Namati and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) have published two new guides to help communities prepare for interactions with investors and;if they so wish;negotiate fair;equitable contracts.  Namati’s Rachael Knight and CCSI’s Kaitlin Cordes describe why and how these guides came to be.

The shortcomings of the current land reforms suggest that voluntary;market-based transactions of land might not be a suitable measure to redistribute land;not to speak of wealth and power. The “policy” of national reconciliation has delivered one-sided benefits. The politics of national reconciliation are used to justify the status quo – an avoidance strategy to address the structural problems in Namibia. A more radical approach must be considered to redistribute land and capital. Only then will formerly disadvantaged people become equal co-owners of Namibia’s land and wealth.

The “Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Friendly Agriculture” Project was implemented in Turkey to improve the sustainability of agricultural and forest land use in the area by rehabilitating degraded forests and rangelands, promoting climate-smart agriculture and establishing a favourable enabling environment. The project was designed to develop the necessary strategies, plans, tools and mechanisms that will aid stakeholders in sustainably managing forest and land resources.

The forest-water nexus is crucial for ensuring water and food security, as well as for achieving sustainable development objectives. Only by recognising the interlinkages of forests and water, and how the management of these resources influences productive multi-functional landscapes can appropriate long-term benefits from landscape planning and management be actualized. And while it is important that generalized assumptions about the forest-water nexus are not widely applied due to their complex and context specific nature, the knowledge is available to lend guidance.

The “Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Friendly Agriculture” Project was implemented in Turkey to improve the sustainability of agricultural and forest land use in the area by rehabilitating degraded forests and rangelands, promoting climate-smart agriculture and establishing a favourable enabling environment. The project was designed to develop the necessary strategies, plans, tools and mechanisms that will aid stakeholders in sustainably managing forest and land resources.

The successful reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation requires forest governance to be efficient, effective and equitable. The concept of forest governance has evolved to engage public and private actors at many levels to make and enforce decisions that are clear, transparent, just, and lead to the sustainability of forests and the fair distribution of the benefits derived from their use. Forest governance also refers to the institutional, policy and legal dimensions addressing both direct and indirect drivers of forest loss and degradation.

To implement the ambitious REDD+ actions required to halve deforestation and forest degradation, developing countries need to adopt innovative and ambitious financing approaches. Financing to shift land-based investments and achieve deforestation-free commodity production is estimated at USD 200 billion, of which approximately USD 17-28 billion is needed for REDD+, an ambitious amount given the current level of climate finance.

The “Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Friendly Agriculture” Project was implemented in Turkey to improve the sustainability of agricultural and forest land use in the area by rehabilitating degraded forests and rangelands, promoting climate-smart agriculture and establishing a favourable enabling environment. The project was designed to develop the necessary strategies, plans, tools and mechanisms that will aid stakeholders in sustainably managing forest and land resources.

Land and forest tenure systems greatly influence a country’s ability to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Clear and legitimate tenure rights over forests can provide an incentive to manage forests sustainably and simultaneously reduce deforestation and forest degradation. In fact, communities and stakeholders with secure tenure rights have a strong interest in investing time and resources to maintain and enhance the natural capital under a long-term vision.

Given its ability to innovate, rapidly adapt to changing conditions and leverage capital for new market opportunities, the private sector can play a key role in helping countries meet the Sustainable Development Goals and their climate commitments, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and REDD+.

Following the success of the Fifth Mediterranean Forest Week (MFW) in Morocco in March 2017, the Sixth MFW will take place in Lebanon on 1-5 April 2019. The Sixth MFW will bring together a diverse range of participants to consider how Mediterranean forests can assist countries in the region to achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement. The Sixth MFW will consider the important role Mediterranean forests can assist countries in the region to achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement.

Land-use planning is increasingly being recognized as a central part of the formulation and implementation of strategies to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, contributing to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Conflicting interests and competition over land and resources have been major driving forces of forest conversion, with increasing pressure due to population growth, degradation of lands, economic interests and, not least, the impact of climate change.