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.

A humanidade tem sido testemunha e participante nas múltiplas mudanças pelas quais a agricultura passou no decorrer dos séculos. Desde os primórdios desta antiga prática, o cultivo tem sido a espinha dorsal do desenvolvimento econômico de muitas sociedades e a principal fonte de preservação e evolução da vida. Nas civilizações pré-históricas e agrárias mais antigas, a agricultura não somente era uma fonte de alimento e de matérias-primas, mas também representava uma fonte de expressão da ordem inata da natureza.

أعد هذا الدليل لمساعدة المتخصصين في حيازة الأراضي وفي الإدارة العقارية لمن يشتركون في إعادة بناء نظم الحيازة والإدارة العقارية في بلدان خرجت من صراع عنيف. وفي هذه الظروف يكون توفير أمن الحصول على الأراضي أمرا شديد التعقيد. والمعتاد أن تؤدي الصراعات العنيفة إلى نزوح كثير من الناس. وفي نهاية الصراع قد يجد العائدون إلى ديارهم أن أرضهم في أيدي آخرين. وقد تكون هناك عدة مطالبات مشروعة تتنافس على نفس الأرض وذلك بسبب تتابع موجات النزوح - وقد لا يستطيع كثيرون استرداد أراضيهم ويضطرون إلى الاستيطان في مكان آخر.

Compulsory acquisition is the power of government to acquire private rights in land without the willing consent of the owner or occupant in order to benefit society and is often necessary for social and economic development and the protection of the natural environment. The exercise of these powers is frequently contentious and problematic. The guide explains what compulsory acquisition and compensation are, and what constitutes good practice in this area, examining the consequences of poor legislation, procedures and implementation.

在所有发展中国家地区，妇女对农村经济做出重大贡献。妇女的这一作用因地区而异，然而，妇女获取提高生产力所需资源和机会的手段总是比男人的少。增加妇女获取土地、牲畜、教育、金融服务、推广、技术和农村就业的手段，将提高妇女的生产力，促进农业增产、粮食安全、经济增长和社会福利。仅在农业投入品方面缩小性别差距这一项，就能使一亿到一点五亿人摆脱贫困。缩小性别差距没有现成蓝图，但有些基本原则普遍适用：政府、国际社会和民间社会应携手努力，按法律规定消除歧视，促进资源获取手段和机会的平等，确保农业政策和计划考虑性别问题，聆听妇女作为可持续发展平等伙伴的声音。农业方面实现男女平等，赋予妇女权能，不仅应该做到，而且对农业发展和粮食安全至关重要。

This study is a revised version of a working document originally prepared by FAO in April 1995 analysing the policy and legal options available for dealing with the sensitive issue of foreign ownership of land. It provides information on the approaches that are, or have been adopted to regulate foreign ownership of land. As such, it aims at providing a framework for analysis and a representative sample of the legal techniques and strategies that have been devised to deal with the issue; it is not intended to be an authoritative summary of the state of the law in this area.

This paper describes the perspective of stakeholders on the development of the Voluntary Guidelines on tenure. These Guidelines represent the greatest extent of “common ground” on governance of tenure that has been found to date in a global forum. This consensus was developed through intergovernmental negotiations with the participation of civil society, the private sector and research and academic institutes. This paper draws on interviews to identify how people engaged in the process and the dynamics that were created between the parties.

This report is based on the proceedings of the Technical Consultation on Gender, Property Rights and Livelihoods in the Era of AIDS, organized by FAO in November 2008. It takes stock of where FAO and its partners are in terms of addressing property rights insecurity and provides a proposed framework through which future action can take place.

It is increasingly recognised that migrants constitute an invaluable resource for development and poverty reduction in their home countries. For many developing countries, remittances from overseas migrants exceed development aid and foreign direct investment volumes. Moreover, remittances from migrant relatives, either internal or international, are often the main component of rural households’ incomes. Unlike aid, remittances flow directly to individual households and unlike loans they incur no debt.

Readers are invited to submit manuscripts in English, French or Spanish on research and analysis of issues related to land reform, land settlement or cooperatives. Submitted manuscripts are read by members of the Editorial Board and also by outside reviewers. Authors are requested to provide an alphabetical reference list at the end of the article.

A terra, ao longo da história, simboliza poderio político, económico e sociocultural não só a nível dos Estados como também das comunidades e do indivíduo. No contexto actual, é um dos principais recursos para o desenvolvimento e qualidade da vida das pessoas, não só no meio rural, como também no urbano e/ou peri-urbano, caracterizando-se como factor de exclusão ou inclusão, emancipação ou marginalização social.