Various government initiatives aim to realise water security and conservation for sustainable development and equity. The Government of India’s Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), for example, in line with the global ‘Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): 6’, is targeting the water security of individuals in the last mile of service delivery.

The India Discrimination Report 2022 focuses on differential access to labour market (absorption and wages),factor market (access to credit) and endowment market (access to hospitalisation) for different socio-religious and gender groups.

Deforestation rates are significantly lower in Indigenous and Tribal territories where governments have formally recognized collective land rights, according to a new report.

Tenurial rights are critical for the Indigenous and forest-dwelling communities, and especially tribal groups of India. The discourse around the ownership, governance and management of forests in India underwent a significant change with the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Indian laws – the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 along with the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR), 2013 – make it mandatory for government bodies and the promoters of projects to obtain the consent of Indigenous people and other communi

This report is informed by the imperative to prevent the collapse of biodiversity while respecting the tenure and human rights of Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities (LCs), and Afrodescendants (ADs).

This brief discusses legislative developments during COVID-19 in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines that undermine sustainable human-environment interactions and IPs’ and LCs’ broader enjoyment of their rights over their customary territories.

With at least 6 million cases, India is currently among the world’s top three countries affected by COVID-19. The country’s forest-dwelling and Adivasi communities – already vulnerable and marginalized – have also suffered the pandemic’s economic ravages, facing extensive food insecurity and loss of livelihoods.