to our world's climate mitigation work. And it is supporting the visions of intergenerational stewardship of Indigenous peoples. We have shown it's possible.
Today, since 2017, Indigenous peoples, our partners, have advanced recognition of their land rights and forests to up to 14 million hectares, benefitting seven million people in 12 countries. And with TED’s Audacious support, we can leverage this momentum and expand, secure and protect up to 50 million hectares of land and forests. And reach --
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reach 50 million forest guardians in the next five years. What we've learned is that when in the midst of environmental destruction, conflict and criminalization, land tenure serves as a bridge. It is an important link that generates this possibility of opening minds and hearts for unusual parties, Indigenous peoples, governments, private sector, to come together to find a common solution for a sustainable planet. Already with secure tenure, we see conflicts resolved, less deforestation. And most importantly, women. Women have increased support for their role as forest guardians, as holders of traditional knowledge and as decision makers for land use, keepers of traditional knowledge. And our youth, Indigenous youth are coming home.
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My journey with Indigenous peoples has taught me deep humility and respect. Knowing the dangers of protecting forests they persist, they put their own families, their culture, their own lives on the line in order to secure our world's chance, your chance, my chance, for a livable future.
No one should have to die protecting forests. We all have a choice, all of us, to stand as allies, to protect the protectors of our future, to restore balance, to survive the climate crisis. Let us work with the people who know how.
Thank you.
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