Nonette Royo: 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 of agriculture and land care. Tenure for many people — I think two thirds of the world’s land area and one third of the forest — is occupied by communities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, local communities that are very much dependent on land and are also doing a lot of work, committing to the sustainability of that land.

Mike DiGirolamo: Welcome to the Mongabay Newscast. I’m your co-host, Mike DiGirolamo, bringing you weekly conversations with experts, authors, scientists, and activists working on the front lines of conservation, shining a light on some of the most pressing issues facing our planet, and holding people in power to account. This podcast is edited on Gadigal land.

Today on the newscast we speak with Nonette Royo, a lawyer from the Philippines and the executive director of the Tenure Facility, an independent organization that helps secure land rights for Indigenous and local communities and Afro-descendant and Quilombo communities. What started as a relatively small operation in 2017 with $1 million has today grown to $150 million in funding, dispersing nearly $30 million in 2024 to help secure land rights for communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Royo talks with me about why using the legal system to secure land rights is a critical tool for both human rights and the protection of nature — and the results arguably speak for themselves. The Tenure Facility aims to achieve land rights and governance for 60 million hectares of forested land by 2027. Today, they are at roughly half that goal and in the process of securing rights for 34 million hectares of land. For these remarkable achievements, Royo and her team at the Tenure Facility were finalists in the 2025 Earthshot Prize.

In this conversation, Royo details how her organization works, the difference between individual land rights and customary land rights, the role technology has played in helping map territories and resolve disputes, and why ground-truthing information through community-led processes is vital to all of this work and cannot be replicated through government intervention.

Additionally, Royo shares her thoughts on the Tropical Forest Forever facility — not an organization but a finance mechanism, essentially an investment fund to help fund forest protection in Global South nations. If it works, it could deliver $4 billion a year, with 20% allocated to Indigenous peoples and local communities.

While the Tenure Facility ultimately did not take home an Earthshot Prize, Royo and her team have demonstrated a promising solution in the fight for nature, one that integrates human rights at impressive speed and scale.

Nonette Royo, welcome to the Mongabay Newscast. It’s a pleasure to have you with us.

Nonette: Likewise, I’m very pleased to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Mike: And I just wanted to say congratulations on being a finalist for the Earthshot Prize. That’s a remarkable achievement, and it’s for what you are part of — the Tenure Facility. You’ve described the Tenure Facility as a team of barefoot lawyers who help Indigenous and local communities secure land rights to protect their cultures and critical natural ecosystems. Can you briefly describe why this work is so important?

Nonette: Yes, thank you. This work is 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 of agriculture and land care.

For many people — I think two thirds of the world’s land area and one third of the forests — are occupied by communities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, local communities that are very much dependent on land and are also doing a lot of work committing to the sustainability of that land because that’s part of their culture and part of their way of living.

So “barefoot lawyers” is a symbolic way of simplifying the work of land tenure. For us, we’re working in 20 countries now, around 44 Indigenous peoples’ organizations, local community organizations, and Afro-descendant organizations who are themselves doing the work of barefoot lawyering — connecting themselves to measuring boundaries of territory and governing these territories to keep out outsiders who are destroying or threatening the landscape, the land, and their culture at a speed that defeats our intention to survive, to cope with climate and biodiversity issues that we’re facing.

Mike: A lot of people may be concerned about the fact that you are using the Western legal system to secure land rights. Can you explain why the legal system is so crucial to make this happen?

Nonette: The legal system is the language by which all of us can communicate in resolving unclear legal questions such as: who owns the land? The legal system, as I know it in my practice, covers both the formal and the customary.

The formal legal system is predominantly individual — individualistic — where there are land titles to individuals. But after years of work, there is also a formal legal system that looks at the collective — the community tenure. And there is a customary system recognized in some legal systems that governs Indigenous peoples’ ways of relating with land as a community, collectively.

So both systems are being maximized in this work of securing land tenure.

Mike: You’ve mentioned that you work with Indigenous, local, and Afro-descendant communities in 20 countries. Our listeners are familiar with local and Indigenous communities, but can you describe what Afro-descendant and Quilombo communities are?

Nonette: Yes. Afro-descendant communities — in general — are descendants of earlier communities that were enslaved and brought into the Americas. A large part of the communities that had been deep in the forest escaped and survived in these places and protected themselves from continued enslavement. They adapted their lives to protecting land and each other. But they had largely remained invisible to the legal system until recently.

Mike: And what kind of natural areas are their lands located on?

Nonette: They are in several areas — several biomes: forests, savannas, the in-betweens, and also coastal areas and islands. The Quilombos especially have stayed together and adapted both their culture and practices to the land, especially here in the Americas — Brazil, Colombia, Suriname — in ways that society has shaped around them. They have become strong voices in their societies. But what still needs to be done is registering their collective ownership or claims over the land they have occupied for generations.

Mike: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered in advancing land rights?

Nonette: There are many, but none are insurmountable. Some of the challenges include racial bias — something not new to the communities dealing with this work. These are actually the source of the strong reason for organizing and strengthening rights: because they are discriminated against. That is transforming into an advantage, because it is now a movement.

Laws have been passed. Here in Brazil, where we are now, there is a Ministry for Racial Equality that has become vocal and proactive, not only outlining a legal process for recognition but doing that recognition themselves. Times have changed and opportunities have opened. In Colombia, the vice president is an Afro-descendant — she has been a strong voice even before her vice presidency.

Mike: And what have been some of the biggest successes?

Nonette: There are many. We can describe them as legal, formal, and social successes — meaning the strengthening of communities coming together and organizing.

The legal-formal is the most measurable. We have stages by which we look at land tenure over time: getting to know the community, building alliances that come forward to work with government on laws, regulations, or court decisions. The strong alliance between community and government is important because policy recognizes rights.

A second measure is going into territory and remembering actions taken there — including treaties and boundary agreements — writing those down, using drawings, satellite imagery, and advanced technology. When this is verified, government is invited in. It educates the government and gives them confidence to resolve conflicts because now they know who to talk to.

At the same time, it allows government to confidently enter into third-party agreements — for example, with companies or concessionaires — through processes like Free, Prior and Informed Consent with the community.

We measure this in hectares and number of communities. But the real stories include women leading on food and medicine, replanting medicinal seeds, and bio-economy practices that were disaggregated before but are now organized.

That’s how we measure success, and we tell these stories through media and reports.

Mike: You’ve previously spoken about mapping technology and how it’s changed the game. How is the current mapping technology helping secure land rights?

Nonette: The most important part of land-rights registration is not just the map, it’s the process behind it.

Technology includes satellite images and drones that can map territory quickly. Before, it took months — walking boundaries, crossing rivers and wetlands, dealing with snakes or wildlife, climbing trees to place GPS markers. Now the technology is advanced.

But the most important part is that the community agrees on the boundaries — what goes on the map, what doesn’t. They discuss watersheds, what has changed, what needs reforesting. They recognize the urgency of collective action. These territories can be huge — up to 500,000 hectares — requiring many meetings between communities.

Totems appear on maps, signaling cultural protocols: where you cannot go, what is sacred, where only certain trees can be planted, where access is restricted depending on seasons or ceremonies. These are not just cultural practices — they relate to ecological conditions.

Mike: You’ve said trust-based community-led social mapping can’t be done by governments. Why?

Nonette: Drones can produce maps, but if they are not ground-truthed, they have no legitimacy. Communities hesitate to sign them, conflicts appear immediately.

We invest in the social process — involving different community members, councils, governance structures — to ensure legitimacy. Government cannot easily do this because they are not present all the time. They need to go home quickly. They carry authority, and communities often feel they are being told what to do.

There is also a history of government imposing things that harmed communities. So when we go into interior areas, government officials prefer going with us rather than alone. They get more results and are less hesitant. They don’t want to be seen as an authority that no one talks to.

Mike: So it sounds like you’ve become a really crucial step in the process for communities. And in 2021, when you spoke with our founder and CEO, you mentioned that at that time the Tenure Facility had helped secure land rights for an area of forest larger than the size of Greece — about 14 million hectares. That was four years ago. So where do you stand today?

Nonette: Today we are advancing in the processes I’m describing — advancing mapping and verification up to 34 million hectares — and the formalized ones, where land is officially signed by governments, are around 18 million hectares. That does not yet count the results from this year; we are gathering those now. It’s large — in Brazil alone it’s 5 million hectares. That’s the size… what did I say? The size of France, yes.

So we have the coordinates. We can’t present these figures if we don’t know them exactly from partners. They send these yearly, and it’s amazing — the ability of communities to reach this level of consensus when the resources are in place.

Mike: Hello listeners. Thanks for tuning in. Once again we are asking for your feedback on our podcast conversations. If you haven’t already had a chance to weigh in, you can fill out the brief survey linked in the show notes. Please note that if you’ve listened to us on the Mongabay Newscast app, that service will unfortunately no longer be supported, and we recommend subscribing to us on a podcast platform of your choosing. Thanks very much, and back to the conversation with Nonette Royo.

One place I’m particularly interested in is the DRC — the Democratic Republic of Congo. As your website notes, it’s a country of extreme poverty but rich in natural wealth, and it’s home to the world’s second-largest rainforest. It’s vital from both human rights and conservation perspectives. Can you describe the work you’re doing in the DRC?

Nonette: There are three important elements in our work in the DRC.

One: the opportunity to ride the policy that the government opened — community forest concessions (CFCLs). These are 50,000-hectare areas that a community can own and manage indefinitely for conservation or stable forest management. That policy opening is a major pillar.

Two: there is a consensus in society that this is the way to secure tenure. In addition, there are relationships through which we, as the Tenure Facility, can channel funding to strengthen base organizations that accompany communities for long periods — mapping the area, preparing land-use plans. There are enough Indigenous organizations and civil society groups that communities trust and can partner with to implement mapping across large regions — simultaneously, not sequentially.

Three: the ability of team members and partner NGOs to strengthen not just technical capacity but also financial capacity. The implementing organizations must manage the system of receiving money and sending it to remote places safely. We do not do the work — they do. They must manage funds responsibly, even in areas where banking or phone systems are limited. Figuring out a secure system is essential.

These three pillars allow us to operate deeply in remote areas where communities receive resources and feel strong ownership — leading the work alongside trusted NGOs and support organizations.

Mike: In 2017, with the help of the Ford Foundation, you secured an initial $100 million fund to invest over 10 years at $10 million a year. We’re about two years short of that timeframe. What is the Tenure Facility’s current funding situation? Have you secured additional support?

Nonette: The story of the $100 million was aspirational at the beginning. In reality, I had $1 million in the bank account and needed to raise $10 million a year. It was the opposite of having $100 million upfront.

But what happened was that both Sida (the Swedish development agency) and Norad (the Norwegian development agency) pledged to support us as long as we set up consistent systems. Because of that vote of confidence, we received major philanthropic investments.

Then through the TED Audacious Project — which is not a competition but a recognition — we presented our work to major donors and received $80 million. After that, more funders joined, bringing us to $150 million and allowing us to scale operations from 2021–2025. Because of this, the Amazon region has received major commitments, including the U.K. government’s Amazon Catalyst Fund.

The Tenure Facility now has a yearly budget of around $40 million to meet our commitments — at least $1 million a year for five years to each partner we sign agreements with.

Mike: Congratulations. That’s incredibly inspiring. You previously said you aimed to restore legal protection to at least 60 million hectares by 2027, and you’ve mentioned you’re around 34 million now. What happens after you reach 60 million?

Nonette: We are halfway through and confident we can meet the 60 million. Even in early 2021, we were already thinking about how to support Indigenous organizations in creating long-term land-use and life plans — 30-year plans.

When these plans are in place, it’s no longer linear. The next step is preparing them to work with third parties — governments and others — so they can protect, plan, implement, and access financing for the future.

One of my strongest aspirations since 2021 has been accreditation with the Green Climate Fund so that Indigenous-led proposals can access climate financing directly. We have just received accreditation. I am lining up at least six Indigenous-led proposals to the GCF for next year.

Mike: That sounds exciting. Over the past year, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) has gained significant media attention. What are your thoughts? Do you see it as a reliable way to fund tropical forest conservation and community rights?

Nonette: I do. I don’t fully know the upstream mechanics — how the money will be generated and how the 20% will be allocated. But on the downstream side, I am very confident we can prepare Indigenous organizations so they can receive the money when it becomes available.

It is a fund that enables forests to remain standing, with 20% going directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities. Our shared challenge is to make it less bureaucratic and more reflective of Indigenous ways of receiving and giving back resources.

The Western language of accountability is important, but it is not the only language. Indigenous peoples have always protected forests; forests stand today because of them. This fund should reward that stewardship and enable communities to thrive.

Mike: And Nonette, you’re joining me from Brazil — you’re in Belém. Why did you go to COP30, and what has emerged there related to your work?

Nonette: My main purpose here was to support the call for renewing the forest tenure pledge — to show partners’ results over the last five years and the funding gap that remains.

Because of a generous gift from a foundation, we were able to join the pledge and commit $50 million over the next five years. This is something we confirmed with our donor, because this is exactly what we do — recognizing the value of land tenure.

We now have 160 land-tenure pledges from governments, which is amazing. It’s a surprise — a positive one. The capacity and confidence among partners are high. Our challenge now is providing a pathway for implementation.

Mike: It’s been a pleasure speaking with you. Where can people go to learn more about the Tenure Facility?

Nonette: Our website. The annual report section is the most complete and robust — the annexes include the stories of every community we’ve supported. Some country stories are written elsewhere on the website. We’re not yet producing long-term analytical reports, but we are getting there. We also have a deck showing our progress.

Mike: Nonette Royo, thank you so much for speaking with me today, and safe travels.

Nonette: Thank you very much, and thank you for this opportunity.

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