A growing number of decisions of regional tribunals have begun to recognize communal property rights of Indigenous peoples and tribal communities over their territories despite the lack of legal title. The winds of change began to blow with the 2001 decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Mayagna(Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua (Inter-Am. C.H.R., No. 79, Ser. C (2001)), in which the Court recognized the collective resource rights of the Awas Tingini Indigenous peoples and ruled against the State of Nicaragua. The Awas Tingni decision was the first ever legally binding decision of an international tribunal to secure the collective and resource rights of Indigenous peoples when the state failed to do so.

The communal right of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands was extended to tribal communities in the 2005 decision of the Inter-American Court in the case of Moiwana Village v. Suriname (Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 124 (15 June 2005)). The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court in the Awas Tingni and the Moiwana cases reached its full maturity in the 2007 decision of the Court in the case of Saramaka People v. Suriname (Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 172). In the Saramaka People case, the Court went to the extent of recognizing not just the communal property rights of the Saramaka people to their ancestral lands, but also their rights over the resources on their land that are relevant to their cultural and material survival as a people. The Court emphasized the right of the Saramakas to refuse any activities on their lands that would affect their use and enjoyment of resources relevant to their peoplehood. With its decision in the Saramaka case, the Inter-American Court paved the way for Indigenous peoples and tribal communities to prevent mining, logging, or other activities on their lands if those activities would affect the use and enjoyment of resources on their territories that are relevant to their cultural and material survival.

The progressive jurisprudence heralded by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights has begun to make its impact in Africa, as evidenced by the 2010 decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in its decision in the case of the Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya. In this case, the African Commission authoritatively interpreted the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to recognize the communal land tenure of African Indigenous peoples along with their rights over the resources on and within their lands. The African Commission emphasized the rights of Indigenous and tribal communities to freely practice their culture and religion, which would only be possible if their rights to their ancestral lands and waters were untrammeled.

The decisions of both the Inter-American and African regional tribunals/commissions indicate the growing recognition of biocultural rights of Indigenous peoples and tribal communities in international jurisprudence. In addition to the aforementioned case law, international and domestic courts are increasingly leaning towards the recognition of the stewardship rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities to their territories as a way to uphold fundamental human rights in the pursuit of environmental sustainability.