GLA Leads Analysis of Laws Affecting Indigenous and Local Communities’ Rights and Access to Freshwater in a set of Focus Countries

Our relationship to land and water is vital to the quality of life one can lead. This past spring, Global Land Alliance and The Nature Conservancy began a partnership to complete an analysis of legal access to freshwater rights and resources in Colombia and Ecuador, as well as prepared and scoped for a full analysis to take place in early 2020 in Gabon, Angola and Brazil. The analysis sought to advance understanding of who has rights to access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, alienation, and due process with regards to freshwater resources, and whether those rights have both substance (i.e., the right exists) and assurance (i.e., is consistently applied and enforced). Not only is this access important because it is a vital component of life and social and economic inclusion, but also local and Indigenous communities steward these resources in a way that promotes biodiversity and sustainable management of waterways. Each country profiled brought together a team comprised of GLA project management, Global Land Alliance’s legal land experts, GLA partner specialists in parallel with local NGOs and partners, The Nature Conservancy’s Global Freshwater team, and local TNC country teams. We look forward to working with these teams to complete a full analysis of the remaining countries early next year.