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“Land is at the core of everyone’s being, particularly to the indigenous peoples. It is their means of livelihood, their homes, their hearts, their bonds with the spirit of their ancestors, their Ancestral Domain.”
In the Philippines, while a number of land laws are being implemented, several gaps need to be addressed to improve the situation of their intended beneficiaries. Problems of food insecurity and high prevalence of poverty still remain – which will not be resolved unless issues of access to land, security of tenure, and the capacity to use land productively and in a sustainable manner are addressed.
The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), as facilitated by UN-Habitat, is implementing “Secure Access to Land and Resources (SALaR)” Project through the support of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with the overall goal of improving land and natural resources tenure security of rural smallholder farmers in Uganda, the Philippines, and Laos.
In the Philippines, the project on “Improving Tenure Security of Smallholder Farmers in Select Areas in the Philippines” is being implemented by the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) in partnership with Xavier Science Foundation, Inc. (XSF) which aims to contribute to the goal of SALaR Project by increasing the tenurial security of 2,500 IP households in two municipalities in Bukidnon.
In this video, achievements of the Project are presented. It also features the testimonies of partner indigenous peoples on the experiences and learnings they gained through the Project; and largely, how their communities were strengthened in upholding and claiming their land and tenure rights.