NAT.C03.EA Land Rights Commitment
About the data
This metric was designed by The World Benchmarking Alliance, more information can be found here. Sources and Alignments for each indicator can be found here as well as the scoring guidelines here
The World Benchmarking Alliance's Nature Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to protect our environment and its biodiversity.
This metric relates to the Indicator: The company respects the rights of legitimate tenure holders when acquiring, leasing or using land, paying particular attention to vulnerable tenure rights holders.
Rationale: When companies seek to acquire or lease land for their business activities, this can lead to relocation and loss of shelter or livelihoods for communities or individual households (IFC, 2012b). In countries where national governance and land administration are weak, local and indigenous communities are more exposed to rights violations and displacement (WRI, 2017).
Methodology
WBA analysed all publicly available group-level disclosure in English on the applicable group website, which was predominantly annual reports and sustainability reports. Draft assessments were then sent to each company inviting them to provide feedback. This feedback could include additional publicly available group disclosure published. These were then reviewed and finalised. Final assessments were then shared with each company before being published online.
For this metric where companies do not explicitly mention the VGGT, examples can include:
• Conducting due diligence around land rights during new business ventures.
• Stating that the company actively ensures that it does not infringe upon the existing legitimate land and forest tenure rights of communities present in the area during negotiations.
• Conducting FPIC
This is not the same as a commitment to Indigenous land rights. Rather, this indicator is relevant for every population or community, including urban communities. It is not sufficient to follow local applicable laws around land rights, as many countries have insufficient systems in place to secure land tenure rights.