Responsible Land-Based Investment Navigator (RLBI) 2.0 Provides Expanded Access to Resources and Information on Land Investments

12 May, 2021 - Land provides the basis for the livelihoods, ways of life, culture and social identity of many people across the rural world. Land rights often raise the most difficult issues in land-based investments, especially when it comes to agricultural, extractive and infrastructure sectors.

While substantial efforts have been made to create materials that provide governments, civil society and private sector actors with guidance on how to protect land rights in investment processes, many of these tools remain inaccessible to non-specialist audiences, and thus they are unable to put the state-of-the-art guidance that is most relevant to them into practice.

To answer this need, the Responsible Land-Based Investment (RLBI) Navigator 2.0, an initiative of by the Land Portal Foundation and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) as part of the Advancing Land-based Investment Governance project, helps government, civil society and private sector actors identify and access the practical guidance most relevant to their work to protect land rights in investment processes. 

The Navigator provides a range of ways to access targeted information on responsible land investments. Users can access 172 different tools and guides categorized by 18 different topics, from Advocacy to Transparency and Land Corruption. Resources are also categorized for 10 different audience groups. Whether for civil society and grassroots organizations or buyers, lenders and investors, carefully selected resources offer each audience a great variety of tools to enable communities to protect themselves during investment processes or, for example, to ensure businesses respect the principle of Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC). The Navigator also provides access to 14 different platforms devised to safeguard land rights in investments. Moreover, the Navigator provides access to 36 reports that provide examples of best practices and case studies. 

Finally, the Navigator consolidates the latest news and blogs covering responsible land investments, providing up-to-date and cutting-edge information on the context of land investments worldwide.

“The Navigator is relevant for any country that faces land-related issues and where the rights of people aren’t respected,” said Amaelle Seigneret, a Researcher for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), who has led the development of the Navigator. “A lot of the material on the Navigator is derived from international law or soft law, so many of these principles are applicable everywhere,” she emphasized.

“Large-scale land-based investments are happening, but often without the type of long term sustainable development and growth that you would expect,” said Nathaniah Jacobs, a Senior Researcher for IIED working on the ALIGN project. “Often investments come in, but they don't necessarily benefit local communities, or they're not implemented in accordance with national development goals, which can lead to lost livelihoods, adverse environmental impacts, and an increased risk of conflict,” underlined Ms. Jacobs.

“The Navigator is built upon the digital infrastructure of the Land Portal website, and takes advantage of our enriched metadata, thus making this information more accessible and discoverable,” suggested Laura Meggiolaro, Team Leader of the Land Portal Foundation. “We hope that the Navigator will serve as a useful resource for all those interested in ensuring that land investments become more responsible,” said Ms. Meggiolaro.

ABOUT

The Land Portal Foundation was established to create, curate and disseminate land governance information by fostering an inclusive and accessible data landscape. Over the last decade, the portal has evolved from a simple information gateway to become a knowledge broker, a resource base, a vibrant online community of users and a trusted voice within global land governance. Contact: Neil Sorensen, neil.sorensen@landportal.info 

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is an independent research organisation that aims to deliver positive change on a global scale. IIED delivers original, rigorous research that helps to drive progress, support sustainable development and protect the environment. IIED identifies local solutions that can work at scale and introduce these to global forums. Contact: Nathaniah Jacobs, Nathaniah.jacobs@iied.org