Most of the remaining large wilderness areas in Latin America and the Caribbean have unclear or weak property rights. Insecure rights for land ownership are among the most critical factors associated with deforestation and forest degradation.

The IDB supports programs and policies to clarify tenure status of forested lands, including the creation, demarcation and establishment of protected areas, forest concessions for sustainable forest management, and indigenous and traditional communities to avert open access to unprotected forests.

These programs are generally coupled with additional investments to improve land administration, forest resources management, and technologies to improve land-use change monitoring.