RRI’s 20th Anniversary convening in Kathmandu, Nepal, brought together more than 240 rightsholders, allies, founders, and decision-makers from over 40 countries. Organized in partnership with seven local partners (Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal; Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities; Green Foundation Nepal; Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Research and Development; Nepal Indigenous Women’s Federation; Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group; Women Rights and Resource Network), the four-day program combined high-level panels, thematic discussions, and coalition strategy sessions.
A performer is captured on
camera during the opening
ceremony of RRI’s 20th
anniversary celebration in
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Photo: Sandesh Chaudbury
RRI, 2025
The convening celebrated past achievements while co-creating a shared vision for the future of territorial rights. Participants called for stronger localization, greater focus on communities’ livelihoods and economies, locally led research, and community-based conservation while promoting North-South-South collaboration. The coalition reaffirmed its commitment to youth and women’s leadership and agreed to expand its membership by welcoming new partners and elders, particularly addressing the lack of youth, pastoralist organizations, and Afro-descendent representatives in its governance.
This mandate to expand membership was a key outcome of the event, realized in the historic changes introduced to the coalition’s structure and governance that added Afro-descendant and youth representation to RRI’s Board of Directors for the first time, as well as members of Tribal and First Nations from North America.
“RRI’s Collective Action Award shows us that when communities work together, incredible things can happen.”
During the celebration in Kathmandu, RRI honored three communities with its inaugural Collective Action Award, selected from over 190 nominations and a long-list of 18 finalists.
Click on each community’s name to watch a short video about its work.
– Kenya: The Nashulai Maasai Conservancy
– Indonesia: The Aru Islands Movement
– Brazil: The Jupago Kreka Collective
RRI recognized these communities for their achievements in territorial rights and cultural revival. This award underscores that lasting change is driven by collective action, sustained mobilization, and intergenerational leadership.
RRI’s first Collective Action
Award winners pose for a
photo with board members.
Photo: Sandesh Chaudhary
RRI, 2025
RRI’s 20th anniversary also elevated grassroots visibility through international media coverage and acted as the world premiere of a documentary celebrating 20 years of collective action, reinforcing RRI’s identity as a global solidarity network grounded in community leadership.
In 2025, RRI also continued its longstanding support for the Afro-descendant Peoples’ coalition in Latin America and the Caribbean. The coalition formally adopted a new name: the International Coalition of Territories and Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean (CITAFRO).
CITAFRO’s launch follows years of regional integration, the strategic positioning of ADPs’ priorities, and evidence-based advocacy with RRI’s support to increase ADPs’ representation in key international decision-making spaces. In April, CITAFRO and RRI launched the Brasília Declaration, highlighting the economic, political, and socio-environmental contributions of ADP communities while also addressing the severe impacts of the climate crisis on their territories.
At COP30, CITAFRO and RRI launched the Afro-descendant Atlas of Maritorios of the Greater Caribbean to demonstrate the interaction of ADPs with maritime and coastal ecosystems that are vital to the global conservation agenda and which are at risk from climate change. Also at COP30, CITAFRO’s strategic advocacy contributed to the adoption of language referring to People of African Descent in the UNFCCC’s official documents, a historic first in 30 years. This language recognizes ADPs as a group disproportionately affected by climate change and as key contributors to its mitigation.
