Issues relating to land and land reform have been moving up the agenda of rural poverty and food security in recent years with the increasing acceptance that the prerequisites for broad-based and equitable development include the essential need for people to have access to land and other natural resources. Access needs to be on an equitable basis allowing the poor and the disadvantaged, including women, to secure the assets needed for them and their families to generate sustainable livelihoods.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007. Since then, the importance of the role that indigenous peoples play in economic, social and environmental conservation through traditional sustainable agricultural practices has been gradually recognized.

This paper examines the existing and potential connections between rural people and forests in the Kyrgyz Republic, with the aim of developing an improved understanding of the role and potential role of the forestry sector in poverty reduction.1 While the paper focuses on Kyrgyzstan, the wider aim is to show, building on some of the experiences of Kyrgyzstan, how the connections between forests and poverty reduction might be explored in West and Central Asia more generally.

Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives continues to play an important role in land tenure and rural development studies and more specifically as part of FAO’s programmes since its first publication in 1963. In the last decade, the issues of good governance, new institutional structures and methodological approaches offering a wider perspective have become important elements of the debate. The articles in this volume of Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives reflect this in a variety of ways.

Le Plan Maroc Vert du Gouvernement du Maroc souligne le rôle important del’agriculture et définit des stratégies visant à promouvoir le développement de ce secteur en y attirant des investissements nationaux et internationaux et en organisant les acteurs privés en chaînes de valeur concurrentielles et rentables. Malgré ces efforts, cependant, de grands défis restent à relever. L’un des principaux concerne la disponibilité de services financiers pour les acteurs ruraux de l’agriculture.

Laos depends heavily on rice based agriculture systems and there is evidence that the traditional diversified diet and income base is being eroded, resulting in a negative effect on the livelihoods of the people. The opportunity to gather food in forests is diminishing and dietary diversity is being narrowed.

The Livelihood Support Programme (LSP) evolved from the belief that FAO could have a greater impact on reducing poverty and food insecurity, if its wealth of talent and experience were integrated into a more flexible and demand-responsive team approach. This paper represents part of an area of work which examines ways in which the poor can use small amounts of land to establish homegardens to support their livelihoods.

This joint FAO-World Bank publication aims to draw attention to the negative impacts of weak governance in land administration and to point out the manifold benefits of good governance in the protection of property rights and the development of efficient land and property markets. It provides positive examples of good practices from around the world, as well as an overview of principles and key questions to be applied in any country for the evaluation of governance in land administration.

Overall it was found that institutional capacity for strengthening forest tenure for forest dependent communities exists, but significant gaps were identified in all countries and all types of organizations. All three countries need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the different actors to identify measures and activities that will have direct livelihood improvement benefits and increase the income of forest dependent communities.

The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) 2016 “Forests and Agriculture – Land Use Challenges and Opportunities” examines the competing demands for land for forests and agriculture; and the relationship between forest cover changes and food security. In particular, forests and food security highlight the possibility to meet food security objectives while maintaining or increasing existing forests.

In this issue of the NR Newsletter, we welcome 2012 as the UN-declared International Year of Energy for All, an opportunity to concentrate global attention on the challenges facing both developed and developing countries when addressing access to and efficient use of sustainable energy sources. We also take a look at an interesting land tenure project that aims to bring advanced technology land registration systems to developing countries, through low-cost open-source software.