Conference Agenda

In an effort to redress historical dispossession and support Indigenous self-determination, multiple countries have adopted policies that return land back to Indigenous peoples. Such land restitution programs are partially motivated by a hope that restitution will enable Indigenous communities to determine land use in ways that will also generate public environmental benefits. However, little is known about how Indigenous communities change land use after land is returned to their stewardship. Here we study the land use impacts of a Chilean restitution program that, between 1994 and 2023, returned more than 200,000 hectares of land to Mapuche communities. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find that land restitution led to more grasslands, a traditional Mapuche use of land, and fewer non-native forest plantations, a use of land that Mapuche have frequently protested against. However, restitution did not change the extent of natural forests. Given this reconfiguration in land use, restitution has led to insignificant changes in carbon sequestration or biodiversity. Our results complicate common narratives that Indigenous land reform will always yield improvements in environmental outcomes. Careful consideration of the local cultural context and the legacies of dispossession can help set appropriate expectations for the environmental co-benefits of these reforms.