indigenous communities to use their ancestral lands for agriculture and hunting in order to block an environmentally harmful project. 153. For its part, the Inter-American Commission interpreted the right to life to protect communities threatened by environmental degradation. In the case of the Yarzomnni Indigenous People of Brazil, the Commission on 5 March 1985 considered the connection between the destruction of the environment and natural resources and the right to life, in response to a Communication submitted by Yanomani indigenous people of Brazil. 154. In this regard, the Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities recognised that some African minorities arc facing dispossession of their lands and that special measures are needed to ensure their survival, in accordance with their traditions and customs.*6 155. In view of the foregoing, the African Commission draws the following conclusions: a. the traditional possession of their land by indigenous people has effects equivalent to those of a title granted by the State; b. traditional possession implies that indigenous people have the right to demand official recognition and registration of title deed; C. indigenous community members who have involuntarily left their ancestral land, or who have lost possession of it, retain the right to possession and ownership, even if they do not have legal title, unless the land has been legally transferred to bona fide third parties; and d. Members of an indigenous community who have involuntarily lost possession of their land, where such land has been lawfully transferred to bona fide third parties, are entitled to restitution of the land in question or to obtain other land of equal size and quality. 156. However, total or partial expropriation is not in itself a violation of Article 14 of the Charter as long as it is done in accordance with the law. Indeed, Article 14 of the African Charter provides for a double condition should such expropriation be unavoidable: it must be done "in the interest ofpuhlic need or in the general interest of the commzmih/" and "in nccorrfmzcv with the provisions of appropriate laws". 46 See the Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities, ado9i,1 f1§75(rican Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at its 28" Ordinary Session, p. 26 and 2'l..;.°"<,<~21*'"' \ .f ac l . 1. *L 31