Youth, Land, and Climate Justice: Turning Data Into Power

Despite the fact that land supports the world’s food systems and community well-being, land continues to be unequally distributed, poorly governed, and insecure for billions of people. While 50-65 percent of the world’s land is occupied and used by Indigenous Peoples and communities, only an estimated 10 percent of the world’s land is legally recognized as belonging to them, with another 8 percent designated by governments for them. This leaves Indigenous communities and the youth within them in particular, vulnerable to dispossession. Meanwhile, climate change accelerates land degradation, fuels resource conflicts, and displaces millions. 

Young people are not passive observers of these impacts. In many (if not most) communities, they are already living with the realities of climate disruption. But what sets this generation apart is their digital presence, and many of them are using this presence to shape conversations around social justice and to challenge injustice at large. 

More specifically, young land rights defenders and environmental activists are harnessing the power of data to map, document, and protect their territories. Unlike generations of the past, they are equipped with participatory mapping tools like OpenStreetMap and Cadasta. Youth, especially in Indigenous and rural communities, are using these to digitally record customary land claims that have long been overlooked by formal land governance systems. These tools not only empower youth to collect spatial data, but also to engage directly with their communities, document local knowledge, identify key landmarks, and create maps that reflect real-life land use and lived experiences. Through technology, storytelling, and grassroots action, youth are not just mapping land, they're also reshaping how it’s understood, governed, and protected.

In Kenya, for example, youth from Nairobi’s Mathare slum created "Map Mathare," the first open data map of their community. Using GIS technology, they documented the layout of informal settlements, providing critical data that has supported urban planning, service delivery, and community-led advocacy. Meanwhile in Guyana, Wapichan youth combined satellite imagery with Indigenous knowledge to map their ancestral lands. These participatory maps played a vital role in their successful efforts to secure land titles and advocate for rainforest conservation.

Data is also becoming a powerful tool for accountability in land governance. Youth-led organizations are playing a key role by analyzing public land records, uncovering irregularities in land transactions, and pushing for greater transparency in land administration systems. In Nepal, the Community Self-Reliance Centre partnered with local youth to map land claims in Dangisaran Municipality, revealing that over half of the households lacked legal land titles. Through community-driven mapping and data collection, CSRC supported more than 2,700 families in formalizing their land rights, collaborating closely with municipal authorities to ensure transparency and accountability in land documentation processes.

In a world where decisions about land and climate are often made in rooms far removed from the communities affected, young people are using the technology available to them to bridge the gap between community realities and policy. And yet, despite this momentum, youth remain underrepresented in land governance and climate negotiations. Less than 2% of global climate finance reaches youth-led initiatives. Indigenous youth, in particular, are sidelined even though their communities steward the majority of the world’s biodiversity. 

This is why the hosts have decided to organize the 2025 Land & Youth Digital Conference. 

This event will serve as a practical space for young people working at the intersection of land rights and climate action to connect and learn, in the leadup to large events like the upcoming COP30 in Belem, Brazil. With participants ranging from Indigenous surveyors and data advocates to local organizers and researchers, the conference aims to break silos and foster collaboration in the leadup to the UN climate negotiations at COP30 in Brazil.​

If the global community is serious about land and climate justice, it must create spaces where young people are equipped to lead and contribute to policy in informed, tangible ways. This conference is one step in that direction and we hope you will join us.

Event description based directly on original source.