Indigenous and local communities regain millions of hectares of land via successful legal effort

Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of "barefoot lawyers" working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering 34 million hectares (84 million acres) across 35 projects, an area larger than Greece.

Royo joins Mongabay's podcast to discuss the organization's success, its recognition as a finalist for the 2025 Earthshot Prize, and why land rights are so crucial both for cultural survival and slowing the pace of global ecological degradation.

"This work is really about land tenure, and about land and people. And it is very important because at this point in our world, where we are breaching planetary boundaries, we are still hesitating to invest in the people who protect our land, our forests and our diverse systems," she says.

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Mike DiGirolamo is a host & associate producer for Mongabay based in Sydney. He co-hosts and edits the Mongabay Newscast. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Banner Image: Women of Masaka embark on cassava cultivation. The plantation areas are located in the heart of the community of Mabaka in the Kwango region. Image by Ley Uwera. Courtesy of The Tenure Facility.

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Timecodes

(00:00) The 'barefoot lawyers' helping secure land rights

(06:28) How the legal system can protect nature and rights

(10:29) Challenges and successes

(15:36) Better mapping tech is helping

(27:16) Goals and progress of the Tenure Facility