Sustainability Language

Human Rights & Social Sustainability

Customary law

Community-derived systems of rules governing land, resources and conduct, recognised in international indigenous-rights instruments alongside statutory law.

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Definition

Customary law is the body of norms and practices generated and enforced by communities themselves — particularly indigenous peoples and local communities — governing land tenure, resource use and social relations, in contrast to statutory law enacted by states. International instruments including ILO Convention 169 (1989) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) require states to respect customary laws and the land and resource rights flowing from them.

References

Overview

What it means

For many rural and indigenous communities, customary systems — not state titles — define who may use land, forests and water, and how.

How it is used

Conservation, commodity certification and land-investment due diligence must reconcile statutory concessions with customary claims; failure to do so drives land conflict and FPIC violations.

Why it matters

Recognising customary law is foundational to securing community land rights, equitable conservation and legitimate natural-resource governance.

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