“Deux tiers de la population mondiale n'ont pas accès à un régime foncier sûr.”Des variantes de cette statistique sont couramment citées dans le secteur foncier. Mais d'où proviennent ces données ? Comment le savons-nous ? Le chiffre a été utilisé si souvent qu'il s'est détaché de toute source.

Blogpost sur le livre "Power, Knowledge, Land - Contested Ontologies of Land and Its Governance Foncière in Africa" 2022 par Laura A. German. Presses de l'Université du Michigan.

Par Linda Engström, chercheuse, Division du développement rural, Université suédoise des sciences agricoles, Suède.

La terre est une ressource limitée, et son accès est essentiel pour les moyens de subsistance des individus et des communautés. Pour que l'accès à la terre soit sûr et équitable pour tous, les Nations unies ont fixé l'objectif de développement durable (ODD) 1.4.2, qui mesure la sécurité tenure foncière des individus, et l'ODD 5.a.1, qui mesure la sécurité tenure sur les terres agricoles dans une perspective de genre.

Land is a finite resource, and access to it is essential for the livelihoods of individuals and communities. To ensure that access to land is secure and equitable for all, the United Nations has set the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.4.2, which measures individuals' land tenure security, and SDG 5.a.1, which measures tenure security over agricultural land from a gender perspective.

What are the state-of-the-art and new approaches to land consolidation as part of integrated rural development strategies in North Africa and Near East? That was the main question around which several experts from Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Turkey joined the FAO/ RVO roundtable discussion on land consolidation during the Second Arab Land Conference last February; a session which 110 participants attended – both in person and online.

About 350 land actors from government, academia, civil society and business came together from more than 15 states and outside India to discuss and debate various land issues. In more than 30 sessions, about 150 speakers and panelists deliberated over 3 days around interdisciplinary land-conversations to generate important information and evidence for policy, practice and academics.

Ten important land messages that emerge from these land conversations are:

The failure to secure the property rights of rural communities shows a clear policy gap between citizens and rights to land as per the Constitution and the attitude and practices of the state, traditional leaders, white farmers and mining companies in relation to such rights. 

Absent from the discourse spurred by the motion passed in the National Assembly on 27 February is what could be achieved in the interim for land reform programme using existing legislation while the country awaits a verdict on the constitutional amendment to determine whether is possible to expropriate land w