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Date and Time: January 28th from 3:00-4:30 PM CET (9:00-10:30 ET)
Date and Time: January 28th from 3:00-4:30 PM CET (9:00-10:30 ET)
Thursday, February 18, 2021, 10:00-11:30 AM ET (4:00-5:30 PM CET)
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China is now the world’s second largest economy and has seen over the last years the adaptation of a centrally planned economy to allow for private enterprise and capital. This shift is mirrored in its formal land tenure, repesented by a dual system with state-owned land in urban areas, and farmer collective-owned land in rural areas.
Land is an essential source of livelihood for a majority of Sierra Leoneans. Most of Sierra Leone’s population lives in rural areas and it’s GDP is largely based on agriculture. The three main livelihood activities surveyed in the 2015 population and housing census are crop farming, animal husbandry and fishery, which depend largely on access to and ownership of land. Smallholders mostly cultivate rice, cassava, cocoa, coffee, cashew, groundnut, palm oil, vegetables and other fruit trees.
With secure land tenure, Indigenous Peoples and local communities can realize human rights, achieve economic growth, protect the environment, and maintain cultural integrity. For centuries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) have used, managed and depended on collectively-held land for food supplies, cultural and spiritual traditions, and other livelihood needs. Historically governed through customary tenure systems rooted in community norms and practices that often go back centuries, governments often consider such community land as vacant, idle, or state-owned property. Statutory recognition and protection of indigenous and community land rights continues to be a major challenge.
Learn more about challenges concerning Indigenous & Community Land Rights.
Producing food for the world’s growing rural and urban populations starts with agricultural land. Reducing current high levels of hunger and malnutrition, as called for by the Sustainable Development Goals, will depend on land use decisions and governance from the global to the local level. Although about 40 percent of the world’s land is used for crop production and pasture, today some 800 million people remain food insecure and as many as 2 billion are malnourished. Achieving food security requires physical, social, and economic access to safe and nutritious food.
Learn more about common challenges concerning Land & Food Security.