Baku: Entire communities benefit when indigenous women own land documents, said Marina Munoz, a representative of the Urban Housing Practitioners Hub platform. She made this remark during a session titled 'Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Adequate Housing for All Indigenous Peoples in Their Diversity', as reported by APA-Economics.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, Munoz highlighted that forced displacement results in more than just the loss of a home. It leads to the loss of governance structures, intergenerational knowledge, and the connection people have to their living places.

Munoz shared experiences from Latin American countries, demonstrating that when women hold land and housing documents and lead construction and land management processes, the entire community reaps the benefits. She pointed out that indigenous women play a crucial role as bearers of traditional knowledge, particularly in bioclimatic design, local construction materials, and water resource management.

Munoz further noted that indigenous peoples should not be seen as recipients of aid but as communities fostering innovation. The most sustainable housing solutions, adapted to climate change and respecting cultural characteristics, have been developed by communities that have inhabited their territories for centuries.

"The problem is not the lack of innovation," Munoz added. "The problem is that institutions are not sufficiently structured to recognize, finance, and scale these innovations."