Indigenous land restitution empowers communities, but environmental gains require extra support

AI Summary

Indigenous land restitution programs aim to empower disadvantaged communities by returning land management to traditional stewards. While these programs often promise environmental benefits, current research indicates additional support is necessary to realize such gains.

Charting a better future will require redressing the problems of the past. That's one reason many countries have begun to return dispossessed land to Indigenous peoples. The goal of Indigenous land restitution is to empower disadvantaged communities and entrust land management back to the region's traditional stewards. In many cases, these programs also carry expectations of broad environmental benefits. However, there's been relatively little research testing this assumption.