Indigenous land rights

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Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenous peoples for a range of reasons, including: the religious significance of the land, self-determination, identity, and economic factors.^[1] Land is a major economic asset, and in some Indigenous societies, using natural resources of land and sea form (or could form) the basis of their household economy, so the demand for ownership derives from the need to ensure their access to these resources. Land can also be an important instrument of inheritance or a symbol of social status. In many Indigenous societies, such as among the many Aboriginal Australian peoples, the land is an essential part of their spirituality and belief systems.

Indigenous land claims have been addressed with varying degrees of success on the national and international level since the very beginning of colonization. Such claims may be based upon the principles of international law, treaties, common law, or domestic constitutions or legislation. Aboriginal title (also known as Indigenous title, native title and other terms) is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007, illustrates the importance of land for Indigenous peoples and offers benchmark standards on the land rights of indigenous people. Statutory recognition and protection of Indigenous and community land rights continues to be a major challenge, with the gap between formally recognised and customarily held and managed land is a significant source of underdevelopment, conflict, and environmental degradation.^[2]