By Myrna Kay Cunningham Kain

By Sarah Logan and Mallory Baxter

African cities are rapidly expanding as the number of urban residents rises due to rural-urban migration and population growth. Ad hoc urban expansion contributes to an increase in unplanned settlements, urban poverty and inequality, and constraints on new residents, who are attempting to secure access to adequate housing, property rights, employment, and basic services.

By Justin Adams, Global Managing Director for Lands at The Nature Conservancy.

Edward Loure and The Nature Conservancy have a common story. The story is one of reducing conflict by finding common ground—in this case both literally and metaphorically.

By Matt Kandel, a Newton International Fellow in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS.

By Oxfam International

Food and beverage industry giants improve policy commitments but they must turn them into action

King Leopold’s Ghost and the 21st century scramble for Africa’s farms and foods

AID AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT / CORPORATE POWER / FARMING AND AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT / FOOD / NEOLIBERALISM

BY: Joan Baxter

By Ruth Hall, Associate Professor, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, and Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

This article originally appeared in Foreign Affairs.

By Tim Hanstad

By Colleen O'Holleran

Over the past few decades there has been growing awareness of the need to strengthen land rights for women and men across the African continent. As a result, governments have come under growing pressure to improve laws, policies and institutions to guarantee Africa’s smallholder farmers secure land tenure.  

Adding to the urgency of this call to action is the global land rush for farmland, which has raised concerns about large land-based investments displacing smallholders and pastoralists.

By Nicholas K. Tagliarino, World Resources Institute

Land and property rights are key to myriad development goals, from hunger to women's economic empowerment. So why are they so hard to obtain?

“Let us wake up, humankind…Let us build societies that are able to coexist in a dignified way, in way that protects life. Let us come together and remain hopeful as we defend and care for the blood of this Earth and of its spirits.”